Support for Indie Authors discussion

Anyone else feel like killing off a character because they aren't 'talking' to you?

I had considered it in the book I am currently working on, but the repercussions among his siblings and friends would be too extreme.

Not because they aren't talking to me, but yes, I kill characters all the time.

I only kill them after the reader has fallen in love with them...

Define killing. :P

Some characters may return as ghosts, or vampires, or zombies.

G.G. wrote: "Define killing. :P

Some characters may return as ghosts, or vampires, or zombies."

Touche!

I take risks with my writing and have even killed my protagonist off, but, only after a considerable amount of time in the novel. But, I'm still able to make good story. Trust me it can be done.

I only kill 'em if there's a plot reason to.

And I tend to be more brutal to characters in short fiction. Short fiction I often consider to be novels about people who don't live long enough to have full novels written about them ;P

One story I did everyone but the bad guys died in the end, including something like 30 billion innocent people. Don't worry, I never bothered coming up with character names for all of those.

...In fact in my first novel and the next one coming up, the only deaths are off screen, as it were. Well...actually there is one seen in the next novel but it only happens in the epilogue. The only violence in these 2 books combined, perpetrated by the main characters, is one punch in the face (he was on drugs at the time, but not by choice).

I like to write characters who react to violence rather than participate in it.

The book I'm writing now has a character destined for a gruesome death. It will be really hard, 'cause I like her a lot...

This morning I was very close to having one of my MC'S shot tragically during a valiant rescue mission because of a later scene that just isn't working. I felt maybe the threat would provoke him to get back in my head. Last week it was a meteor falling to earth and killing all the characters off, and two days ago I thought a good blow to the head might work. (My characters head not mine) I may have to take a step back lol.

S.J. wrote: "I thought a good blow to the head might work. (My characters head not mine)..."

You sure about that? ;>

Micah wrote: "S.J. wrote: "I thought a good blow to the head might work. (My characters head not mine)..."

You sure about that? ;>"

Well I could always try the blow to my head. If it doesn't help with the storyline I can use it for research ;)

i have three characters. (from a core cast of 5) whose death is approaching soon. i dont want them to die but i need to advance my mc's story and having a heroic BSOD is the ticket. i really love them but off they go and never returning... also its time for baddy #1 (of 3) to kick the bucket.
my only issue is how creative i can get in murdering my minions...
being an evil god is fun ;)

I am reminded about the death of Uncas, a main character in "The Last of the Mohicans." His death was the reason for the whole title and book. I really like that character, though.

I wouldn't kill a character who didn't matter - after all, what would be the point? Fictional deaths should have an impact, whether it's on the reader or the plot. Though my reprieves have been daft; while I think nothing of killing off major characters, I quibble over killing pets.

I'm going to kill a character in the new novel I'm writing (it's my first character death). But he's a bad guy, so he has it coming. I would never kill a main character. Never. Ever. Ever. Hurt, yes. Maim, yes. But never kill.

April wrote: "I'm going to kill a character in the new novel I'm writing (it's my first character death). But he's a bad guy, so he has it coming. I would never kill a main character. Never. Ever. Ever. Hurt, yes. Maim, yes. But never kill...."

unless they are brought back to life in some way (via magic, cybernetics, or become a ghost...)

kinda like robocop (murphy! it's you!!!) :p

Sometimes killing a main character has its place. There's a lot to be said for martyrs. Otherwise, the bad guys are the only ones that ever have martyrs!

V.M. wrote: "Yep. I've killed them off but always tried to keep the reader in mind. If they have an attachment to that character then it will have an impact in them. Usually I try to make the deaths count, oth..."

I keep the reader in mind too, and ask myself "Which one can I kill that will make them sling the book against the wall?"

I'm way too sentimental to kill off a main characters. And if I kill a character, he stays dead, because my McIntyre Security bodyguard series is real life, not paranormal.

Before I kill off any character; antagonist, protagonist, or otherwise, I stop to seriously consider "is this really necessary for the plot?" If it is, then I do it. It's never easy when it's a character I like. I even killed off a dog once and caught hell for it from my husband, but when I explained why it had to be that way, he understood it was the most humane thing I could have done at that point. I don''t think any character should be killed off just for the sake of killing though.

Ya know, I thought about it. I had several characters slated to die in my first series and in the end, I went with a character the audience didn't know well, but who was known to the main cast, so there was still a vicarious empathy. Why? Because honestly, killing off a main character has become so prevalent that I personally feel desensitized to it and that is worrisome.

"If you paint yourself into a corner, set something on fire." (Stephen King's advice) or in this case "Kill off a character."

I don't kill off willy- nilly, just to pump up the juice. But I will kill someone off if it will serve the plot of the next book in the series.

The potential deaths of main characters is what made a lot of Raymond E Feist's work so compelling. No one was safe, no one had plot armor; one guy got killed because a soldier's crossbow accidentally went off after a battle. Real life is like that. Not every death has meaning (that we can see), and sometimes it's just a "poop happens" moment. Not that you want that happening all the time, but the threat should always be there.

Minor unimportant characters? Oh absolutely. I kill those without a second though. Their main purpose was to die most likely. I killed 2000 characters with a single line, no big deal.

...

Main characters need to die? Oh... but those are my babies!
I needed to kill one for the plot, and after I wrote the scene, I cried. Legitimate cries for a long time. Ice cream needed cries, and I knew it had been coming for some time.

In one of my books I killed off a semi-main character (if there's such a thing...lol) and now that I have, I miss him. It had to happen though to make the first book the way it is. It was painful, but necessary. Sometimes I wish I didn't do it....but death happens and we have to deal with it. You can't escape death....in real life anyway:)

Charles wrote: "V.M. wrote: "Yep. I've killed them off but always tried to keep the reader in mind. If they have an attachment to that character then it will have an impact in them. Usually I try to make the death..."

That's just mean...and kind of hilarious!

I'm not as cruel as George R. R. Martin, but my characters do live in a semi-perpetual state of wonder about whether or not they'll get killed off...I beat them up pretty badly on a regular basis, at the very least.

One of my characters was going to be a regular in the series, but when the inspiration to kill them came along, everything else fell into place. *holds up bloody knife* It was meant to be. My early readers gave blow-by-blow reactions to each chapter they read, and the string of WTFs that inevitably followed the grisly death told me it was worth every fateful word. =) That death sets other things in motion, though, so they're still an integral part of the story. Just...in a different way.

So, to answer the original question, that character was definitely talking to me. Yelling, begging, pleading not to be killed once they uncovered my plan. But those cries fell on deaf ears. I liked them, I did, but ya gotta make sacrifices for art.

S.J. wrote: "Anyone else feel like killing off a character because they aren't 'talking' to you?"

We planned to kill a character once. This really wonderful woman got wind of it, and asked us to reconsider. We relented, and that character will survive.

We did kill a character -- minor, makes a brief appearance: has maybe a dozen lines in a book that's over 150,000 words -- and we've been catching hell for it ever since. I have a pretty thick skin, but I'm not sure I want to go though that again.

A.E. wrote: "The book I'm writing now has a character destined for a gruesome death. It will be really hard, 'cause I like her a lot..."

You may get a tearful email from me about that ... just sayin' ...

Owen wrote: "A.E. wrote: "The book I'm writing now has a character destined for a gruesome death. It will be really hard, 'cause I like her a lot..."

You may get a tearful email from me about that ... just sa..."

Don't worry, Owen, it's a character that you haven't met yet, but you might become teary-eyed anyway. I'm quite sure I will...

Amanda wrote: "In one of my books I killed off a semi-main character ... but death happens and we have to deal with it. You can't escape death....in real life anyway :) "

That's one reason I write fiction. In real life we do deal with these things, but in our stories we can do whatever we want.

Owen wrote: "Amanda wrote: "In one of my books I killed off a semi-main character ... but death happens and we have to deal with it. You can't escape death....in real life anyway :) "

That's one reason I write..."

Mostly... I usually encounter the strange situation that my character decides what's going to happen next, but when it comes to death, I'm pretty hesitant to kill any of my characters, because usually, at least in my stories, death would be the simple way out - plus that I love my characters and have a hard time seeing them die. :-)

A.E. wrote: "Owen wrote: "Amanda wrote: "In one of my books I killed off a semi-main character ... but death happens and we have to deal with it. You can't escape death....in real life anyway :) "

That's one r..."

I'm not sure I totally agree with that. Sometimes a character's death completely changes everything going forward. It would be easy if they just died and it didn't matter.

I've killed 2 mains so far in my new draft, with another one on the table, and it was the hardest thing I've ever done as a writer. And on the rewrite I have to (attempt) make the reader love them as much as I do.

I write tragedy. That's what I do.

Christina wrote: "Because honestly, killing off a main character has become so prevalent that I personally feel desensitized to it and that is worrisome..."

For us, killing major characters has become sort of a cymbal crash in mainstream entertainment, and that make me personally reluctant to do it. But the bigger reason we don't tend to kill characters is that we don't find it especially challenging as writers. Making characters live with consequences, and showing how they cope, change and evolve is more interesting to us, so we prefer to stay with our major characters and show how that unfolds.

Now there are times when just putting an X across a major character breaks a logjam, cleans up a mess, is justified in the plot, and can have considerable emotional impact -- all of which makes it tempting. But when we sit back and think: "What might we lose downstream?" it's too much, so we struggle with the logjam and deal with the mess. Often, living is harder than dying.

I kill characters off once they make things too easy for the protagonist. Someone's death needs to complicate things, not solve them IMO.

Or it needs to trigger something that has to happen.

Also, sometimes a character is a viewpoint to the plot that you can't get any other way. And once they've fulfilled that purpose they become cumbersome to the plot, especially if readers love them. Better to burn out than fade away.

The really hard part is elevating another character to that status. You're pretty much starting all over again at that point as a writer. Can you make them love Y more than X after X dies? It's a pretty big challenge and a huge risk.

It's easy to kill a character if you just toss them out a window and never mention them again. Conveying the emotional distress and degrade in the aftermath along with everything else is another story.

Charles wrote: "I kill characters off once they make things too easy for the protagonist. Someone's death needs to complicate things, not solve them IMO.

Or it needs to trigger something that has to happen.

Als..."

I can definitely see your point of view. In both 'In the hands of the unknown' and 'Lost' I've been very close to kill a couple of main characters, but then I realized that the stories would become fuller and better if they lived. They weren't done with life yet. It's possible that they won't die in the books, because I like to have some hope in the end, but since it's horror (amongst much else), death is always present around the corner. For me it is the struggle that the horror leaves that fascinates me more than what death would be able to create. :-)

That's what one off prequels and stand alones are for. ;)

I have characters that were born to die. I can tell you how each and every character I have written will die right now. But there will be others I haven't even created yet that will die as well, and I can't tell you how they will die. Only that it will be the protagonists fault, most likely. Everything else is.

I had to edit that post like 5 times.

One of my major characters has a terminal illness. It has quite an effect on everyone around him.

Joe wrote: "One of my major characters has a terminal illness. It has quite an effect on everyone around him."

Hard stuff to write on so many levels.

Charles wrote: "That's what one off prequels and stand alones are for. ;)

I have characters that were born to die. I can tell you how each and every character I have written will die right now. But there will ..."

But that is different. Then that character's whole purpose is to give a huge impact on those that are left, as well as the reader. :-)

That's what my character in 'Of darkness born' is there for, and I will write her so likeable that it will be felt in the reader's heart when she meets her destiny, and her death will have impact on the main character for the rest of his life.

And just because I'm curious: are you planning the death of all characters that you're writing about?

I seem to have the other problem of falling in love with almost every character I create. Even the bad ones. Then, even if I decide to kill them off, I want their death to be epic. I'm working on this problem...

A.E. wrote: "Don't worry, Owen, it's a character that you haven't met yet, but you might become teary-eyed anyway. I'm quite sure I will..."

Just as long as you're prepared for it (my email, that is) .... ;-)

Shanlynn wrote: "I seem to have the other problem of falling in love with almost every character I create. Even the bad ones. Then, even if I decide to kill them off, I want their death to be epic. I'm working o..."

On the contrary, it's a great trait. :-) And depending on what you mean by 'epic' it might work really well in your setting.

And Owen, I will. <3

But now, I'm off from the thread and will stumble my jet-lagged mind into the land of dreams. Have a continuous fun discussion.

A.E. wrote: "Owen wrote: "Amanda wrote: "In one of my books I killed off a semi-main character ... but death happens and we have to deal with it. You can't escape death....in real life anyway :) "

That's one r..."

To be honest, this story idea came in my head with the idea right away to kill this character off. By the time I finished the story, I was sad I did it, but it had to be done. It was more of a way for two other characters to connect to each other. I did come to love him though and wish I could write a whole book about him, but that was the path he was meant to go. I don't see it as an easy way out...my fingers just had to go that way, which is generally how I write. My fingers lead the way, surprising me all the time.

Owen wrote: "Christina wrote: "Because honestly, killing off a main character has become so prevalent that I personally feel desensitized to it and that is worrisome..."

For us, killing major characters has be..."

I agree with the part about often living is harder than dying. And for my characters who had to deal with the death, that was the main focus on my story. It was hard for her to deal with losing him. He died right away in the beginning and you get to love him throughout the book. And to be honest, I have no idea why I decided to write something like that. It seems so deep and emotional, but the idea sparked and I had to flow with it.

I've never killed off another character like that...bad guys, yes.

Charles wrote: "I kill characters off once they make things too easy for the protagonist. Someone's death needs to complicate things, not solve them IMO."

Which is something you do quite well.

Our books are about dealing with consequences over the long term, so our main characters have to stay alive to do that.

It's easy to kill a character if you just toss them out a window and never mention them again. Conveying the emotional distress and degrade in the aftermath along with everything else is another story.

So true...

Shanlynn wrote: "I seem to have the other problem of falling in love with almost every character I create. Even the bad ones. Then, even if I decide to kill them off, I want their death to be epic. I'm working o..."

I don't see falling it love with characters as a bad thing. We do. How else would we know what moves them?

But I'll draw a distinction between love and "adoration" (can't think of a better word). The latter involves putting the character on a pedestal, becoming worshipful and "possessive" of them. That doesn't seem to work out so well.