Killing off Characters

[Exarielle BlackLaw]

'Ello.
I just wondered about how some of my fellow writers feel about killing certain characters. For instance...

-When does it specifically add to the depth of the story?
-How do you think the reader generally feels?
-Is is possible to kill off too many characters?
-What about bringing characters back to life?

We can discuss these to begin with, and then go on from there. ^_^  

[Drathi]

1. Depends on who is killed.

2. Depends on who is killed.

3. Depends on who is killed, but if it's protagonists, it depends on how and why they are killed.

4. People die when they are killed. End of story.  

[Valentine Valtieri]

How I feel about killling off my characters? Horrible normally, I always seem to get attached to them. Like Vamp, I'll have to write an end to him sooner or later but I feel bad after all he's gained. Killing unimportant characters is no problem to me, it's actually pretty easy. I will never truly feel good about ending the life of a main character though. It adds to the storyline when another person is becoming the main character, or if you're just ending the story. As a writer I've learned that readers also become attached to the characters you write about, they are almost always angry, sad, or confused.

Yes, it is possible to kill too many characters. Unless you're writing a tragedy then you probably wrote too much death, but nothing lasts forever. As for bringing them back to life...I'd like to return to Vamp, I brought him back as a antagonist, but he had to die first. Going through death changes people, they may have seen a new light when they were brought back which means they can have changed roles if they die and come back. I'm just a beginner but that's what I have to say on the subject. =^_^=  

[Exarielle BlackLaw]

Drathi

1. Depends on who is killed.

2. Depends on who is killed.

3. Depends on who is killed, but if it's protagonists, it depends on how and why they are killed.

4. People die when they are killed. End of story.

For example, consider if one killed the main character's potential love interest...? As for killing methods, try "ruthlessly stabbed to death by said character's former best friend". XD

@ ultimashade: I see. ^^ My problem is that I write characters, get attached, realize that I'm too attached as their creator, and then kill them in horrible ways...  

[A-Q-Kabuto]

It can add something, but it depends on what you were trying to accomplish with killing whichever character and how you went about doing it.

It depends on how well you killed them off. and I don't mean 'how well' as in what you did to kill them but how you went about writing it whatever it was that killed the character. It depends if it accomplished whatever your goal was in killing the character, if it was too predictable or if it fit at all in anyway with the story... s**t like that.

Depends on the type of story. If it makes sense contextually or thematically to kill everybody and their grandmother's dog, do it. But do it well, even if it makes sense to kill everything if you do it poorly no matter how much it had to happen the reader is going to get pissed off and start calling you out on being lazy... or an asshat.

Again depends on the story and how you do it and of course WHY you did it at all. It can also depend on how often you do it... unless your writing a DBZ fanfiction you probably shouldn't be killing off and resurrecting character every other chapter. The thing to know about resurrecting a character is that you can do it without cheapening the fact that they died at all. I see it occasionally but in general it's not done so well without obvious real time and thought/practice.  

[AurinJade]

My roommate refuses to tell me who her favorite characters are in my stories, because in the past, I've killed one or two off. She's afraid if she tells me I'll be more tempted to go for it just to elicit a reaction from her. xD

Anyway. On to your questions.

-When does it specifically add to the depth of the story?
I like to use character deaths to add a sense of reality to my stories, to show that I'm not kidding around, and things might not have a happy ending. I usually use them as plot devices, as catalysts to other events.

-How do you think the reader generally feels?
Oh, I've fully pissed off my roommate by killing off her favorites. That's the reaction I love the most.

-Is is possible to kill off too many characters?
Yes. I think it takes away from the seriousness of death. It's like, "Whoop, there goes another one. Whatever. Who's left?"

-What about bringing characters back to life?
My personal Rule Number 1 for writing. DEATH IS PERMANENT  

[Todd186]

-When does it specifically add to the depth of the story?
When it's one that's a huge turning point in the story or when it's rather emotional. I can be pretty unemotional in death scenes.

-How do you think the reader generally feels?
If it's a character I actually care about, I'd like to think they feel the same way.

-Is is possible to kill off too many characters?
Absolutely. If you take out the entire cast of characters, that's kind of too many. However, if you're writing in third person, that can be worked around. Let's say, if they die at the end of the story, then that might work.
So, I guess there's not real limit to how many you can kill.

-What about bringing characters back to life?
I did this when I was little. But it really depends on the story. If it's something that involves magic and spells, it could work if it was necessary. My whole thinking is that, if they die, they've nothing left to offer the other characters.  

[VenusRain]

-When does it specifically add to the depth of the story?
When it has emotional impact. One redshirt generally won't cause a ;____; reaction, but a beloved primary character's death could, or the deaths of many redshirts. Or possibly a mauve shirt; if done well enough, a minor character's death could cause a good emotional punch. did not cry like a baby and fail horribly because of tears obscuring her vision when playing the Christmas level of EBA, shut up. Also didn't cry when she killed Lyon, Selena and Orson in Sacred Stones. Really.

-How do you think the reader generally feels?
Depends. I don't react to most character deaths for various reasons, but when I do I tend to be hit HARD.

-Is is possible to kill off too many characters?
Yes. If it loses emotional impact, you're either doin' it rong or writing a death-filled visual novel. OH, GEORIK. LET ME COUNT THE WAYS TO MURDER YOU HORRIBLY (although deaths still carry an impact even then; A Quiet Corruption is one of the most disturbing endings I have ever seen/read in my life. Note that this is the game that gets its plot kick-started by the gruesome decapitation of your little sister. THIS SHOULD TELL YOU SOMETHING ABOUT IT). heart

-What about bringing characters back to life?
Only if the setting allows for it, and then only sparingly. Too much and you kind of stop caring after a while.  

[DeadlyPumpkinBread]

1. What VenusRain said: When it has emotional impact.

2. That depends on the character.

3. Yes or no, depending on the nature of the story itself.

4. Er...again, it depends on the nature of the story.

See, there are certain instances where this can really work, like if bringing a character back will enhance the plot or tie up some loose ends. In the story I'm creating, I don't bring any of my characters back because they live in a very dangerous world, and reversing death would give that point less impact. (Though I admit, I do test the boundaries of that a little by having one character avoid death despite having potentially fatal injuries so often that it earns him the nickname 'Zombie', though there's an explanation given for it.)

I'm considering adding a part to the story where about...60-70% of the characters die (excluding the protagonists, because they went in the other direction and survived out of sheer luck) just so I can veer away from the main main character and focus on another one. She has to take the dead peoples' place and he has to pick up where she left off. And I'm still not sure if that's a smart move or not.  

[Exarielle BlackLaw]

I see... So, what do you lovely people think is the worst way to kill off a character?  

[Giyari]

Exarielle BlackLaw

I see... So, what do you lovely people think is the worst way to kill off a character?

To answer your first group og Qs first.
I feel that the best time to kill off a character is when they have developed relationships with other characters. Whether these relationships are ones of love, admiration and friendship, or hatred, disgust and general good riddance stuff. It means you can get more ractions out of other characters to back up their death.

As for killing off too many characters, yeah I think you can! after a few deaths, death loses its hashness, you kinda expect people to die. I suppose this doesn't cound for unnamed mobs that make up the background population though.

And bringing characters back to life can be good if it's done right. Characters returning to loved ones who had already gotten over their loss, enemys rising from the grave to terrorise the hero who thought his quest was done and the sorts biggrin

As for The worst way to kill someone off, I'd say... unemotionally... Like killing someone off just because they have no further use in a story, or someone popping their clogs without a reaction from anyone else.  

[Exarielle BlackLaw]

Giyari

As for The worst way to kill someone off, I'd say... unemotionally... Like killing someone off just because they have no further use in a story, or someone popping their clogs without a reaction from anyone else.

Agreed. My Creative Writing teacher once told us that the best way to make the audience feel for a character is to be cold. Melodrama kills the mood and makes the reader feel less inclined to take the death seriously. Here's an example:

The girl touched his chest and felt nothing. The heart was no longer beating, and the only sound her lover made was that of silence.

That has a lot more impact than some eight-page schpiel on how entirely terrible the death was, no? I think it's important to trust the reader to create his/her own emotional context of the scene.  

[twinks and bears]

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When does it specifically add to the depth of the story?

When it effects another character in some way or other, when it's showing a certain point, like with some of the characters in the Harry Potter series dying suddenly and seemingly without point, when it furthers the plot and etc. There's lots of reasons to kill off characters.

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How do you think the reader generally feels?

If the character was sympathetic, they'll feel sad that the character is dead, or apathetic and happy if they didn't like the character or they couldn't get attached to the character.

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Is is possible to kill off too many characters?

If there's no reason to do so, or if the characters have all been killed and no loose ends have been tied, nor any sort of climax has been reached or anything like that.

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What about bringing characters back to life?

Usually, when I read of a character being brought back to life, it's either some deus ex machina because the author couldn't let go or the author trying not to piss off fans because a beloved character in the series died. I'm sure it's been done right before but I haven't read any, or if I have I can't recall them.  

[Siegfried006]

-When does it specifically add to the depth of the story?
I believe that a character's death should have something to do with character development or to push the story forward in some way. It also shouldn't feel forced you know? It was a consequence of the character's personality, his/her attachment to whichever character they died for, among other things.
I don't really like shock & awe deaths very much in literature, where the author/writer kills a huge fan favorite character for almost no reason at all. They just died to show that death is possible, and I don't really like that.

-How do you think the reader generally feels?
It depends on their attachment to the character. If they like the character then they will be generally upset or sad that the character died. If they have no attachment to the character at all, then there might be no response at all.

-Is is possible to kill off too many characters?
That depends on how many characters you actually have. Having too many characters makes it difficult to keep them all relevant in a specific setting of your world, while having too few characters for the story you want to tell may limit you in what you can realistically can achieve for a book.

-What about bringing characters back to life?
Personally, I don't like that at all. It cheapens the impact of their death to me. If they are going to die, then keep them dead, but that doesn't mean you can't bring them back in other ways. Such as inspiration for the main character to pull through, flash backs for something they may have done that helps with whatever the main character is going through at the time of the flash back, etc.
But bringing them directly back to life I feel is a no-no unless it's a plot device. Such as the hero's quest to bring back the love of their life from the realm of death, or they are sent back for a one time deal to help do something important to the plot. Other then that, they should remain dead if you wish to kill them off.  

[Siegfried006]

Exarielle BlackLaw

I see... So, what do you lovely people think is the worst way to kill off a character?

It takes forever for the character to actually die, or they just vanish from the book and later on someone informs the main character that the person died. I don't really like the latter, because I would at least like to know why and how they came about to being dead.