Character Deaths

[rachel ~ trans rights are human rights]

This is more of a question about character deaths in general: What do you think of them? Do you think it's a good or bad idea to kill off characters?

And, for my own ~writer purposes~, how would you feel if the main character of a novel/series was killed off? Would that ruin the novel/series for you or do you think it would add to it?

(example: Harry was killed and was not resurrected but the story continued or something like that)

[David Sven]

You couldn't kill Harry before the end of the series and get away with it unless you resurrected him. Otherwise you couldn't really call the next book "Harry Potter and the blah blah blah." But you could probably kill Ginny, Ron or Hermione and get away with it. And their deaths would mean something. They would impact the reader because you cared about them. So yes, character deaths are ok.

A couple of different examples of "good" use of deaths would be 1) Ned Stark in Game of Thrones and 2)Some of the main characters in the Dark Tower Series.

The first made me angrier because Ned was such a likeable character and his end was so unjust, but most of all I really wanted to spend more time with him. So I was just outraged that GRRM would take him out like that - but at the same time the fact that Martin wasn't afraid to do that is part of what makes that series great.
The Dark Tower deaths invoked more sadness than anger - mainly because I did get to spend a lot of time with those characters. They died well but gee it was sad - but that was more towards the end of the series. Point is, the writing made me "feel," but to do that you have to write characters that people are going to care about.

Its not the deaths that matter, its whether the deaths matter.

[Jeni]

I agree with David. Senseless death is annoying to me as a reader. If the death forwards the plot or makes a vital difference to the outcome of the conflict, then I can handle the character's demise. (My favorite example from a GR thread is should Neville have been killed off? My answer is no. It wouldn't forward the story in any way and it would make a huge difference to the closure of the prophecy-Neville made it possible for Harry to defeat Voldemort by killing the snake.)

There are only a few, rare, and shining examples of main protagonist deaths that are justified, in a literary sense. (The Lovely Bones, for example. Without that death, there is no story.)

Good luck!

[rachel ~ trans rights are human rights]

When I referenced to Harry Potter, I meant in the last book, when Voldemort killed him. But yes I totally understand what you mean. Ned's death literally broke my heart, and I think GRRM goes a little overboard when it comes to killing his characters, but I definitely think that it added a lot to the series.

[jarplum]

Character deaths are necessary at times, especially when you want to give other characters a motivation to do something. IMO, J.K.R killed off characters senselessly. Their deaths did not motivate Harry onwards (well, except Sirius', I guess), and they were usually characters you'd come to really care about. I was also hoping really hard that GRRM wouldn't kill Ned. I think it's the first time I actually prayed for such a thing, lol. But he did. He killed him, and I cried because Ned had quickly become a favourite. I was even sure that he hadn't really died and would be resurrected, but...yeah...he wasn't...

So, for your own writing purposes? Make sure there's a reason you're killing a character off, especially if they've existed from the start, and would have likely become a character the reader cared about. Kill a character if their death spurs other important events onwards. But I don't suggest killing a character just for dramatic effect, because, yes, it would ruin the book for me if/when I continue to read on and there was no purpose for the character dying.

[Carina]

I think there are two kinds of deaths - deaths that move the plot on (so that would be Ned in Game of Thrones, Sirius in HP) as those deaths served a purpose and motivated other characters directly, and deaths that do not directly motivated but show a point (e.g. example of a country which is torn apart by war and a description of the many dead people). The former is more likley to be shown (i.e the process of the death) whilst the latter is more likely to show the aftermath.

One of my favourite books is by an author Trudi Canavan (view spoiler)[ and she kills of one of the important characters in the final book (hide spoiler)] - there was a lot of outcry by fans but I think it works really really well.