Would You Do It?

[Kantarii]

Would you kill off the main protagonist character in one of your stories so that a lesser supporting character could shine? Or, would you find a way to keep them around if one of your supporting characters was "liked" more than the main character.

I guess another option would be to do a side story of misadventures involving the supporting character, but how successful is that really? I'm thinking about "the Ewoks Adventure" that spun off from Star Wars as an good example.

 

[sr71plt]

First, a reader wouldn't go through the process of "liking" or "not liking" a character in one of my stories before I'd finished the story (although I might reopen the story later in a follow-up work and mix the heroes/not heroes up for fun). Second, my characters being "liked" by the readers isn't high on my list of priorities. I try to write to the interest of a different kind of reader than one who has to "like" the protagonist (or even that the protagonist has to have a name given).

In mainstream writing I have sometimes turned both which character is really the protagonist and what the roles of the characters are in the story inside out. And on the reopening of stories to do something with characters, I have an international crimes/espionage series of novels in the mainstream where I killed a character in one book and suffered the ire of my mother, who liked the character. So one of the challenges of the next book was to devise an explanation of why that character didn't die in the previous book (and to avoid the dream sequence fix on that problem) and to give her a bigger role in the storyline. Of course I killed the character again at the end of the book just to let my mother know that I was writing the books, she wasn't.

 

[MellowGem]

...............

 

[Nathan_Brazil]

O.q.

Yes.... In a heartbeat.

 

[Kantarii]

I think you have your wording wrong.

You don't kill a main character to highlight a secondary character .... what you have in you secondary character is a main character with limited screen time depending on how you write your story.


Famous examples of killing the unexpected .... Gandalf .... Obi Wan ... Ned Stark .... but everyone around them were main characters. What you have is a plan to elevate a future point of view.

If you killed off an Obi Wan so a waiter in the cantina could shine, that would make no sense.

I personally would not kill off any of my main protagonists in my stories. I would think a protagonist in most stories, generally speaking, should be able to overcome the obstacles they face that are written into the story "within reason". I don't feel like the protagonist should be able to overcome every obstacle they face, just to keep them on a human level of believability prone to mistakes.

 

[jomar]

In this regard I ask myself WWGRRMD?

 

[EverLux]

In this regard I ask myself WWGRRMD?

Steadily kill them all, brutally and creatively, while lurking in the forums to feed off the misery and torment of your readers?

 

[jomar]

Steadily kill them all, brutally and creatively, while lurking in the forums to feed off the misery and torment of your readers?

Man, I want him to finish too, but that's harsh!

 

[EverLux]

Man, I want him to finish too, but that's harsh!

Yeah, I know. My therapist keeps telling me I need to work on that. But, really, so does GRRM.

 

[OliviaM]

Would you kill off the main protagonist character in one of your stories so that a lesser supporting character could shine? Or, would you find a way to keep them around if one of your supporting characters was "liked" more than the main character.

I guess another option would be to do a side story of misadventures involving the supporting character, but how successful is that really? I'm thinking about "the Ewoks Adventure" that spun off from Star Wars as an good example.

It sounds like you're getting feedback from readers who are really connecting with a secondary character, and they like that one much more than the first? Would some of your fans be pissed off if you killed off the lead? Or does the story require that one lives and one dies? If you really feel that's where the story is headed, I'd say it's fine to kill them off, as long as you don't lose readers. Otherwise, just put the character on a bus ( http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PutOnABus ). It doesn't have to be so final.

But if you're still really invested in the character and want to finish your original story idea, just keep at it and give that character a really satisfying ending. That way you can cleanly move on to the second character in your sequel without worry.

 

[OliviaM]

I also wanted to add that if it's a case where one character is an amazing, superpowered lead (Luke Skywalker) and the other is just kind of colorful supporting cast (Wicket), it helps to think of each character as the stars of their own story. Or, if it makes sense to do so, try to think of them as an ensemble cast. Each one is equally important.

 

[Nathan_Brazil]

This won't be a popular sentiment...

But back when I was a voracious reader of cheap paperbacks, my favourite authors were all known to kill off their leads occasionally...

Why did I like this?

Because it added to the mystery. When I read these authors, there was no sugary expectation that everything would be fine. No guaranteed happy ever after... Those are for Disney, and children.

However...I'm betting that most of your readers will disagree, so... Be vewy vewy careful before you kill your wabbit.

 

[OliviaM]

But back when I was a voracious reader of cheap paperbacks, my favourite authors were all known to kill off their leads occasionally...

Why did I like this?

Because it added to the mystery. When I read these authors, there was no sugary expectation that everything would be fine. No guaranteed happy ever after... Those are for Disney, and children.

However...I'm betting that most of your readers will disagree, so... Be vewy vewy careful before you kill your wabbit.

It has to do with what kind of story it is. I don't mind dark and bleak, so long as I know that's the kind of world I've been dropped in. As a reader, I won't mind a big character death if makes sense or maybe it's been telegraphed in some way. There's room for all kinds of storytelling.

For a great take on this, I recommend a book called "John Dies at the End".

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Would you kill off the main protagonist character in one of your stories so that a lesser supporting character could shine? Or, would you find a way to keep them around if one of your supporting characters was "liked" more than the main character.

I guess another option would be to do a side story of misadventures involving the supporting character, but how successful is that really? I'm thinking about "the Ewoks Adventure" that spun off from Star Wars as an good example.

I wrote a series of stories where the main character died in the end, only to come back in the next story. In one story he died over and over again. In the end though he I gave him a break and let him live happily ever after.

But killing them off to let his, in essence sidekicks, shine? Not really. Although any of them would have had an easy time of taking over for him/her.

Then again, some characters just need to die and let someone else take over the fight.

 

[Hypoxia]

Create an MC who deserves / is doomed to die. The MC is an arse, and a wronged lover does them in. Or the MC has an incurable, and prepares for the end. Or the MC dies up front, and witnesses reactions as a ghost. Or you go through a series of MCs who all die odd but noteworthy deaths. Or kill some real notable celeb or pol or star and extrapolate the effects. (After Tromp is shot in Cleveland, who bonks Ivanka?)

I envisage a story in 3rd person limited following a rock guitar superstar surrounded by groupies. His concerts, his conquests, his abuses -- and then he steps in a puddle of beer whilst jamming and is electrocuted. His bandmates, his groupies, and his ghost all give their takes on his life and death. Or maybe he just dies and is gone, and the story moves on to other doomed MC superstars. Setup a string of MCs and kill them all. Fun.

PS: Yes, I have killed-off main characters. Sometimes you just gotta.

 

[PennLady]

If it naturally fits the progression of the story, sure I would. But I wouldn't do it just to bring another character to a more prominent role. You can do that in other ways, including writing a spin-off of some kind. But there's no rule against killing any character off -- it's your story, do it if you think it works.

 

[Kantarii]

Create an MC who deserves / is doomed to die. The MC is an arse, and a wronged lover does them in. Or the MC has an incurable, and prepares for the end. Or the MC dies up front, and witnesses reactions as a ghost. Or you go through a series of MCs who all die odd but noteworthy deaths. Or kill some real notable celeb or pol or star and extrapolate the effects. (After Tromp is shot in Cleveland, who bonks Ivanka?)

I envisage a story in 3rd person limited following a rock guitar superstar surrounded by groupies. His concerts, his conquests, his abuses -- and then he steps in a puddle of beer whilst jamming and is electrocuted. His bandmates, his groupies, and his ghost all give their takes on his life and death. Or maybe he just dies and is gone, and the story moves on to other doomed MC superstars. Setup a string of MCs and kill them all. Fun.

PS: Yes, I have killed-off main characters. Sometimes you just gotta.

I had the star in my story My Brother's Ghost die before the story actually start. So technically the story is about a Ghost. It was important that the main character actually be "dead". I don't think the story would have carried the message it did had the main character been found alive. You brought up some interesting points. Kudos! Kant