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Why would you kill a character
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I have a character that runs through three books that, while not quite a bad guy, is sort of pathetic. He's not really evil, just a loser. He's inadequate with women so he really only feels comfortable around prostitutes, he's incompetent at his job, throws around his rank to make his subordinates' lives miserable and overall is a failure as a human being.His death is so unfair, however, that you can't help but feel sorry for the guy, nor can you help but blame the protagonist for his role in it. It proved to be an effective tool in showing how fallible the story's hero can be.
I decided (reluctantly) to kill my main character, Nancy Laplante, in the fifth book of the series featuring her but, as a reader said in reaction to her death, 'she was truly burning the candle by both ends'. In a way, her death in action was inevitable, as she was not invulnerable or immortal, but it was at least a heroic death. In turn, her death allowed her young sister to emerge as a character and also allowed her adopted daughter, Ingrid, to become the main character of the series, which now counts eleven books and is going very well. If anything, many of my writers like my new main character, Ingrid, even more than Nancy. In turn, Ingrid now has a young daughter of her own, Nancy Dows, who is already putting her mark on the series and is already very popular. I agree that the death of a character, while a hard decision to take, can actually advance a story and allow the plot to evolve in significant ways.
It's a matter of attitude, I suppose. I don't have an issue killing a character, good or bad. I've done that, sometimes in unpleasant ways. No, not anything as gross as Judas Iscariot's bowels bursting and oozing out of him, but still unpleasant. There is after all no nice way to kill people, it's either outright ugly or morally reprehensible. However, since life is terminal, and I, an author will terminate as well, why spare a character if I opt to off the poor sap? He'll die anyway. You see, down the corridors of time, stories are forgotten and lost. Thus, the character ceases to exist, is dead as it were. Since the story is fiction, the character never lived anyway. A story may touch me emotionally, however briefly, yet not enough for me to truly mourn. It's all a matter of attitude, I suppose. So, those are my principles. If you find them unsavory, I do have others. ];-)
Michel wrote: "I decided (reluctantly) to kill my main character, Nancy Laplante, in the fifth book of the series featuring her but, as a reader said in reaction to her death, 'she was truly burning the candle by..."Seems you're doing this whole thing magnificently.
There's a death coming in my next book that I'm trying to find a way to avoid. It's a noble self sacrifice that I knew was going to happen long before I even wrote the character. But now it seems a bit mean, considering I just killed his Mum in the preceding book. :/
"A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once. It seems to me most strange that men should fear, seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come." ― William Shakespeare.
I killed off a young woman, one of the protagonist's companions. I was sad for her to die, but she needed to go because I had to have her husband (also a companion) feel such grief and anger as well as antipathy to the person who caused her death that he would act in a later book when no one else would.
When I killed my first "important" character (only written one book so far), I did it for three different reasons: I wanted her death to move her partner towards a certain direction (revenge), I needed her death scene to allow the readers to learn certain things that she learned before her death, without leaving any way for the rest of the main characters (esp. her partner) to find out, making the experience of them looking for the same information a bit more vivid down the line, and to show how far my antagonist was willing to go and where his convictions come from. Trying to also avoid spoilers...
There are scenarios within some story lines in which the the death of a specific character is the only realistic and believable outcome. Some readers may become upset and even angry, especially if they have bonded with the character, which is the same reaction expected in real life when someone with whom we have established a bond dies.
I kill characters to teach my main character a lesson or, if they are the villain, to get rid of the villain. I don't see the point in killing a character if it doesn't further the story. Further, if it doesn't move the story along or make it better, I don't see the point in killing when there's an option to send a character away or something. But that's just me. Maybe there's a bigger picture I'm missing.I think there are characters that I've read before that I wished the author killed off, but they may think like me and the death did nothing for the story. I haven't cried at a death in a book I've read, but I cried at a death in a book I wrote. I loved the character I killed off, but her death was necessary. Maybe, one day, I'll release that story.
I cried for two days when I killed off one of my favourite characters in 'Shadower' my sequel to 'Through Forests and Mountains.
Actually, I enjoy weeping for my characters. If I care about them then so will my readers. in 'Through Forests and Mountains', I killed off the character based on the man I dedicated the book to, and I still can't read it without emotion. My husband told me not to tell him.
My main characters often deal with death. It gives them the angst or revenge I need to drive the story. Although I haven't killed off my main characters yet, they deal with such pain and anguish that they develop into strong unstoppable forces. I had one reader ask... "Why make her go through such horror?"
My reply... From pain comes beauty!!!
Dana
In no particular order:1. They're the antagonist, they have to die
2. It was just their time
3. They had it coming
4. The author wants to unleash their inner George R.R Martin
5. Didn't mean to kill them, it just sorta happened that way
6. Author got tired of writing about them
7. They were taking the spotlight from other characters
8. They weren't fitting in
9. They had become boring to write about
10. Fans demanded the character be killed
11. To make room for a new character
12. Because the character needs to die in order to come back to life or for the audience to find out the character faked their death
I don't think the death of a character depends on that character. It is an important part of life, thus an important event in a story. You kill a character if its death makes other characters reveal themselves, propelling the story forward. In "Farewell to Arms," Hemingway's protagonist falls in love with a nurse who later dies in childbirth. I'm confident Hemingway was saying something with how that affected the story...
... but I couldn't tell you what it was. I thought it was stupid.
So take that, Ernie.
I don't, unless its key to the story being told. The "kill your darlings" doesn't literally mean "off your characters" it means don't get so attached to anything in your story that you cannot cause it harm or destruction when that makes for better storytelling.And personally I think Hemingway is really overrated, but that's just me.
Just be careful-- Sherlock Holmes had to come back from the "dead" because readers demanded it.If a character in a series is aging in real time -- eventually s/he has to die, but hopefully there are family members or associates who can continue the series and take it in a new direction.
BookWhispers wrote: "Killing a character is a big deal. Many authors find it hard to write. Many readers grow so attached to the unfortunate victim that they even cry and complain. Death is a serious topic. Check out t..."Interesting topic. I'm currently writing my World War Two book, which actually takes place in 1947. An ex-GI searches Europe for a woman who helped his cousin escape Nazi occupied France when he was shot down.
She's a character who appears in two previous novels, one of which she is the narrator, and you guessed it, she dies in the war which our hero will not discover until the last chapter.
The reason for her death is a twist.
I plan on taking out my main character and several major supporting characters throughout the series, but only when their death moves the story forward. Whether reading or writing, I never want to feel like every character is completely safe. A death shouldn't be "just for the sake of it" but it should always be possible.
The death is the tragedy. There is kind of beauty in tragedies.
I have killed many characters and each time my heart breaks.
I think you should ask Connie Willis. She is a super star when it comes to killing important characters.
Personally, only when it feels necessary to the story based on the characters personalities and the culture of the world I've created.
Well thank got these are literarily murders, but don't you have to ask yourself why you are so fascinated with murder?
Justin wrote: "In no particular order:1. They're the antagonist, they have to die
2. It was just their time
3. They had it coming
4. The author wants to unleash their inner George R.R Martin
5. Didn't mean to k..."
Regarding #5, "Didn't mean to kill them, it just sorta happened that way," I'm often surprised by what my characters do. They tell me what to write and I serve as their transcriber. Their deaths (or great triumphs) happen when the story tells me that's what needs to happen.
My first full-length novel would have characters dying because the story demands it.
I find the phrase "kill a character" interesting. A writer is not killing anyone or anything. A writer is rendering a story. A death in a story presumably has a dramatic purpose. If not, it at least acts as an imitation of life, because death occurs in (every) life.
As Clarke said in message # 29, death is part of every lives. A book where everything is always fine and in which nobody ever dies would quickly become both unrealistic and boring (not because showing death is fun but because the unrealistic setting would eventually repeal readers from the book). A good writer can add a lot to his book by turning death into something both significant and ultimately positive (ultimate sacrifice, bad character getting his just reward).
My first novel was based upon actual events, so historical facts dictated which characters I had to kill. Including the 2 MCs.For the sequel, as it is entirely fictional--based on the "What if?" the historical record leaves open, so I killed off one of several primary characters to push the MC to deal with his curse.
Death is an important part of life. But it can be difficult for those left behind. Some may deal with it, grow, and move on. Others might never be able to. And I think that's the key. How characters respond and the paths they take afterward.
Dying is a common fear - it gets everyone's attention. So when the story needs it (for characters who need to deal with it, for characters who need to exit the scene, for moments when the story line needs to be shaken up, etc.), it happens.
One of my characters is a ghost, so she's already dead.
In my latest sci-fi novel, aliens invade a planet and kill the mother of a small girl. It was presented as a tragedy but it also led to that little girl to be adopted by the soldier who saved her later on. So, death can be used to promote a good deed or a positive ending.
In my first book, a Western titled Three Rode The Trail, I decided to kill off one of the four main characters in the book. I didn't set out to do it but at some point when I was writing the manuscript The death occurs suddenly without setup unless a reader is skilled at recognizing a such a setup for a plot point. For example, an observant moviegoer might've realized in Avengers: Endgame that Tony Stark was going to die. Or in the original Top Gun in the scene where Goose dies. I knew that for the sake of the story the character had to die. A happy ending would've detracted from the powerful story I had written. The character's death set off plot ripples with some other characters and it helped set the stage for the sequel, which I'm currently working on. The character's death in the prior book affects and partially drives the plot and character motivations in the follow up book.
Great news!My book Kill Your Characters: Crime Scene Tips for Writers was awarded a first-place tie in the Public Safety Writers Association Writing Competition.
Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1947521780
Did you lose fans for killing their favorite character? I know that death is a part of life, but if my favorite character was killed off, then I’ll stop reading the author’s books.
For the thrill of it—oh!Did I say that out loud?
I really didn’t want to kill off any of my characters. But one of them was based on a real person who died young. I came very close to changing it but it had to stay true. Life doesn’t always have a happy ending
Steve wrote: "Great news!My book Kill Your Characters: Crime Scene Tips for Writers was awarded a first-place tie in the Public Safety Writers Association Writing Competition.
Here is the link: https://www.am..."
Sometimes one needs to respect that the author has to kill off a character. I watch a lot of films, series and read avidly, I could not ever say that when the writer has killed a character, I wouldn't read any of their other work. If the writer is good and the book/story has been engaging then I'd look to read more of their work. They/we don't kill off our main characters lightly nor in every book.
Steve wrote: "Great news!My book Kill Your Characters: Crime Scene Tips for Writers was awarded a first-place tie in the Public Safety Writers Association Writing Competition.
Here is the link: https://www.am..."
Congratulations on this achievement Steve.
Richard wrote: "In my first book, a Western titled Three Rode The Trail, I decided to kill off one of the four main characters in the book. I didn't set out to do it but at some point when I was writing the manusc..."Hi Richard, I agree, sometimes the character has to be killed off, it enhances the strength and power behind the story and/or the impact a series of events can have on a character that means they need to be killed of. I've read this trail with great interest.
Hi,Actually in one of my books I couldn't kill a hero - Christian Aaron Moody the Third - who had to die. It was just that he'd already done everything. Saved the galaxy from an alien invasion, rescued his dead family, built his super battleship etc etc. So if he'd lived there would have been parades and hooplah and all the rest, and it would have utterly sickened me! But he was also a long suffering soul who I admired - and I couldn't stand the thought of him dying even a hero's death. So in the end I chickened out and left him clinging to life, being rushed back to the hospital with no certainty either way.
Bugger!
Cheers, Greg.
https://mybookwhisperer.org/2021/03/1...