Killing a character...

I can't be the only person who feels this...

There's always a time, for me, when one of the more important or iconic characters in my stories has to die. Sometimes, however, I find it quite hard to kill them off... They're are like my children! I get attached to them and don't want them to die!

Anyone else get this, or am I just an obsessive writer?

I do.

I had to kill off my favourite character but he had to die else the book would not have progressed as i wanted it to.

Kill them off in a very noble way. that is how i get over having to kill them off. For example if your characters are against overwhelming odds make them the one who stays behind to bar the path.

It takes me a long way to think upo a noble death fro my favourites.

I can't kill my favourite characters But I guess that I don't really write with a story plan in my mind so it dosen't really matter if they die or if they don't. I love my characters like my children too lol, I think every writer has to have some attachemnt to the character or the story would just be no good, if the writer is not interested in them then the reader won't be.

But if you need to kill someone off I would do what Jules said, give them a noble death, then you won't feel so bad for killing them, i guess? lol

Meevs
x

I do!

I love my characters.

Maybe some don't realize it, but all the characters you create have a little bit of you in them...and it hurts to kill them.
Especially MCs.

It's a sign of a amateur writer that they don't want anything bad to happen to their characters. Heh, there I go, showing my weakness

In some ways, I want to hold on to my characters, and make sure they always live happily ever after, but in other ways, I like killing them off, and I make their deaths dramatic in a simple way because I feel like that's the last thing I can do for them.

Cor, that sounds so dramatic, but I think y'all know what I mean. Like you said, Jules. Give them death with honour.

-Twit

Jules the jester wrote:I do.

I had to kill off my favourite character but he had to die else the book would not have progressed as i wanted it to.

Kill them off in a very noble way. that is how i get over having to kill them off. For example if your characters are against overwhelming odds make them the one who stays behind to bar the path.

It takes me a long way to think upo a noble death fro my favourites.

That's all well and good, but it's so cliche. The amount of things, usually films, you see where the character heroically sacrifices himself for the good of mankind... too many times.

Of course, go ahead with a "noble" death if you want, just make it original.

One thing I do think is important is that you keep the character consistent up until the very end. That is, if they've been cowardly for the whole thing, and you're not trying to show a change in their character, then they're not going to be all heroic and brave in the face of death. They're going to run. And vice versa.

-Kaz

I'm going to go ahead and move this to Writing Tips -- I feel it's best suited there.

Huh... cool stuff

I have a character who is going to get killed in my later chapters. Thing is, though, he doesn't dramatically dive in front of anybody to take a shot. He just gets shot in the chest and dies a few hours later. He's the youngest character in the entire story too!

I keep thinking that I'm cruel doing that... But, hey, makes the story a lot more tragic. Somebody important needed to die, or death isn't taken as seriously as I would have wanted it to be!

Bah!

Uhm. Well.

Hm... I *cough cough* absolutely love *cough cough* killing off characters. Really.

I kill them all, eventually. I like writing the scened :S

Yeaah....But I feel a bit spoiled if I don't kill my character off. Like, I'm trying too hard to hang onto them.

I had to kill off a character in an RP once.

Gawd, I think I cried for an hour since I liked that character alot.

Actually, I killed off two characters: Tris and her boyfriend.

It was quite heartbreaking.

But I think that, even if it seems like a trifle problem, it's for the best. I mean, how else will you learn to keep the book going?

Besides, it makes it more interesting. That is, if you can make yourself cry while killing off a character, that means that you can probably make others cry. Evoking such strong emotions that way is one of your best conquests yet.

So...I have, before.

That always makes me sad. I'm equally sad when I realize part way through my story that there are characters who don't really serve a purpose, or two characters who could be combined into one. I think these are especially sad because I still like these characters, but they're not important enough to keep around.

I already know whos going to die in my story before i've even fell in love with my characters XD So it's not really hurting me at the moment ;P

Tyd wrote:I already know whos going to die in my story before i've even fell in love with my characters XD So it's not really hurting me at the moment ;P

Same with me. I like them, but I'm not at the "please don't make me kill them" phase. I daresay that, when I get to the point, it will be more than difficult to carry out the act.

in albert varitorum's work in progress the secondary character, Walst, the moronic theif, pushes a completely random guy off a clif for no reason. until you read the footnote of course. "the editor demanded of me to kill off a character to create suspense, somethning apperantly i lack, and so i made Walst push a random guy off a cliff because i didn't want to waste any time developing a character"

HEH JACOBS COOL!!!!

Sometimes I create a character just because I need someone to die! But, even then, I get attached to them and don't want them to die... there's no escaping the guilt!