Thread: How many deaths is too many?

I'm new to this forum, so first off let me say hi.

K, here's my question.

I'm working on a novel right now in which I have 3 characters set to die. It's not an action-packed story, nor is it a murder mystery or anything of that nature. The plot is much more character-focused and spans roughly a 6 or 7 year period. The first 2 deaths are secondary characters, but the third (final) death is a main character. The first 2 don't necessarily have to die, but they do need to be eliminated from the story. My concern is that the reader will have become apathetic or "numb" to the impact of death by the time the main character dies; and thus it will have less of an affect on them than I want. However, a good part of me also believes that if I write it well enough, it'll work.

I would really appreciate any thoughts/input on this.

Thanks!

I had eight deaths in a recent novel. Granted, it was a thriller but I don't think you can put a number on how many deaths there can be in a piece of work. The only reason I'd be worried is if you were using death gratuitously, which you aren't. I don't think there should be a problem. Plus, it sounds like a lot of prose separates each death. That gives the reader time to mourn (if necessary) and means that you don't overload them with death all at once.

Go for it.

We've been viewing death in movies, especially the action sort, over and over and I imagine I am not the only one jaded. I don't cry over those deaths.

The one's where the impact is huge, where I do cry is when I've known the character, and they leave loved one's behind. Someone's death is a change of form for me, and so the grief is essentially for those left to live without their loved one, their mother, father, brother...and so this is what you would want to build for an emotional ending. I think you can even bring death close for those you've not known long, if you can gather a bit of history, love and reason for being, around them.

All depends on how you write it.

10 deaths per novel is usually the limit according to official guidelines -- you might be able to get away with 11, if you really want to push it.

Thank you all so much for your responses (and encouragment). Yeah, there's definitely going to be a considerable amount of prose in between each death and a lot of development for the main characters. And my primary focus regarding the death of one of my main characters is the impact that the loss has on those still living - specifically, my other main character.

I'm going for it. Sounds like it'll work just fine.

Thanks again! I really appreciate it.

Three deaths in six years? That's fine.

It might matter who dies and how. If you just need to get rid of characters, you might not want the reader to be very emotionally invested in them before you kill them off.

Make the first two deaths poignant. In my novel Eternal I described a minor character's death by never waking next to her husmand ever again or the delight of putting brush to canvas. Put meaning into it as per each character. Anyway, that's just me, I guess.

Thank you all for your input. There's some great advice here and I'm taking it all in. I think I'll just play around with it a little to determine exactly how I want to present it. I think I can keep the emotional investment in my secondary characters low, without devaluing their lives or the loss that others will experience.

And mockingbird, I really like what you did there. I might try that approach.

Thanks again, guys

Hi Misti,
To be honest, without knowing what you are trying to do, what tone or style the book is intended to have, I cannot be specific, so all I can do is explain my own feelings about what I am writing. I don't like killing characters, unless I'm forced too. It sets a morbid tone to the rest of the story. I prefer light and fluffy, unless I am using dark humour. A death sends reverberations throughout the story, colouring other characters behaviour. It adds another strand of emotion that everyone who knew or interacted with the departed has to exhibit. If a story requires or can exploit such a feature, then I will use it, otherwise being lazy I will live and let live.

Mockingbird has proposed a brilliant way to convey the bereavement. I will probably steal it.
Good luck
Bazz

In the actual life, say a novel trying to be as realistic as possible, I would say now more than three or four but if you are writing something a bit more poeticly morbid then there is no limit to the death.

Notes don't make the music, it's the silences between the notes. That's a load of poetic bull, but the sentiment is right. If you want to make the impact of the deaths remain strong, then remember to pay attention to the rising tension before the deaths, and remember to ease the reader back down after, so they let their guard down again.

I don't think three is too many. But, if you want the main character's death to be a surprise, maybe you should write out one of the support characters in a different way. Two establishes a pattern and allows prediction. Once two people have died, and we know there's a significant chunk of story left, we'll be waiting for a third person to die, even if only subconsciously.