I killed my character! http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480 MariaElaine So does anybody else feel guilty when a character dies? I am so heartbroken when one of my characters dies! It's really depressing, but it's really unavoidable, too. Sometimes I feel like I've killed my best friend. Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:53:37 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1085344 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1085344 Dragonchilde Moving to NaNoWriMo Ate My Soul (It's not off topic if it's about your novels and characters.) Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:12:59 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1088114 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1088114 larelmian I'm not afraid to kill characters; I've been doing it for years. One of my earliest novels was about the Willie and Martin handcart companies. If you know anything about them, you'll recall that many people died. So I had a family, and they lost both parents and two of the five children. The youngest was crippled too. The hardest death scene I ever wrote was Kieran's. I bawled for two days after I wrote it. It was necessary to get things to go the way I wanted. Really, I felt sorry for Micah, losing a father figure and close friend. I don't usually kill main characters, though. Lots of secondary ones end up dead. If they're the bad ones or very minor characters, then it's not a big deal. I know from the start they have to go. When it's a secondary character that the reader has gotten to know, yeah, it can be rough. I knew early on I'd kill a main character's father, but it's going to bite. And Jase -- I inwardly cringed when I realized I had to let him go in a dramatic and painful fashion. It will help the story, but he was such a nice character. Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:09:12 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1088532 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1088532 PenGryphon2007 Depending on the character, I'm usually a wreck. If it's an important, main character, I'll probably bawl. Or weep quietly to myself. The worst is when I don't see it coming and suddenly my fingers and the other characters betray me and there I am, staring at the corpse of a character. For Aurean Wolfdog Chronicles, I knew Nathan Hunter was slated to die. He has to so that his best friend can actually grow up and mature. But writing the scene was heartbreaking. Mostly due to the wolfdog that has taken to him so strongly--she refuses to leave his grave. ...hey, what can I say? I've read Summer of the Monkeys and Where the Red Fern Grows. If they can do the dog thing, so can I. But I agree. It's hard to kill a character. Especially since I ascribe to the "once they're dead, they're dead!" theory and don't bring them back, ever. (Maybe flashbacks, but that's it.) I usually don't kill characters though. Although Scion of Truth is bound to have a huge tally of deaths. Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:51:10 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1088746 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1088746 Dennis Dunjinman Most of my dead guys show up as already dead. One guy's dad was run over by a bus, one girl's mother had a sudden heart attack, and a few corpses strewn about had been there for some time. But killing people in generally isn't fun. And if someone dies, it better be for a good reason. Even if it's a reason like "He has nothing to do for the rest of the plot and I don't want him hanging around like a lame duck", it's certainly a lot better than "I'm going for the realistic approach, anyone can die so don't get too attached". Besides, how many times has a character been saved from death by sheer popularity and coolness? You see, as much potential as a cool character has, it's tough to work with them if you kill them off too early. I feel death should naturally come at the end of anyone's story, or there's going to be a lot of angry ghosts in that story. Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:09:53 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1089408 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1089408 larelmian Yeah, Dennis, I agree that there should be a reason. If I feel the author's killing off characters for the sake of killing them off, I won't get too attached. I won't get attached at all. If I am attached, I'll detatch myself so completely I might never read anything by that author again. I do have a couple of cool characters who bite the dust. But I'm planning prequels for them, so I can have a chance to play with them some more. Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:57:18 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1090814 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1090814 delorfinde I kill EVERYONE! Ha, not quite, but my main trilogy I'm working on is generally a tragedy and two main characters die in the first book, which was awful to write. I've rewritten it seven times, too, so I had to kill them seven times. With Jennie, I cried every time. With Alex, because he reminded me of a friend I was mad at, I enjoyed it far too much... Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:46:53 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1091073 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1091073 Angryman The only important character I've ever successfully killed off was someone who had to die. In the prologue. Yeah... The king of the ifrits had to die in order to reincarnate. I don't know too much about him, except that he was supposed to be a pretty good ruler (but a terrible measuring tape. Sorry, I couldn't resist the joke). I plan on exploring who he was more in a short story or two. Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:39:12 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1092097 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1092097 Angryman ...As soon as I read your first comment there, I thought that maybe it was YOU who truly wrote Hamlet. Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:40:11 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1092101 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1092101 ElliMelody One of my favorite characters had to die. I needed a reason for my MC to officially think of his sister as an enemy, so she killed his best friend of like 20 years. I loved that girl. I'll admit it. I cried as I wrote her death scene. No joke. But it did its job; my MC will never be the same, and now I see him as this slightly angry, depressed leader fo a werewolf pack, not an angsty teenager stuck in a 20 year old body. Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:40:59 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1093827 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1093827 Spuggey I have the following characters who are immune to death: Saskia, Jasira, Ramiro, Emilio, Ciro, Xavi and Zero. Anyone else, even the ones I like, is at risk. The most recent death is Sarah Brewster. She was a nice person and a good mum. Her family have never harmed anyone. Yet... It was a good plot point so... Sorry, Sarah (incidentally sorry to your kid as well.) I actually love the bad guys getting their comeuppance. Evil Alice taking a swan dive off a building? Priceless! Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:22:38 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1097855 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1097855 Kaserl I killed my favorite character last night... I knew this was coming since the last week of October, and I still cried a little bit, more than I did for any of my three uncles that have died. I miss you, Cory. Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:35:42 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1134006 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1134006 aliaswriter I had to kill my favorite character. It wasn't as hard for me as it otherwise have been if he wasn't already dead at the start of the book. I still had to write his death scene though later though, and that hurt. He was a good guy. Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:05:50 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1134232 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1134232 Obscurite_Asile I always kill off my characters (at least some of them) in the end so I'm kind of used to it. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 02:07:03 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1141181 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1141181 dancer_kirsten I absolutely cannot kill anyone. I tried to kill one of my slightly more minor main characters (her death was pretty necessary to the plot), and ended up scrapping that bit of the plot and bringing her back. I'm such a wuss ... Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:58:57 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1166599 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1166599 Zinerith If having the character die is really heart-wrenching for the author, then it usually is for the reader as well. And books like that usually get a ton of attention. When a character you love dies, it's hard to forget that character. Take The Hunger Games for example. (As far as I can go with that comparison without spoilers) Sun, 26 Feb 2012 22:17:18 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1173057 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1173057 Mell I had to kill a character yesterday and I felt so bad! He was a good guy and didn't deserve to die :( But it moves the plot forward and it was absolutely necessary. Sat, 03 Mar 2012 12:27:43 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1186650 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1186650 Telsanasee i've never killed a main character... only nearly though. And yes, when they come near to that i go crazy for a while but than i feel alright Tue, 06 Mar 2012 13:25:45 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1194022 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1194022 Chai Maya I'm not going to kill my SLI (secondary love interest of MC ... he's the one in the triangle who doesn't get the girl). BUT he will get lucky, accidentally get her pregnant (that'll be a false alarm), get possessed by the soul of a vampire, then get dumped. Poor thing; I really do love this character. Maybe it would be kinder to kill him quickly. But it's more fun this way, right? Writers are so sadistic Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:44:32 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1194354 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1194354 Collen I kill my characters often, mainly because I'm a big fan of Anyone Can Die. My novel starts off pretty okay, with characters escaping death and capture and stuff, but then after a major character dies near the end of the second ninth of the novel, things start to get real, and many secondary characters gradually start dying. Hey, it's a war, and it's not all sunshine-and-roses. People die, which leads to great satisfaction when the Big Bad is killed and then his army is finished off. In the middle of a torrential downpour. Why? Rule of Cool, that's why. Tue, 06 Mar 2012 18:13:50 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1194512 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1194512 Roka I haven't really killed any of my mains except for in a short story I made, 25k words. I was just messing around. It was a no-plot, cliche mess of things I usually make fun of. I did grow a bit attached to the two main characters, but I was fine when the story started getting dull and I figured out how to end it. Everything the main characters wanted to do was done, everyone was saved, yadda yadda... so then I decided to kill them in the most brutally mental way possible. Thu, 08 Mar 2012 22:07:21 -0430 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1199245 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nanowrimo-ate-my-soul/threads/49480?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1199245