Young Writers Society

Hey guys, it's Mephis.

I'm writing a book in the present day, and I read over it many times, and jutted down some notes. What was that note about? you might wonder; well, it was the character deaths in the novel. As in, minor or major, if a person dies or is referred to being dead (ex : "...Tom’s dead, Mason...", etc) or if a person is directly dying, described as dying (ex : "...At that instant, he snapped Amaia’s neck...")

The result was shocking.

Implied character deaths : 24
Direct character deaths : 17

Thankfully, none of them were 'major' characters, which are only four characters in my book.

I began to wonder after looking at my own book; are so many deaths appropriate for a book? Or is a main character dying in the first 200 pages appropriate for a book? Is most main characters except for one dying a good idea?

How much death is enough? Where does the reader draw the line? How can deaths of your characters affect the story and the mood?

Please, if you wish to, share your thoughts about this topic.

Thank you!

Hmm. Interesting question.

I know a lot of published and well-respected writers love to kill off their characters, including the main character(s). I don't think there's an exact limit of how many characters you can/should kill off, though once the story starts to take on a gloomy, graveyard-type feel, you've probably killed off too many. XD

Are so many deaths appropriate for a book?

That's up to the writer. You have to ask yourself how well the deaths fit with the overall story. Are they necessary? Do they help the plot at all? Or are you just killing off characters for the hell of it or because you have too many?

Or is a main character dying in the first 200 pages appropriate for a book?

Since your story has a few main characters, I personally don't see anything wrong with that. Killing off one of the main characters within the first fifty pages, on the other hand, would be a bit... quick. But killing them off within two hundred... I think that's fine.

Is most main characters except for one dying a good idea?

Again, this is your call. You really need to step back and evaluate your book first and its topic. If it's supposed to be a cheerful book, I'd say no. If it's a darker story, then I think that's fine.

But again, these are my opinions. At the end of the day, you can't please everyone, so you should try to focus on what you want to happen instead and what you think is appropriate/the best idea.

How much death is enough? Where does the reader draw the line?

Hmm. It varies, I think. If a reader becomes particularly attached to one character, it'll probably sting a bit when that character is killed off, and they might object. But I don't think it's one number that a reader will hate. Whether you kill off ten or two, it all depends on the reasons why the characters were killed, how important their deaths are/were to the storyline, and how close the reader has bonded with said characters. There's not one exact answer.

How can deaths of your characters affect the story and the mood?

Quite a lot. As I said above, if it was a previously cheerful story, a death can entirely change that. It depends a lot on how the death happened, who the characters were, the storyline, et cetera. If it was a gloomy story that focuses heavily on death and what have you, then it probably won't change the mood of the tale quite as drastically—after all, that's what the story was about from the start.

Killing off important characters in shocking/unexpected ways can and will alter your story, and not always for the better.

Maybe you could tell us an overview of the story so we can get a better picture as to what these deaths would mean?

See: Game of Thrones. Three characters introduced in the prologue, all dead by the third page of chapter one. This is the start of a bloodbath.

See also: Psycho. MC killed off halfway through and we're given a new MC.

It really depends on how you're handling the deaths. If it's for shock value, readers are going to get tired of it. If you forget the dead characters and never have death be an emotional weight on the characters in their lives, that's going to raise some eyebrows. (It can work, but you have to plan for it)

Anything can work in writing. Anything can also fall apart. It really depends on how people take what you've read.

So if all of that is really needed, then by all means, write it. But think about:

- Why you're writing that death. Some situations simply lead to lots of deaths, while others have the death be a little much.
- How other characters react to that death. People you know dying changes you, even just a little.

See: Battle Royale

No. Don't see that. It's pretty gross. There are plenty of books where death is an ongoing theme and people die all the time, it does completely depend on what you're doing with them.

Rosie makes a good point about how it depends on how people take it. Action/horror fans won't mind so much, because they'll be used to watching people die left, right and centre. Romance fans probably won't be, so having too many deaths might seem overdone. Some people expect every death to matter and others won't care unless it's someone significant.

In my personal opinion I think the longer characters survive the more entangled they can get in the plot, and that's what I prefer. You could meet three different people in three different cities and have them die in three different ways, or you can meet the same person in three different cities and have them narrowly escape death every time. The latter is far more interesting.

Movies and books that have a lot of people dying for no reason irritate me, but my brother loves them. I don't think there's any right answer so go with what you want, and if something doesn't matter then make it matter.

Honestly it depends on the book! I remember stopping my first book because too many people died too quickly that all the characters felt really two dimentional. If you are going to kill off a lot make it count, choose carefully and at the right time.
I dunno if your familiar with a book series called Gone. In the last book I swear 5 main characters die in one chapter! But it still worked because the characters felt real and it made you sad.
Overall as long as it doesn't change your book into graveyard, as someone said above, it's fine.

It only works in books that actually present deep, main characters, because you grow attached to them. For instance, Tom Builder from "The Pillars of the Earth" and Eddard Stark from "A Game of Thrones".

In other books it doesn't work. I've seen it work in some Star Wars novels, but sometimes characters in books like that aren't particularly that interesting, even though I love Star Wars novels

Oh, and I've counted all of the main characters that will die in my book and I have counted about nine, and that is only for the character's who's point of view I narrate from, not even taking supporting characters into account! (it's a conceptual series of six ambitious books)

I love killing characters off. I feel like authors do it just to mess with the reader. At least, that is the case for me. I like messing with people.

It really comes down to the tone and mood of your novel.

I've watched shows and read novels where it was death after death--including main characters. However, if you choose to kill off so many, leave room for a few death scenes that really leave an impact on the reader. My favorite thing in the world (and perhaps my least favorite as well, aha..) has to be the tragedy of a character dying.

I recall a story where every chapter four people died, and once every two, at least one named character died, everyone was expendable, yet it was a popular story. (Forgot its name) Kill as much as needed as long as you have some reason behind it. Like a hopeless and dark world would fit the deaths.