Brandon 2
KitaShould I kill him?
February 25th 2008 12:18
One of the great questions that authors face is the question of killing off characters. When should I, etc. This list should help out.
YES IF:
• It is integral to the plot. You can’t have a war story where everybody lives. You can’t write the story of Jack the ripper without a few murders. And if when you think up the idea, it’s a death of a character that sets of a catastrophic chain of events, keep it like that.
• You’re creating a moral Universe. I don’t mean this in a kind of spiritual sense as such, but rather if you want to create a world in which your characters are punished for their flaws. Shakespearian tragedy is the best place to go for examples – if we look at any of his tragic heroes (or indeed at the tragic heroes of Greek drama too) they tend to find their mortal coils shuffled off as a result of their fatal flaws – too proud, to quick falling in love, too filled with vengeance.
• The emotional impact is worth it. Not saying you should go, ‘oh how do I make an emotional impact here? I know, I’ll kill people!’. But if you do want to kill of a main character and are uncertain, ask yourself if it makes an important and valuable emotional contribution to the narrative. If yes, drop him off that cliff. If no, maybe hold off; otherwise all you’ll do is irritate your readers.
• You want to keep verisimilitude. Verisimilitude is a big damn word meaning ‘it feels real’. A man waking up finding himself in the age of dinosaurs and running off to start making supplies might not have verisimilitude, but if the same man spend the first chapter running around, yelling, thinking he’s hallucinating, etc, then you might have a ‘sense’ or realism, even though it isn’t real. Now, if you’re going for that real feel then you know an audience can handle a man landing in the age of dinosaurs. However, they’ll have trouble with a group of friends meeting dozens of dangerous situations and never coming to grief. If you want to lessen the blow a missing limb or mortal wound might be just as good, but it’s ok to go for the kill on this one.
• If you want readers to feel angry about an issue. Nobody cares about issues; Anorexia, Rape, Murder, Inequality, Economic Impoverishment blah blah blah. People care about PEOPLE. Now often an issue will affect your character enough to not need to kill somebody, but often the rage of a sudden fatal incident will be enough to really give the narrative a profound intensity. I once read a book, where the main dude had this girlfriend he loved and adored. Then all of a sudden; her father kills her and her family. It’s shocking, but it really compels the reader to connect emotionally to an issue that’s otherwise disconnected from their everyday life.
A good book to read on this topic is Alan Bailies 'China Coin'.
YES IF:
• It is integral to the plot. You can’t have a war story where everybody lives. You can’t write the story of Jack the ripper without a few murders. And if when you think up the idea, it’s a death of a character that sets of a catastrophic chain of events, keep it like that.
• You’re creating a moral Universe. I don’t mean this in a kind of spiritual sense as such, but rather if you want to create a world in which your characters are punished for their flaws. Shakespearian tragedy is the best place to go for examples – if we look at any of his tragic heroes (or indeed at the tragic heroes of Greek drama too) they tend to find their mortal coils shuffled off as a result of their fatal flaws – too proud, to quick falling in love, too filled with vengeance.
• The emotional impact is worth it. Not saying you should go, ‘oh how do I make an emotional impact here? I know, I’ll kill people!’. But if you do want to kill of a main character and are uncertain, ask yourself if it makes an important and valuable emotional contribution to the narrative. If yes, drop him off that cliff. If no, maybe hold off; otherwise all you’ll do is irritate your readers.
• You want to keep verisimilitude. Verisimilitude is a big damn word meaning ‘it feels real’. A man waking up finding himself in the age of dinosaurs and running off to start making supplies might not have verisimilitude, but if the same man spend the first chapter running around, yelling, thinking he’s hallucinating, etc, then you might have a ‘sense’ or realism, even though it isn’t real. Now, if you’re going for that real feel then you know an audience can handle a man landing in the age of dinosaurs. However, they’ll have trouble with a group of friends meeting dozens of dangerous situations and never coming to grief. If you want to lessen the blow a missing limb or mortal wound might be just as good, but it’s ok to go for the kill on this one.
• If you want readers to feel angry about an issue. Nobody cares about issues; Anorexia, Rape, Murder, Inequality, Economic Impoverishment blah blah blah. People care about PEOPLE. Now often an issue will affect your character enough to not need to kill somebody, but often the rage of a sudden fatal incident will be enough to really give the narrative a profound intensity. I once read a book, where the main dude had this girlfriend he loved and adored. Then all of a sudden; her father kills her and her family. It’s shocking, but it really compels the reader to connect emotionally to an issue that’s otherwise disconnected from their everyday life.
A good book to read on this topic is Alan Bailies 'China Coin'.
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