Have you ever killed off a main character?

[gunhilltrain]

I mean violently. Actually, I know some of you have done that, but I've never done it myself. I'm considering a short series where that might happen in the final chapter.

Her death is not connected to anything sexual. In fact, the actual murder won't be depicted. There probably will be a couple of paragraphs about the discovery of her body, which happens on the same day as the event.

I'm not sure why, but I have some - call them apprehensions about writing it that way. How did you feel when you wrote your own scenes?

 

[SyleusSnow]

Hmm. I've referred to people related to main characters that died violently, but that's it.

And there are stories on Lit where a main character is dying from a health issue and wants to get it on for a first or last time.

How would a violent death of an MC improve an erotic story... especially at the end?

The Lit guidelines may come into play if it's gratuitous.

 

[NotWise]

I'm not sure why, but I have some - call them apprehensions about writing it that way. How did you feel when you wrote your own scenes?

Apprehensive. Nervous. Upset. Regretful.

When I killed Keren I knew where the story was going, so I just kept my eyes up and wrote. Even though Hannah and Gabby were already dead at the beginning of their story, it was still hard to write about their death. It was harder to write about Hannah's childhood abuse.

Other stories where I knocked off an antagonist, meh. They asked for it. Knocking off a sympathetic secondary character was harder.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Hmm. I've referred to people related to main characters that died violently, but that's it.

And there are stories on Lit where a main character is dying from a health issue and wants to get it on for a first or last time.

How would a violent death of an MC improve an erotic story... especially at the end?

The Lit guidelines may come into play if it's gratuitous.

I didn't plan it that way. The death is because of her purchase and use of hard drugs. I just happened to mention her drug use in the first chapter, which I've already written. I think she's just starting out at that point, and it takes her a year to get into serious trouble.

I'll have to check the Lit guidelines. I will probably start off on another site anyway because I'm considering a couple of series on here ahead of that one.

Series are more difficult to do than I first thought. I have the option of just using the first two chapters and leaving it at that.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

I didn't plan it that way. The death is because of her purchase and use of hard drugs. I just happened to mention her drug use in the first chapter, which I've already written. I think she's just starting out at that point, and it takes her a year to get into serious trouble.

I'll have to check the Lit guidelines. I will probably start off on another site anyway because I'm considering a couple of series on here ahead of that one.

In the one NonCon story i wrote, my main female character killed her captor and then herself. Both deaths are described in great detail, and I didn't have any trouble getting that chapter of the story approved.

The rule (which Laurel thought I violated in the first chapter of the same story) is about a character getting sexual gratification or titillation from torture or death (with some leeway for consensual acts in BDSM stories). Just having a character die shouldn't trigger it.

As for me, I wrote the ending the way I did because it made sense with the attitude/ development of the character. I'd originally ended it differently and it just didn't sit well; it felt false.

 

[NotWise]

I'll have to check the Lit guidelines. I will probably start off on another site anyway because I'm considering a couple of series on here ahead of that one.

Why do you come here asking for input on stories you're probably going to publish somewhere else?

 

[YDB95]

Only once, in the Elizabeth series (I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read the stories yet and might still want to). The story in which that character dies is by far the lowest-rated of the series, which is probably why I've never done it again.

 

[Jamie_and_Lisa]

Twice where there were reprehensible MCs (1) Starts with police finding the MC's body and the story is told in flashback. The story ends as the MC is about to "die for his sins" the murder is never depicted. (2) a LW story that begins with one MC preparing to commit murder, the story of why is told in flashback, then in the final scene the adoring little sister runs over her brother's unfaithful wife with a truck. It was hated, apparently her death was too instantaneous and painless.

In one story the two MCs are self-absorbed jerks, the selfish MMC does one unselfish thing rescuing the FMC. But since he is drunk drives his car to a bridge abutment and kills them both. The two MCs are taken by angels to a private purgatory where they realize that years ago they screwed up their own lives by not remaining together. Offered a chance to return to earth they ask to remain in purgatory together.

Using major life events like a funeral to bring MCs together happens frequently as well, sometimes its the MCs funeral and the story is told in flashback. (We like to organize longer stories thematically rather than strictly chronologically.)

 

[gunhilltrain]

Why do you come here asking for input on stories you're probably going to publish somewhere else?

Because I was going to publish it here after that. There are too many other things I want to do here first.

Also - seriously - the comments here are much better than those on the forums of other sites.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Twice where there were reprehensible MCs (1) Starts with police finding the body and the story is told in flashback. The story ends as the MC is about to "die for his sins" the murder is never depicted. (2) T (3) an LW story where in the final scene an adoring little sister knocks off her brothers unfaithful wife. It was hated.

I thought they loved it when an unfaithful wife gets punished in some way. Maybe it has to be the husband himself who does it?

 

[TeroWright]

There are TWO main characters who were killed off for my 'Saga Finale' story, Cindy's Recourse.

The death of the characters happened two months prior in the story's timeline, and is only mentioned by their partners and friends they left behind. Everyone has become unhinged because of it and it doesn't help the partners deal with intruders/looters easily at first.

Gunhilltrain, if you don't mind foot/trample fetish undertones, that would be my recommendation to check out. It's almost set up the same way you say you're thinking of writing your story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Yes, I killed off two in my Arthurian myth telling.

Artur, obviously (his death is central to the myth), who took an arrow through the lung, shot in the back by Mordant his traitor son. A cinematic scene, blood red on white snow and a war horse galloping.

Artur King is then avenged by his daughter (an EB literary invention) who is Mordant's twin sister - spoilers - she disembowels her brother and carries his head back to Camelan on a stake. Both graphic scenes, both passed without a blink.

 

[vanmyers86]

I've had characters die, but none by violence. And no main characters - I write mostly in Romance, and that's generally not a violent genre.

I had intended to kill off Layla in So Many Kinds of Love, but when it came down to it, I just couldn't do it. I finished that story right at the peak of COVID-19 cases last spring in the U.S., and I felt there was already enough death and depressing news in my real life. So I left the ending ambiguous.

 

[TxRad]

My first try at killing a character off was a total mess. Uh, the characters actions, not the writing itself. He goes to the park to kill himself but ends up killing two guys he thought were rapists but.... Eugene

And then there is the story where I killed everyone off. Powers

Killing that first character is hard. After that you have to be careful and not get carried away. The reason I killed everyone off in that one story was that it was the start to a full novel with totally different characters. Where is the rest of it? good question. I went on a Thanksgiving vacation and had my laptop stolen. I've tried several times to recreate the story. It's not happening. My brain doesn't work that way.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Yep. I have several where the main characters are killed off. And to top it off, I even got a comment about a sequel. Just Another Day.

Then in one... His Last Deployment, I killed the husband of a service wife at the end. She was the one telling the story.

In both cases, readers were stunned and outraged.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I've bumped off a lot of characters, but all except one were natural causes




...or were they?

 

[PennameWombat]

I mean violently. Actually, I know some of you have done that, but I've never done it myself. I'm considering a short series where that might happen in the final chapter.

Her death is not connected to anything sexual. In fact, the actual murder won't be depicted. There probably will be a couple of paragraphs about the discovery of her body, which happens on the same day as the event.

I'm not sure why, but I have some - call them apprehensions about writing it that way. How did you feel when you wrote your own scenes?

Define 'violently.' In Adrift in Space a mutiny on a secret satellite orbiting Earth caused the deaths of two of my three main characters in that story when the satellite crashed in northern Nevada. As that story was essentially a culmination of multiple series of stories that those characters had starred in (The 'Carole' series, A Tale of Two Parties and The Princess & the Queen) those characters had quite the histories.

I did receive a comment that one of my readers was quite sad that Peter and Queen Anna died. Their deaths weren't described, our last view was them kissing as the satellite plunged toward Earth once it'd become clear it was impossible to save the satellite or escape. But there'd been plenty of deaths due to fighting during the mutiny. Some of them were characters with large supporting roles.

That event also was the entry to a new series, when two new characters witnessed it and unlike the rest of the world one of them suspected it was a satellite, not a meteorite.

As to how I'd felt, I'd long known this was the end point for Peter's story. I'd originally planned for Queen Anna to survive, but looking at the subsequent series it didn't make sense. Her survival would've made subsequent events much different. And it fit, she was in command and it made sense she'd refuse to evacuate because she felt it was her role to lead the fight against the mutineers.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Define 'violently.' In Adrift in Space a mutiny on a secret satellite orbiting Earth caused the deaths of two of my three main characters in that story when the satellite crashed in northern Nevada. As that story was essentially a culmination of multiple series of stories that those characters had starred in (The 'Carole' series, A Tale of Two Parties and The Princess & the Queen) those characters had quite the histories.

I did receive a comment that one of my readers was quite sad that Peter and Queen Anna died. Their deaths weren't described, our last view was them kissing as the satellite plunged toward Earth once it'd become clear it was impossible to save the satellite or escape. But there'd been plenty of deaths due to fighting during the mutiny. Some of them were characters with large supporting roles.

That event also was the entry to a new series, when two new characters witnessed it and unlike the rest of the world one of them suspected it was a satellite, not a meteorite.

As to how I'd felt, I'd long known this was the end point for Peter's story. I'd originally planned for Queen Anna to survive, but looking at the subsequent series it didn't make sense. Her survival would've made subsequent events much different. And it fit, she was in command and it made sense she'd refuse to evacuate because she felt it was her role to lead the fight against the mutineers.

I meant intentionally killed by another person or persons, not in an accident or disaster, no matter how tragic.

Warfare in interesting, because although it is intentional, a lot of modern warfare is very impersonal. I haven't had that particular issue come up yet.

I do want to thank everyone for the feedback I've been getting.

 

[TheStoryTeller2342]

First story I left with both main characters dying of gunshot wounds.

Third story I left one main character dying of an infection sustained in a bomb blast, and the love of his life bleeding out next to him in his hospital bed two months later.

I think it was Hemingway that said All good stories end in death.

 

[gunhilltrain]

First story I left with both main characters dying of gunshot wounds.

Third story I left one main character dying of an infection sustained in a bomb blast, and the love of his life bleeding out next to him in his hospital bed two months later.

I think it was Hemingway that said All good stories end in death.

I think I found his quote: "All stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true-story teller who would keep that from you."

He seems to be talking about human life in general; not sure if he means that every piece of literature has to go that far. Anyway, for the moment, I'm only going to publish the first two chapters. I don't know if, or when, I can come up with a continuation of that.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I almost forgot one... Call of the Dove. The two main characters, a husband and wife, are killed by an RPG as they take their new hotrod for a ride. Oh,it's placed in Arizona.

This one also left readers outraged.

 

[Stratothrax]

Not personally but I've read stories where they have, generally they suffer from the same issue stories where the main character changes have in that many readers get attached to and comfortable with the original character and do not want go through the process of relearning a new replacement character.

Basically it's very hard to pull off because you need to transition into this new segment of the story in such a way that is appealing enough to keep the reader from throwing the book out the window and leaving.

 

[SimonDoom]

Not yet. But in the current story I'm writing and hoping to submit in a few days, the main character is doomed to die at the end of the story, and he knows exactly when he will die.

Most of my stories don't involve death. I'm more of a happy sex author, most of the time.

 

[MelissaBaby]

First story I left with both main characters dying of gunshot wounds.

Third story I left one main character dying of an infection sustained in a bomb blast, and the love of his life bleeding out next to him in his hospital bed two months later.

I think it was Hemingway that said All good stories end in death.

"Age don't matter, if you're Bogey and Bacall or if you are Romeo and Juliet."

"Romeo and Juliet died at the end of the story," Mary replied.

"So did Bogey and Bacall. And so will we."

Mary and Alvin Chapter 8