Why I Start Plotting My Protagonist’s Demise by Book Two (And Why That’s Totally Fine)

At some point when you’re deep into writing a trilogy, you catch yourself staring at your main character and thinking: “What if I just killed them off?” Not because you hate them, but because your brain is starving for something fresh.

By the end of book two, the finish line of book three is already in sight, and suddenly the straight path ahead feels less like storytelling and more like trudging through mud in heavy boots. Exhausting, right?

Here’s the thing: when you’re truly in the middle of a trilogy, you start realizing all the things you can’t do. The juicy descriptions you’re forced to cut. The cool mysteries you can’t fully solve. The wild story branches you have to chop down because no one wants to be lost in a narrative jungle without a map.

You want depth, sure, but you also want your reader to reach the ending without needing a survival kit.

That’s when the dangerous ideas creep in. A shocking twist. A sudden exit. Maybe even your protagonist’s death. Anything that keeps you from falling asleep at the keyboard. Because if you’re not excited, how can your readers possibly be?

By this point, you’ve spent more time with your characters than with some real-life friends. You know their flaws, their habits, and their annoying refusal to follow your outline. Of course you want to shake things up.

And maybe that’s why I’m so tempted to dive into one of my LitRPG projects. A new world means new rules, more freedom, and stories that sprawl in ways a novel editor would probably cry about.

In games, players expect detours. They love side quests and lore dumps. In novels? Not so much.

But here’s what I’ve learned. If you’re feeling restless like this, you’re probably doing something right. It means you care enough to want the story to surprise you, not just your audience.

And if that means entertaining some dark thoughts about your protagonist’s survival, well, that’s the price of keeping things interesting.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a very important decision to make about chapter fifteen. And maybe a life insurance policy to draft for one unlucky character.