AUTHORS GOTTA WRITE - SHOULD YOU KILL THAT CHARACTER?

AUTHORS GOTTA WRITE – SHOULD YOU KILL THAT CHARACTER?

"NO!!! I LIKED THAT CHARACTER! WHY DID THEY HAVE TO DIE?"

Have you ever thought something like that while reading a book? The death of a character, no matter who they are, can impact the story more than you realize. Reading about the death of a character you liked is tricky, but it's almost harder to write about the death of a character.

If you've ever considered killing one of your characters, or if you have killed one of your characters, I want you to ask yourself this question: Should I have killed them?

The death of a character is a "big deal." It might not be for us as the creators of our characters, but it is for our readers, who have been journeying alongside your protagonist and others. If you plan on killing a character, there are a few things to consider.

Number 1: What will killing this character accomplish?

Author: "DIE, CHARACTER!"

Author (five minutes later): "Great! The character's dead! Now what should I do...?"

There should always be a reason for killing your character. Always. If the death of a character influences another character to do something that drives forward the plot, the death has reason. Let's say it's the protagonist's brother who dies, and the protagonist acts irrationally due to it. This is understandable, and in this case, the death isn't pointless.

Number 2: Does the character exist for the sole purpose of dying?

If you're killing a character just for the sake of killing a character, my advice is this: STOP! If you write a character into your story, and their only purpose is to die without reason, then the question changes altogether, and it becomes: Should this character be in the story in the first place?

Pointless characters are pointless; deaths for no reason have no meaning.

Number 3: How does the character die?

Everyone likes a noble death – dying in battle is much more heroic than not looking both ways before crossing the street and getting hit by a car as a result. If your character must die, make his/her death mean something – make his/her death result in someone's life being saved, or the plot being driven onward.

Death is a part of life, and I believe it should be part of stories likewise, whether it's a family tragedy in the beginning of your story, or a death of another character later on. But the death must influence your plot, or else, why go through the trouble to kill the character at all?

-Beyond