As authors, we control the things that happen to our characters. We put them through the wringer, because we need to show what they are made of, how they react and change when tested.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t be much of a story without a conflict, an obstacle to overcome, adversity to struggle against.<\/p>\n
And sometimes, we have to kill one of them. Because the story demands it. And there\u2019s nothing wrong with that.<\/p>\n
But it shouldn\u2019t be done lightly. Killing a character is losing any potential that he or she might have had. As Clint Eastwood\u2019s William Munny said in Unforgiven <\/em>\u201cHell of a thing, killin\u2019 a man. You take away all he\u2019s got, and all he\u2019s ever gonna have.\u201d<\/p>\n If you are going to take all that from a character that you created, you should get some bang for your buck. Death needs to mean something or it loses its sting. If readers get to the point where they meet a character and just know this one\u2019s not going to make it, they won\u2019t form a deep connection. My friends and I sometimes will play \u201cspot the redshirt\u201d when we watch a movie. You get to know the signs. The soldier who gets a letter from home and shows it to the whole squad, letting them all know he\u2019s going to get married or be a father. The cop who mentions how close he is to retirement. The guy who says something like \u201cLooks pretty safe\u201d or \u201cI think we\u2019re gonna make it.\u201d<\/p>\n These are all worn out tropes. They are attempts to create a bond so we\u2019ll feel something when the character dies, or attempts to make us feel that the character is safe, so we\u2019ll be shocked when they die. But unless your readers just fell off the turnip wagon, they can see the deaths coming up Main Street.<\/p>\n Death happens. And sometimes, predictable death happens. If you\u2019re writing a war or a horror story, we know some of these people aren\u2019t likely to see the end. But treat the audience with some respect.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t kill important characters offstage. It\u2019s insulting. If you\u2019re taking everything they have and all they\u2019re ever gonna have, give them a scene. And get your money\u2019s worth out of that death. Let it be memorable, let it tell us about the character, and about the world and about those who survive and how that death affects them. Make the death advance the story and character development, but don\u2019t hang a lampshade on it as a cheap plot device.<\/p>\n There is an argument to be made that life isn\u2019t neat, death can be random and cruel and pointless. That\u2019s plenty true of life, I know that well enough from my day job as a paramedic.<\/p>\n But life doesn\u2019t need to make narrative sense. Life is pretty bad at that. That\u2019s why you can\u2019t return life or exchange it for a different one, and while you can theoretically just give up on it, that\u2019s a lot messier than doing so with a book.<\/p>\n People want stories to mean something, to entertain, to provoke.<\/p>\n Death is a big deal. It\u2019s one of the most powerful tools in your box. Use it wisely.<\/p>\n