Does anyone else have this problem? It seems that the only way the story can move forward to an end is if my favorite character dies. But I love him too much!
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When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on!
NaNo2007:WON! ... FIRST YEAR!!!
Screnzy2008: Lost... painfully
“All right, I’ll believe you. Just don’t make it too borderline fictional.” -From "Press-ganged"
0 / 50,000
Jul 9, 2008 - 09 47
Yep... Every day I think of a new way I can end the story without killing Clive, but none of them work... :'(
50,576 / 50,000
Jul 9, 2008 - 10 22
Its aweful! He's probably my favorite character out of all I've ever created, but my muse told me one day that he had to die! I don't want to kill him... I have an evil muse...
----------When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on!
NaNo2007:WON! ... FIRST YEAR!!!
Screnzy2008: Lost... painfully
“All right, I’ll believe you. Just don’t make it too borderline fictional.” -From "Press-ganged"
2,000 / 50,000
Jul 9, 2008 - 11 03
I feel the same way.
Gennivieve has been growing in my mind since I started planning my series (which has been since middle school.. almost ten years now?), and it seemed she was fated to die about halfway through planning.
What really surprised me most was that she dies twice in the books..
.. as well as most of her family, but that's a different post, right?
50,269 / 50,000
Jul 9, 2008 - 16 19
My current WiP actually calls for most of the characters to die. And I love two of those characters so much, but that's how these things go down. It's all for the theme of the story. Do you want it to mean something, or do you want your character to cheat death and possibly take away some meaning and character growth?
It's tough, but it can be done.
----------Screnzy '08:
No ideas, no outlines, no time. Let's see how well I do.
76/100 pages.
50,576 / 50,000
Jul 9, 2008 - 17 30
No, he has to die. I can't think of a way for him to live, and have the same impact on my MC. ... I can try though, I owe it to him.
----------When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on!
NaNo2007:WON! ... FIRST YEAR!!!
Screnzy2008: Lost... painfully
“All right, I’ll believe you. Just don’t make it too borderline fictional.” -From "Press-ganged"
13,855 / 50,000
Jul 9, 2008 - 17 46
I totally know the feeling! I am going to cry when I "kill" Hunter! (techinically, being a ghost, he's dead. But when he finally moves on and we can't see him anymore, it will be sad!!!)
0 / 50,000
Jul 9, 2008 - 18 24
Can I have your muse? I KNOW my character needs to die and even how she's supposed to, but the danged ghost who is supposed to kill her won't even show up.
And I'm working on a deadline. This sucks. :/
50,576 / 50,000
Jul 9, 2008 - 18 29
I'd let you borrow her, but she's taking another vacation in the South Pacific right now... I must remember to have some words with her when she returns...
Good luck on your line (:
----------When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on!
NaNo2007:WON! ... FIRST YEAR!!!
Screnzy2008: Lost... painfully
“All right, I’ll believe you. Just don’t make it too borderline fictional.” -From "Press-ganged"
0 / 50,000
Jul 9, 2008 - 19 57
Heh. Killing characters is hard. I've tried to kill Jas in so many ways, but she refuses to die... DX I love her, but she's such a meanie to me...
77,000 / 50,000
Jul 10, 2008 - 01 54
If the story demands it, he has to die! It's not your fault., it's the story. ;-)
Heh, I remember once planning a story and I must have killed and revived this one guy about ten times before I bit the bullet and accepted that he had to die.
50,024 / 50,000
Jul 10, 2008 - 15 57
Er--am I the only one who thinks up ways to kill off my favourite characters for kicks? ^^;;; I must have five or six alternate endings to my story where my MC dies. Of course, he doesn't "really" die, since it's not part of the canon storyline, so...I guess it's not the same. If he actually had to die in the real story, I probably wouldn't be able to do it.
I thrive on writing angst, though, so I tend to kill a lot of characters off for fun in sidestories and the like without actually letting them die in the main story. >_>
----------ML for Russellville, AR
"I am a writer! Hear me vociferate!"
(A proud member of Thesauraholics Anonymous.)
50,576 / 50,000
Jul 10, 2008 - 16 33
Well, if that type of story, than yeah, I understand the need to kill off characters at random intervals. But mine isn't (though its a ship/war type of story) so I'm having a hard time with it because I've gotten so attached to this character. I seriously bawled the night my muse told me he was going to die. That he HAD to die. Grr...
----------When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on!
NaNo2007:WON! ... FIRST YEAR!!!
Screnzy2008: Lost... painfully
“All right, I’ll believe you. Just don’t make it too borderline fictional.” -From "Press-ganged"
0 / 50,000
Jul 11, 2008 - 07 05
Yeah I get the problem. One of my MC's Dual is destined to die at the end of my novel. She is a fantastic, amazing, beautiful character who does not deserve to die in the way that she does, but she has to...
It's really not fair because I am so attached to her and the next to novels in the trilogy won't be as much fun with out her in them.
51,949 / 50,000
Jul 11, 2008 - 07 51
You're not alone, Anshin. I don't think I could actually kill my favorite character in the canon storyline, but it's fun to imagine horrible deaths for him outside of that. It's also a good exercise to write them out. I often write sidestories for my characters, only some of which become canon - most of those are backstory.
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NaNo 2006: Steel Bars - 59,233 words
Screnzy 2007: The Enchanted Forest - won
NaNo 2007: Turning Beetles into Buttons - 51,949 words
Screnzy 2008: Simple Gifts - 43 pages total & Butterfly - 9 episodes
50,348 / 50,000
Jul 11, 2008 - 10 37
Um, how can your character experience 'character growth' if he's dead? :)
75,201 / 50,000
Jul 11, 2008 - 12 22
I end up writing my fave characters deaths very often... I'll kill off the same character 10 or 12 different ways, just so I can get the killing him out of the way, and find a way to write it without killing him. Sometimes it works, usually it doesn't. By writing different death scenes sometimes I can find ways around it... say the death scene happens, but he somehow lives through it.
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How to Start a Publishing Company
Creating Character Profiles
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0 / 50,000
Jul 11, 2008 - 12 29
At least they're getting the release of Death, all of the scenarios that come to mind for my favorite character are MUCH worse than death.
Not to mention that as part of my storyline, ALL the main characters die, in canon. It can't be helped.
50,103 / 50,000
Jul 11, 2008 - 15 56
I am an Author. Within my fantasy realm, I am practically all-powerful. The lives and deaths of these characters are in my hand. *thunderclap*
That said, I don't kill off major characters lightly. Only if the following criteria are met:
a) It moves the story forward, and after exploring various possibilities is found to be, in fact, the best way (in my opinion as Author) to advance the story.
b) There is realistically no way everyone can get through this little escapade intact.
c) There is no chance of there being better sequels with this character around than there would be without him or her.
d) I really want to tell this particular story. If death is the only way to advance the story, I must make certain that I want this story. If not, I may change the story. I, the Author, am allowed to change the story at whim, because I am the Author.
e) It must be in-character that this one dies. The characters shall agree that they risk their lives for a worthy cause, whatever that is in their opinions. Or realistically fall victim to a great tragedy or accident. Or simply become very old.
f) The death is central to this story, not something thrown in there just so a character dies.
This criteria only applies to major characters -- not the minor ones.
I'm not saying you have to follow my personal criteria; just sharing my opinion.
----------"Be nice to the imaginary people. Don't kill too many." -- e-mail from my youngest sister, June 23, 2008
0 / 50,000
Jul 11, 2008 - 20 58
The original idea for my novel was an absolute bloodbath. It was ridiculous thinking back. The book literally ended with the character's lover, friend, and sister (and father earlier) all surrounding her stone-cold dead. She would've spent the next ten chapters of the sequel in therapy!
Now I'm slightly cheating in that no main characters who die will actually leave the novel. E.g. one of my characters comes in quite near the end, and she's very unsympathetic. Then she dies suddenly and horribly and later her backstory is explained properly, and then she manages to pluck herself out of the afterlife.
0 / 50,000
Jul 11, 2008 - 22 18
Alternatively, you could make your character the killer.
What?
That's what mine did!
50,576 / 50,000
Jul 12, 2008 - 07 20
That said, I don't kill off major characters lightly. Only if the following criteria are met:
a) It moves the story forward, and after exploring various possibilities is found to be, in fact, the best way (in my opinion as Author) to advance the story.
b) There is realistically no way everyone can get through this little escapade intact.
c) There is no chance of there being better sequels with this character around than there would be without him or her.
d) I really want to tell this particular story. If is the only way to advance the story, I must make certain that I want this story. If not, I may change the story. I, the Author, am allowed to change the story at whim, because I am the Author.
e) It must be in-character that this one dies. The characters shall agree that they risk their lives for a worthy cause, whatever that is in their opinions. Or realistically fall victim to a great tragedy or . Or simply become very old.
f) The is central to this story, not something thrown in there just so a character dies.
This criteria only applies to major characters -- not the minor ones.
I'm not saying you have to follow my personal criteria; just sharing my opinion.
Ah!!! ALL OF IT MEETS THE CRITERIA!!! Except for # c, there's no sequel.
When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on!
NaNo2007:WON! ... FIRST YEAR!!!
----------Screnzy2008: Lost... painfully
When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on!
NaNo2007:WON! ... FIRST YEAR!!!
Screnzy2008: Lost... painfully
“All right, I’ll believe you. Just don’t make it too borderline fictional.” -From "Press-ganged"
0 / 50,000
Jul 12, 2008 - 09 50
I have three major characters die in my story. Major as in practically the MC. These three are also the first three characters I thought of, so it's a little sad.
0 / 50,000
Jul 12, 2008 - 11 32
Freya, kill the dude and celebrate. Afterall, you and your MC get to advance in growth. His death will enhance his powers of fictional immortality!
jade
I write white on white. It's easier to edit that way! LOL
50,378 / 50,000
Jul 12, 2008 - 23 09
Man, I almost wished I killed my favorite character. Instead, I forced him to seal himself in a hellish, unknown world for the rest of his life to save someone he loves. Then I decided that a split personality of his that he thought was gone would come back permanently. And then I realized that, no matter how much I wanted to give him a happy ending, he would never see any of his friends or family again. He even gets the opportunity to go back, but sends someone else instead, because she had a job to do there.
On a brighter note, I've never actually determined how he dies, so his ending is still a mystery. I may find a use for him again in the tangled web of plots I tied together.
50,596 / 50,000
Jul 13, 2008 - 02 02
Yep. I had this problem and was close to tears. I made a character about 5 years ago and he is the only remaining character from my old, old story series. When I knew he had to die in order for plot development, and only he could die cause no one else's death could cause the same effect, I was heartbroken. Luckily I've found a way around his permanent death....sort of...
----------"Everything has a color. Except water. It's clear."-My eight year-old cousin.
50,269 / 50,000
Jul 13, 2008 - 06 31
The other characters grow from the death. Sorry for not making that clear.
Buuuut, if your story deals with ghosts or the Force or something that allows the dead to appear and talk to others, then I suppose the dead character could.
----------Screnzy '08:
No ideas, no outlines, no time. Let's see how well I do.
76/100 pages.
1,029 / 50,000
Jul 13, 2008 - 12 20
I'm feeling the same, my character Veron *has* to die. There are a number of reasons behind this - including succession, giving my MC a motive for future events and because not everyone can survive.
I'm attatched to him, far too much so and I'd love to find a way to save him. Nothing seems to work though, because I know he has to die. Not only because of the above, but because I'm attatched to him. In books/tv/films/etc my favourite character always dies. My predictions on who will survive/die are often correct, and I sometimes use this in my writing too. Therefore, Veron has to die.
It's going to be hard to do, and I'm still trying to find a way out of it, because I don't want to do it - but I'm also resolved to do it.
50,125 / 50,000
Jul 14, 2008 - 09 33
Draw it out further by having a random man named, say, Renaldo, jump into the path of the favorite character's death thus saving him once again. Like... each time. The same guy named, say, Renaldo. Eventually you'll figure out a better way to do it and let your character to go in peace.
50,103 / 50,000
Jul 14, 2008 - 10 12
I actually never feel too bad about the character that dies. They get release from all the misery I put them through in the story.
It's the ones that are left that really make things hard. The ones who miss them and didn't want them to go. Now I need to go write about one of my favorite characters' finding his wife dead. That's going to be a rough scene. And things get steadily worse for him from there. And this is only a short story, darn it!
----------"Be nice to the imaginary people. Don't kill too many." -- e-mail from my youngest sister, June 23, 2008
0 / 50,000
Jul 18, 2008 - 06 46
Are you familiar with the phrase 'kill your darlings'?
Well here goes nothing:
No one gives a damn how you feel about your characters. You're not writing a diary entry, you're writing a story, and what matters is the feelings you produce in the reader. If you've gotten the reader to fall for this character then his/her death will have an emotional impact. But trust me: the psychodrama you're living out, in which your personal feelings about the character are making it impossible for you to continue writing...that's pure amateur hour crap. Everyone goes through it, and there's a wrong and a right response. The wrong one means compromising your story because your adolescent fixations and neuroses prevent you from going forward, because you're more interested in your daily make-believe than in writing a story that people other than you will read.
The right response is the other thing.
All this stuff that's precious to you is getting in the way of you telling a good story.