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How to kill a character (without killing yourself)



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Wed Jul 25, 2012 10:42 pm
SidereaAquila says...



I'm having a little problem with my character's death scene. Not with the scene itself--with my horror and reluctance to kill said character. I'm about two thirds of the way through my novella, which means I'm that much closer to having to kill this guy. Will is one of my all-time favorite characters. Unfortunately, he was a goner from the second I started writing. I'm not going to back out and suddenly decide to save him; his death is a central plot point...but still. The worst part is that he knows he's going to die for about eight hours before he actually does, and he narrates half the chapters. I've tried to write this scene before, and I've never gotten all the way through. I feel kind of queasy whenever I try to write it. Any tips for a psychotic writer who's too attached to her characters?
Skittles: Taste the Spectrum

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Thu Jul 26, 2012 11:35 pm
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Nook says...



Well, all you can do is just pucker up your courage and jot down the death scene. If a main character must die to get the plotline going, then it must be done. Just...imagine, instead of a good guy, Will is actually the bad guy.
(Even though this might be hard to do) And just kill him.

Another thing you can do is just empty your mind of everything but the words you're going to write down. Don't feel anything. Just write. And finish the scene. That's to say, go numb.

That's all I can suggest now. ^^"
But good luck writing!
HERE>>OTAKU FOR LIFE<<HERE
"People's feelings are memories that transcend time[that's why they're so hard to forget]." - Steins;Gate(Makise)
"I'm not stupid. I'm just too lazy to show how smart I am." -Hyouka(Oreki)
  





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Fri Jul 27, 2012 12:04 am
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KatKage says...



Hmmm, that's tough ^^ I can get what your feeling; Characters are like your babies ^^''

You can totally go Aqua's way ^u^ it's pretty good ^u^ If that doesn't work, then you just need to toughen through ^u^ You see, If you cry when this character dies, if you are emotional about it, then your readers will cry too ^^ they'll be struck emotionally like you were ^u^ (perhapns not as much as you, but still ^u^) That's the reason why we write, yah? ^^ for people to fall in love with our characters and react to the things they do ^^ even if it's death ^^''

Sometimes you just need to power through it. Take for example when I'm at physical therapy for my knee. I need to go 10 min. on a bike. It hurts, and i know it hurts, but you have to do it for the greater good. A break or two is fine, but shoot to get it over with ^^

There's nothing wrong with being attached to your characters, or for feeling bad when they die or are hurt emotionally/physically ^^ You just got to write down their legacy how it happens. They deserve that, don't they? ^u^
I am a Leaf on the Wind,
Watch me Soar
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Kyrie Eleison down the road that I must travel,
Kyrie Eleison through darkness of the night
  





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Fri Jul 27, 2012 12:06 am
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Nook says...



Well said, Kat. Well said.
HERE>>OTAKU FOR LIFE<<HERE
"People's feelings are memories that transcend time[that's why they're so hard to forget]." - Steins;Gate(Makise)
"I'm not stupid. I'm just too lazy to show how smart I am." -Hyouka(Oreki)
  





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Fri Jul 27, 2012 12:07 am
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KatKage says...



right back at you Aqua~chama ^u^
I am a Leaf on the Wind,
Watch me Soar
~
Kyrie Eleison down the road that I must travel,
Kyrie Eleison through darkness of the night
  





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Fri Jul 27, 2012 12:30 am
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Kit says...



Slightly unorthodox idea, but talk to them about it. Write a short piece, not for your main story, about them sitting on your desk as you're writing, raiding your fridge, trying to get attention, bagging you out for killing them off in the story when they were the best thing that every happened to you, etc. Just because they're dead in the main narrative doesn't mean they have to leave you altogether.

Some authors reuse characters again and again, even when they die in one or another, under different names or not. Boccaccio, an Italian writer from the Renaissance, created a brilliant, complex character based on a chick he had a crush on, used the character in 12 different things, from the first psychological novel, to sonnets, to a Greek tragedy, to a hilarious collection of short stories among others.

We're writers, we're omnipotent. Fictional death has no sway over us.
Princess of Parataxis, Mistress of Manichean McGuffins
  





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Fri Jul 27, 2012 3:37 am
SidereaAquila says...



Thanks for the ideas, everyone! Very helpful.
Skittles: Taste the Spectrum

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Wed Aug 08, 2012 3:37 pm
JOV97 says...



Let your pain leach through into what you are writing. It will make what you are saying much more real.
You're my favourite.
  





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Mon Aug 13, 2012 12:04 am
Blues says...



Awh. I honestly feel for you - that sucks! I remember having tears in my eyes when I wrote my first death scene - I wrote as much as I could trying to postpone having to write the bit where he dies too. It's amazing how we can get attached to our characters.

When I wrote my death scene, the killer and the victim were in the same room for hours while the victim took in his surroundings so that the killer and victim had time to accept what was going to happen. (The killer was reluctant to kill the victim as well, but it simply had to be done.) It seems that it's the same for you.

Imagine you're going to die. You know you will or you think you will. What would you do? I presume you'd take in your surroundings. Even the smallest detail will seem significant. The exact shade of the wood. The weather.

Then there's the other things:
- Your family. How would they react?
- Regrets and dreams that you could have done.
- Trying to find a way out of their situation. Daydreams about the future that are tied to you escaping.
- Wondering about death. Will it hurt? What's on the other side? Is there a God? What if there was?

It'd be the last time you'd hear, see, touch, taste, smell, do, feel, exist and stand (on Earth) at least. So think about all the things you'd want to do that you can do before you die.

Hope that was useful :)
  





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Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:01 pm
queenofscience says...



Characters are like my babies... I love them (even my evil one). Sometimes, i have a love/hate relationship with them. Seriously, i have character who is soo annoying/ is a jerk, but i like her when she finally become friends with my main character.

Character are like people, they act certain ways, you love them or hate them. You fell sorry for them etc. Yep, I get attached to some of them.

Writing can also be emotional, too
I am the science and science fiction guru.

The mind is beautiful, yet brilliant. You can think, create, and imagine so many things.

Eugenics= scientific racism.
  








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