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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47406
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

## For whom have my hands laboured, Urshanabi?

Both temporary setbacks and unexpected failures in the end are entirely appropriate.

Unexpectedly unhappy endings are [as old as civilization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh). The best ending for the characters and the best ending for an acclaimed book are often different. This is normal. It is a hallmark of the writer's craft to make the reader feel sad for the characters in-universe but at the same time feel happy about having read the book.

Temporary setbacks are _mandatory_: they are [the building blocks of the story](https://www.slashfilm.com/a-letter-from-david-mamet-to-the-writers-of-the-unit/).

> Every scene must be dramatic. That means: the main character must have a simple, straightforward, pressing need which impels him or her to show up in the scene.
> 
> This need is why they _came_. It is what the scene is about. Their attempt to get this need met _will_ lead, at the end of the scene, to _failure_ – this is how the scene is _over_. It, this failure, will, then, of necessity, propel us into the _next_ scene.

Original score: 1