What do you think about killing off characters?

[EnclosedOne]

I was recently having a discussion with a friend of mine over whether killing off characters was a good thing or a bad thing. We both agreed that if it is done right then it can be be great for a story/book but when I brought the same question up to my mom she said it was a terrible idea and should never be done.

To be honest, I love death scenes. It's a bit hard for me to explain but I find something so powerful about them. Maybe it's the shock value of having to imagine a characters death in your mind (or on tv) and whether it's a beloved character or one you love to hate death pulls on our hearts in one way or another.

I'm also tired of all the happy endings - why does EVERYTHING have to have a happy ending? I think it makes the book/show/movie boring if no one gets seriously injured and/or dies. I'd be very happy to find more books/stories/movies that have bittersweet endings instead.

Anyway, I'm curious as to what other people think about this question:

Is killing off characters a good or bad thing?

and don't forget to explain WHY you feel the way you do about the question!

 

[sr71plt]

I'm killing off characters in the GM e-book I'm writing at the moment. But I'm doing it to go with the plot (it's a spy story), and the deaths are neither gratuitous nor during sex. That said, I have a good number of stories posted to Literotica with deaths in them--some during sex and pretty graphic. (E.g., the Clint Folsom "Death in . . ." series and the vampire novel I have serialized here.)

Just go with the plotline, I say--although you might run into trouble if gruesome deaths are the centerpiece of the story. In what I'm writing now, the one who the reader will take as the book protagonist isn't the protagonist and will be offed near the end.

I might add that you have fallen into the trap of thinking there's only one or two mind-sets on Literotica. The readership and its tastes are unusually broad. If you just drop the (irritating) question of what pleases the reader from the get go, you'll save yourself a lot of grief. Write what you want to write. There's probably a large audience for it here--and screw the rest.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Of course characters should be killed off. Did you ever see Torchwood: Miracle Day? That's what happens when nobody dies--overpopulation, internment centers, ovens, the collapse of the world economy, the rise of a shadowy crime cartel.

Seriously, it depends on the story. Sometimes a character just has to die to move a plot along, sometimes you have to get a character out of the way so the other characters can grow. The key is how you present the death and how the other characters handle it.

My latest story, Deep Undercover, featured a number of deaths, but I turned away from killing off a major character. I struggled between killing off the bad boy and the hero, but in the end I chose neither. I decided that killing off either would have been out of character for my main character, who had been in love with both. She would never have recovered from the act of killing either of her lovers.

But that doesn't mean the story had a happy ending. I gave it the ending I thought it deserved, which was bittersweet. My decision enraged a number of readers.

 

[StrangeLife]

Is killing off characters a good or bad thing?

and don't forget to explain WHY you feel the way you do about the question!

If it fits the story, you should never spare your characters - even if it's a protagonist. J. K. Rowling killed Dumbledore himself, remember?

My personal death toll isn't high and I have yet to kill the main character, but if I come up with a story where it seems suitable I wont hesitate...

 

[LaRascasse]

I was recently having a discussion with a friend of mine over whether killing off characters was a good thing or a bad thing. We both agreed that if it is done right then it can be be great for a story/book but when I brought the same question up to my mom she said it was a terrible idea and should never be done.

To be honest, I love death scenes. It's a bit hard for me to explain but I find something so powerful about them. Maybe it's the shock value of having to imagine a characters death in your mind (or on tv) and whether it's a beloved character or one you love to hate death pulls on our hearts in one way or another.

I'm also tired of all the happy endings - why does EVERYTHING have to have a happy ending? I think it makes the book/show/movie boring if no one gets seriously injured and/or dies. I'd be very happy to find more books/stories/movies that have bittersweet endings instead.

Anyway, I'm curious as to what other people think about this question:

Is killing off characters a good or bad thing?

and don't forget to explain WHY you feel the way you do about the question!

I personally love it, but it has to be done right. The passing has to have a meaning and should leave a lingering image in the reader's mind.

 

[sr71plt]

Sitting here contemplating having a lingering memory of each death in a battle scene.

 

[patientlee]

I was recently having a discussion with a friend of mine over whether killing off characters was a good thing or a bad thing. We both agreed that if it is done right then it can be be great for a story/book but when I brought the same question up to my mom she said it was a terrible idea and should never be done.

To be honest, I love death scenes. It's a bit hard for me to explain but I find something so powerful about them. Maybe it's the shock value of having to imagine a characters death in your mind (or on tv) and whether it's a beloved character or one you love to hate death pulls on our hearts in one way or another.

I'm also tired of all the happy endings - why does EVERYTHING have to have a happy ending? I think it makes the book/show/movie boring if no one gets seriously injured and/or dies. I'd be very happy to find more books/stories/movies that have bittersweet endings instead.

Anyway, I'm curious as to what other people think about this question:

Is killing off characters a good or bad thing?

and don't forget to explain WHY you feel the way you do about the question!

Half the characters die in every Danielle Steele book. She's done ok.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I was recently having a discussion with a friend of mine over whether killing off characters was a good thing or a bad thing. We both agreed that if it is done right then it can be be great for a story/book but when I brought the same question up to my mom she said it was a terrible idea and should never be done.

One of those "it depends" things. On the one hand - death is part of the universe. It's harder to get readers excited about an action story if they know nobody's going to die. It can also be an important motivator for other characters - there are a LOT of great stories there about how people deal with death (others' or their own impending).

On the other hand, people do get attached to characters and losing a favourite character (or a particularly nasty death for anybody) can be upsetting. Stuff like Game of Thrones walks a fine line between motivating readers with "anyone can die" tension, and turning them off - find it just a bit too bleak for my tastes. You're not going to please everybody, either way.

 

[TxRad]

Just don't kill them all off.

Powers

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm good with it as long as it follows the flow of the story and is done in a way that makes sense.

If it makes me sad to see the character go, I don't get mad in fact I applaud the author for making me enjoy the character enough to feel something.

I've only killed one person here and it was fine because his sole purpose was to try to kill the lead character so no one cared her failed and died.

I did almost kill a character, but left him alive and got some flaming he didn't die, but his death would have made no sense. If the character committed murder in the past his future wouldn't exist.

which brings me back to my main point of as long as it fits the story.

 

[Handley_Page]

Well, to my mind, the Bad Guys get it one way or another (the trouble with stories is that you might want that character again later).
But the story has to end right, to my mind, and Death is not much of an option, unless it's the start of a new story.

I guess I'm a hopeless romantic. . .

 

[nicecthulhu]

Sometimes a character needs to die to remind the readers that they can't always predict the outcome.

Sometimes a character needs to die to get your protagonist to wake up and start behaving like you wanted them to.

Sometimes everyone lives...

 

[Weird Harold]

Is killing off characters a good or bad thing?

Yes.

This is one of those "It depends on what the story needs" questions. If you're writing a Pollyanna, feel good, romance, with everything wine and roses, it would be difficult to justify a gruesome death-scene. If you're writing a murder mystery, it would be difficult not to kill off at least one character or you wouldn't have a murder to write a mystery about.

 

[R. Richard]

Killing off a character isn't necessarily a bad idea. However, killing off a main character tends to be a bad idea.
Let's suppose that you kill off a main character and the story sells very well. It turns out that the character that you killed off was the one that everyone remembers and he/she's gone. You're now handicapped in writing the sequel.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Dying is life. Everyone dies. How they die is the question. I have several long stories the chronicle the life of the male protag...in the end he dies.

I have killed off dozens of character, I do happen to write military sci-fi, in several of my books/stories. Dying is part of our existence, I have killed off minor and major character as part of living.

ETA: I haven't had any complaints.

 

[RavishingRedHead69]

Sarky comments withheld

I was recently having a discussion with a friend of mine over whether killing off characters was a good thing or a bad thing. We both agreed that if it is done right then it can be be great for a story/book but when I brought the same question up to my mom she said it was a terrible idea and should never be done.

To be honest, I love death scenes. It's a bit hard for me to explain but I find something so powerful about them. Maybe it's the shock value of having to imagine a characters death in your mind (or on tv) and whether it's a beloved character or one you love to hate death pulls on our hearts in one way or another.

I'm also tired of all the happy endings - why does EVERYTHING have to have a happy ending? I think it makes the book/show/movie boring if no one gets seriously injured and/or dies. I'd be very happy to find more books/stories/movies that have bittersweet endings instead.

Anyway, I'm curious as to what other people think about this question:

Is killing off characters a good or bad thing?

and don't forget to explain WHY you feel the way you do about the question!

Maybe, perhaps even, I've spent too much time around the GBer's. I'm thinking things, in my head, but ... I don't think they are very ... "nice"?

Wickedly, I'd love to see this post in the GB and then sit back and watch the fun.

Oh dear ... they really have turned me, haven't they?

 

[RichardBacula]

I have no problem with killing off characters.
But I don't think it should come up a lot in erotica... it's not exactly a turn-on.

 

[Handley_Page]

I have no problem with killing off characters.
But I don't think it should come up a lot in erotica... it's not exactly a turn-on.

Unless it's a comedy of the "Addams Family" nature.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Lets kill off a few writers?

 

[SecondCircle]

I have no problem with killing off characters.
But I don't think it should come up a lot in erotica... it's not exactly a turn-on.

It makes sense sometimes in EH.

Everybody here is correct in their observations in my opinion. It should serve the story or plot, it does trump reader's expectations, and it shouldn't just be done just to be doing it. The latter turns out as an empty experience.

I usually don't look at it as "killing them" but more along the lines of "death happens to them". Goes with that whole story writing itself thing. When one of my characters dies, I don't always "do" it for a reason, it's just an event in the story.

It always seems odd to me to say "I'm gonna build this character up and when everyone loves them, I'll kill them." Heh, seems a bit premeditated to me. I try to avoid stuff like that, because usually that death will sometimes seem like it was tacked on or too forced. I guess I let my characters sorta find their way to their demise more naturally.

 

[TonyDeeDee]

WARNING: "The Walking Dead" SPOILER for anyone who hasn't watched the 1 December 2013 episode.

In 4 seasons of "The Walking Dead", more principal characters have died then in 20 seasons of "Law & Order", and the latter is a show about people who carry guns and shoot at one another quite often.

I'm all for killing off characters in these two types of dramas. Each of TWD characters who was killed served a purpose, I believe. This latest death, of Herschel, was key, leading to the true despair of the group and the abandonment of the prison in a way that no other event could have.

Anyway, that's my opinion. Back to stories in general and role play in particular, I kill off characters often. I prefer to have some "expendable" characters from the beginning and add them along the way, too. It allows me include a twist no one was expecting. If a new character is suddenly added to the cast, right before a dangerous event, you know that character is toast. Good example: the original "Star Trek", in which nearly every new character died before the credits rolled.

 

[RoyceConnors]

I use killing off characters as a way to move the story along. In both stories I have out, Blood of the Clans and Redwood Nine, I've used death in many ways to tell the stories. In BotC, an entire chapter is about paying homage to a dead person, as they find and take care of his body for funeral preparations. In Redwood, I killed off a main character in the first season to make the transition to the next phase and again later on to bring the club into another state of being.

Killing off characters can be very integral to the plot and storyline if it isn't done just for the sake of glorifying it. It should grip the reader to cheer or boo the death and make them read on for revenge or more justice.

Suspected killings are great for surprise returns of characters later on in the story to throw the big twist to it.

 

[Hypoxia]

Just don't kill them all off.

Powers

Unless they deserve it, of course. Or just for laughs.

 

[PennLady]

I think the question of whether to kill off a character depends on what it does for the story. It's not right or wrong or good or bad. I killed off a couple of supporting characters, but it was part of the story and affected the other characters.

This is, like so many questions, one that just doesn't have a solid, single answer. Whether or not you kill a character off is no different from any other questions you encounter when you write a story.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

In my story Rayne Falls, a main character is killed off, another ones secret is revealed and it's a devastating loss that slowly brings back positivness to the story as it opens another paradigm. It was an experiment like just about everything I submit here. I like how it turned out, but I get sucked in to my stories as I write them.