Sometimes Characters Die
I was writing really well yesterday. I was flying through scenes and words, creating some beautiful work, when I reached a heated moment. As I wrote it, realizing where it was going, I suddenly noted I was backed into a corner. Only 12000 words in I had given a ultimatum to myself: kill main character a or b. There was no way around it. Two very determined individuals were stuck in a pit with a knife. And in that moment I was torn. It wasn’t how do I write myself out of this. It was, who do I kill?
I picked. There’s nothing to be done for it. I need to just move on now and accept the tragedy at hand. Life is a cruel mistress, just in novels it’s more a reflection of a writer’s issues. Did I mention a character was castrated? Lots of issues. Reek!
How do you handle character death? Have you ever back peddled or explained it away? Or do you chase down death?
9 Comments on “Sometimes Characters Die”
Leave a Reply
Other fascinating reads
Plan the deaths, and find a logical way to achieve them. Slightly macabre, but stories need emotional impact…
Yeah. Planned deaths are good.
Who says anyone has to die? It’s your fantasy Mr. Davis. 🙂
~~~~★Felicia
Well my fantasy is pretty dark. I think the phrase is valore morghus? All men must die 😛 Do you generally keep them alive?
Nawww… I side with the darkness as well, but since we are the mad creators we can do as we please. No rules is the best rule. You have a white tie on….so there must be a ray of light in there somewhere?! HaHa…. Symbolically of course!!
~~~~~★Felicia
I have not written fiction in a couple years but man…. I killed people all over the place. I always wondered if there was something else going on inside haha.. But yeah– death, it’s part of life, riiiiight?!
Ha maybe that’s the view I need. I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon.
What’s that they say..? “Kill your darlings” If you take it literally, maybe it’ll ease the blow…
Pingback: And Random Sex Scene | Paul Davis