Viqto

I have a couple questions about this, any and all advice is appreciated.

I'm planning on killing off a main character (not THE main character) at some point in my book, but I want to know, should it be dramatic (the killing blow) or should just the reaction from the other characters be dramatic?

How do you know when it's overdone?

I feel kind of out of place on this subject but hopefully you can help.

__________________
"A quill won't dip itself."

~Mr. Searle, my English teacher from High School

Archduke Robert of France

Well in some of my previous works, when even a minor character died, it brought the whole book down with it. What I did learn, is not to make it overly emotional, or a scene where Requiem Mass in D would be playing in the background.

__________________
Toute me grêle, l'Archiduc de France !

World's BEST Avatars
WF's offical Francophile / Europhile

Emerson Darkness

killing such an important character can make your readers almost fear to turn the next page. But the extent of dramatic play involved in such a thing would really depend on the actual mood of your story.

If it doesn't seem to fit, then perhaps you have over or under done it on the drama. Think about how you would feel if someone like that died, and write your scenes accordingly.

Try to get in touch with your characters as if they were your brother, or something. That might help in judging the emotional worth of certain occurances.

MSTK

Here are some times when killing off a character jumps out and is jarring in a work of fiction (or real life) for me --
-- When the character dies and his main conflict is unresolved, or he is in the process of something greater, and the death seems overly random at the time. I always think of Steve Irwin as an example of this, for some reason.
-- When the character receives an epiphany, such as "This is it! I know how to live my life now! I've been in the dark all this time, but now I can truly be happy." And then he/she dies.

I'm not sure how that would help, but those are times when killing off a character can receive a lot of emotion. Sometimes their death alone can be enough, without any added melodramatic touches.

Unfortunately I've found that if you don't resolve their deaths you'll have readers unhappy.

That, or the ghost of the character will haunt you in your dreams and ask you why you killed him/her off.

__________________
--

imrhati

Best character kill off ever (from Woken Furies by Richard Morgan):

The main character fights with a clone of himself at a younger age. He bests the younger version. He screams at the younger version to show that he can find a way not to screw up like the main character did. The younger version wlaks away, and i suddenly blown limb from limb by one of the original's allies.

__________________
Super humans need love too!
____________________________________________
If your story is critiqued please take the five minutes to repay the favor.

Puzzler

I love fear. I hate it when fear isn't possible and you know certain characters can't croak. But, the death of a character should be dramatic, but of course not too dramatic.
Read it over. You'll know when it's right.

Don't be like. "The second main character, Stevo, died... His friends stared, then cried, then went for ice cream."

Spend a page, at least, describing the grief (unless the characters are in the middle of a battle of some sort--then they shouldn't stop to risk their own lives. And a battle would actually be more dramatic, because you can mention the death during the battle, but the characters might not notice it 'till after.)

silverwriter

I always kill at least one major player in all my novels.

If you're worried about it being overdone, I'd suggest writing it a few different ways - one with the emphasis on the death, one with the emphasis on the reaction, etc and see which one you like best. If you can't decide which one is best and/or you're still concerned about it being overdone, have other people read it and give you their opinions.

__________________

RoyGBiv

Over a year ago you wrote that you were addicted to the sudoku puzzle. Has that obsession continued to this day. If not what do you think was the basis for diminished interest ? and how long ago ?

lisajane

I kill my characters all the time. Probably the best character death I've had was when I gave a character multiple personalities, and one personality encouraged the real personality to kill itself so the first one could be by itself, and when the real personality did so, the first personality didn't realise that they would both die.

You first should work out if it's necessary for the character to die, and then work out what sort of impact the death would have on the other characters, then decide in your novel, why and where are there appropriate places for the death to occur.

__________________
'Beauty stands and waits with gravity to start her death-defying leap. And he, a little charleychaplin man, who may or may not catch her fair eternal form spreadeagled in the empty air of existence.' - Laurence Felinghetti, 'The Acrobat'

Viqto

uhhh?

/scratches head

I actually have never played, nor liked sudoku...

Anyways, thank you all for your ideas. They've given me a lot to think about and hopefully I'll be able to pull something out of all of it.

Oh and lisajane, this particular death is meaningful only in the respect that it will isolate the main character further. The book is centered around the main character overcoming his own demons to reach out and find meaning in his life when no one else will. The death of the one person who finally recognizes his worth will be quite a trial for him.

Once again, thank you all!

__________________
"A quill won't dip itself."

~Mr. Searle, my English teacher from High School

Loulou

I love to kill characters. But I do think there should always be 'reason.' They die for a cause, they die after fulfilling an objective, die for another, their death sets other important events in motion, etc. Don't just kill someone for the hell of it, out of the blue. This may really irritate your reader.
Viqto you sound like you have good reason for your death.
In a novel I finished recently I kill my main character at the end. It's valid as she has changed her entire life in one day. And she has to die in order to alter the life of another character, a child, to great extent.

__________________
You attempt to pull four story lines together in two-thousand words and nearly pull it off - Eggo
We rarely buy unsolicited manuscripts, but my editor and I thought that this was a superior piece of fiction - Sunday Express magazine

bheid1.01

I always kill at least one major player in all my novels.

If you're worried about it being overdone, I'd suggest writing it a few different ways - one with the emphasis on the death, one with the emphasis on the reaction, etc and see which one you like best. If you can't decide which one is best and/or you're still concerned about it being overdone, have other people read it and give you their opinions.

__________________
NaNoWriMo participant.

(working) title: Something Blasphemous.
Words so far: 4013

bheid1.01

I always kill at least one major player in all my novels.

If you're worried about it being overdone, I'd suggest writing it a few different ways - one with the emphasis on the death, one with the emphasis on the reaction, etc and see which one you like best. If you can't decide which one is best and/or you're still concerned about it being overdone, have other people read it and give you their opinions.

__________________
NaNoWriMo participant.

(working) title: Something Blasphemous.
Words so far: 4013

silverwriter

Not sure if I should feel flattered or uneasy.

I'll go with uneasy.

__________________

Bika

Good choice, there, silver.
I'd suggest reading some Stephen Erikson. He kills major characters off in a way that works quite well with the story.

__________________