Killing off a character.

[King Of Hearts]

What are your thoughts on it? Be it villians, heroes, side chacters...

I have a LOT of trouble when killing off my characters. Even the ones whom I created for the sole purpose of killing them off. I start giving them depth, making them lovable... then the next thing I know they are already two story arcs overdue for a dirt nap.

[Tapewolf]

I'm pretty new to this kind of creative writing, but I must admit I do have problems with it as well.  In the Jakob Pettersohn series, Azrael was invented for the sole purpose of dying to unhinge Jakob.  After the 'trip to Earth' arc it was really hard to actually kill him.

I'll admit I don't like killing villains either.  From Jakob's point of view this is easy to understand because he was a villain himself and he doesn't like the idea that anyone is irredeemable because it implies that he might be as well.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

That's one of the things I like about your writing, Tapewolf.

It's like a serial. You know -everyone- always comes back. :-]

(admittedly, that isn't always a good thing...)

[Tapewolf]

That's one of the things I like about your writing, Tapewolf.

It's like a serial. You know -everyone- always comes back. :-]
(admittedly, that isn't always a good thing...)

Tell me about it.  I was going to leave Lucien dead but chickened out in a moment of weakness.  Though it must be said, it provided a great punchline.

However I can assure you that the mayor of Mundesberg will not be returning in 'Future History'.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

That's ok. There's always more cannon fodder...

[Zina]

It's hard, especially when you've grown close to your characters. But sometimes you simply have to, in order to further the plot or deepen the development of another character. Character death ultimately makes your characters real. They can die, and the other characters will react to the death. Done right, and you've reached a new level of story telling. Done wrong, and it's just a cheap way to invoke emotion from your readers.
You should never kill off a character for the sake of killing them off (unless they're a bit character who's sole purpose was to die), but only if it enhances the plot somehow. I have plans on killing off some of my favorite characters in my comics(BECAUSE I LOVE THEM THAT MUCH).
Death is apart of life, and if you want to make your story 'real', someone is going to have to die.

[Manawolf]

I don't like, it, and pretty much it eventually just turns into a gimmick to piss off your readers and in some twisted way get them to want your stuff more.  I keep the dying to the villains, the sick bastards who actually deserve it.  Someone does have to die, and someone has to live, so it might be the hero.

And in terms of character deaths, like in Harry Potter, was it extremely obvious that the character that got killed in the Goblet of Fire didn't have to die?

[GabrielsThoughts]

its easy to kill characters of if...

you can't see their  faces or it is don off screen.

they are extras with no history and die within two pages.

EDIT: Also You cant just surprise your readers by killing off a leading character without warning, that really pisses them off. I had a full 5 page advance waning before the trigger was pulled that Curtis was going to die, even if it was a dream sequence the readers had advance warning.

[Fex]

or you could let them revive by some magic way thats what I am doing in my book wich I try to write .... after 11 earlyer attempts

[Roureem Egas]

I'm personally against directly killing off characters, be they villains or heroes. It's sort of an inverse relationship to me, where the more developed any character is, the less I want them killed. I agree that it could be a powerful tool for fleshing out other characters if done right, though.

It's something I'll have to keep in mind if I get off my butt and attempt writing something. ;/

[Zina]

I don't like, it, and pretty much it eventually just turns into a gimmick to piss off your readers and in some twisted way get them to want your stuff more.  I keep the dying to the villains, the sick bastards who actually deserve it.  Someone does have to die, and someone has to live, so it might be the hero.

And in terms of character deaths, like in Harry Potter, was it extremely obvious that the character that got killed in the Goblet of Fire didn't have to die?

Because in real life, people only die because they HAVE to or if they deserve it.

[Sunblink]

I seem to have a terrible habit of giving personalities and depth to characters who were originally only meant to die, making it increasingly painful to know that in the end, these characters will probably end up dead. I have an obsession with giving each character, no matter how miniscule or insignificant their role is, personalities, so this is almost unavoidable. One story which is an exception from this unspoken rule with my writing is a Soul Calibur fanfiction I'm working on which basically revolves around Tira's history, meaning blood and death for allll hooray yay huzzah.

An author should put a good deal of thought into the decision of killing off a character, especially a beloved one. Simply reviving the character would possibly ruin the impact of their death to begin with, and possibly that of their downfalls to come. Although even an impromptu revival can be done well, I'm still skeptical about bringing characters back to life unless it's absolutely necessary (such as for a brief character arc or development moment).

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Zedd]

Well lets see now..When ever someone dies in a story..Death isnt always the end so some of them might get a second chance or something of the unknown terms

[Alondro]

Well, that's one reason I created Charline.  Whenever I have to kill a character in a story, I assume her persona and laugh manically as blood sprays from their ravaged bodies.   

[Zedd]

And yet your her hidious punching bag?

[Alondro]

And yet your her hidious punching bag?

Zat's vat ve vanted you to think!  *Soviet tanks roll out from under parade floats.  Simpsons reference*   

[King Of Hearts]

I decided on a different way of killing of my characters.

I first finish the story arc, with the death and its consequences... then retroactively making the character likable/hatable developed.

I still feel sorry for the character, but I got good progression.

[RJ]

Blah, character death. Although I tell myself never get attached to a character, it's hard not to. But really, if you want to learn to become a good writer, you need to keep a certain distance from your story. Even if you're the writer, you still need to believe you're an observer who tells the story, not someone who's involved in it. That's what makes Mary Sue/Self-insert writers so hard to deal with, since they don't see that barrier (they're even too attached to let their characters get hurt, which is worse).

If your story needs a death, do it. Not everybody wins at life, sad but true. And you can make the characters likable too. It's what makes the death all too shocking to the readers. Sometimes you need a jolt to make sure the readers are still there.

Ugh, still, I'm really going to hate killing off a couple of my favourite characters in my fanfic in the future...

[Alondro]

It kinda helps when I insert myself into a story... since my own characters are always trying to kill me.. and succeed quite often.   

[Jigsaw Forte]

... I suppose I should add some input into this, since my own plot eventually ends up killing off a lot of the characters (they're criminals that're there to GET killed, come on now).

A lot of the decision into this is that I want to avoid Comic Book Syndrome. You know that Superman's always going to come back, or it's going to be a giant dream sequence or it'll be their alternate universe version that gets killed . . . things like that. If a character's going to die, they better STAY dead, dammit; unless you're setting things up that way from the beginning (and can foreshadow appropriately), if you intend to kill a character, keep 'em dead and show the body while you're at it.

I want to run the opposite route of dealing with killed (or soon-to-be) characters by making sure they get the spotlight they need before they go. It gives them more impact when you actually write them off. Admittedly, I tend to make sure that the ones that go are also the ones that have it coming one way or another . . . Killing decent characters/people is one thing, but even if you can get into the minds of certain characters, the fact still is they've got to go down sooner or later, and in the case of this story, they're going to go down hard.

Death is pointless enough in real life. At least make the fictional ones MEAN something.

[Jack McSlay]

that can be smoothed with non-cronological stories. you can kill a character but you can then branch his/her storyline adding a few sagas outside the main story. unless you have characters, like, that in the story were created for the mere purpose of killing someone, and then dying (yep, I have a char like that)

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Jack, have you read the rules?

I'm presuming you have. At least once. There's this rule in there about thread necromancy....