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Ok, so as the name suggests I was wanting to make a forum to discuss what we thought made a good character death or our personal writing ideas when it comes to character deaths.
Through darkness,
light shines brightest@otherworldlyhistorian
Hmmmm
I only appreciate character deaths when:1. They aren’t dying just because.
2. Their death contributes to someone’s character arc.
3. Their death contributes to the story’s theme.
4. The death doesn’t become the focus of the story.
5. They actually stay dead. XD However, this depends on the story, I’ve seen characters that were supposedly dead and then are revealed not to be done well.
"...I did not say to the seed of Jacob, 'Seek Me in vain..."
(Part of) Isaiah 45:19@otherworldly-historian
I agree with @gwyndalf-the-wise EXCEPT I do like when characters come back to life because I am too attached and cannot be without them for too long XD XD so I am constantly holding to the hope of “PLZ DON’T ACTUALLY BE DEAD XD”
HOWEVER I do feel that is often overused and in some situations shouldn’t be used or can be a handicap.
for instance superhero stuff, when the it’s the same character being killed and brought back to life and it’s happened multiple times over.
Because then the deaths have no meaning and ya never know if they’re dead or not. So ya, any death and then resurrection can be stereotypical but it can be done well if u want to and work at it, and don’t do it CONSTANTLY.
(however again I do luv when my favs come back to life)
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSebExcept for one scenario I didn’t like when they did cuz it felt cheapened in one series….
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSebI would agree with most of your points but
1. They aren’t dying just because.
What do you mean by this one. Does dying just because mean the character is killed and it has no impact.
4. The death doesn’t become the focus of the story.
I also don’t get what you mean here. How does this not contradict point 2.
Through darkness,
light shines brightestI have to disagree with you on bringing back characters. I feel like unless it is significantly foreshadowed or makes complete logical sense (ie. a character has an object that can bring someone back from the dead which is revealed before the character it is used on has died) (chekovs gun) it is better for them to stay dead. I feel that a good number of authors use death as a statistic (or movies like star wars) where they just kill people and you don’t care that much (think milling down stormtroopers or blowing ip alderan with the death-star in a new hope).
On the same note of death mattering I feel that it can be annoying when characters don‘t die.
The example I can think of off of the top of my head is Keeper of The Lost Cities (which I stopped reading because it got boring and repetitive). It actually started kind of good and there was some well executed deaths near the beginning but after book 5 when they revived a character who was really important (they used a really badly executed ‘he had a twin’ trope) all of that just disappeared.
Through darkness,
light shines brightest@godlyfantasy12
YEah, I like it when my favorite come back to life, but usually my favorites stay dead and the obnoxious character I didn’t like lives. *sadness*
@otherworldlyhistorian
1. They’re just one of millions of casualties. Their death has no purpose. The author just had it there for feels.4. I’m not sure I understand your question…but what I meant is while the other characters deal with their death realistically…as someone who struggles with understanding the point of living at times, I think death shouldn’t be portrayed as something desirable. I also don’t think you should leave your reader hopeless, so the importance of life should be the focus, not death.
Does that make any sense?"...I did not say to the seed of Jacob, 'Seek Me in vain..."
(Part of) Isaiah 45:19Yes. That makes sense and I agree with you there. I mostly meant how some books can have a lot of focus on grief (ie I was just reading this one book in a series where the MC was struggling over her grief for this one character she had a crush on that died in the last book’s finale).
Through darkness,
light shines brightest@otherworldlyhistorian
Ah. Yeah, I’m not against having grief in books and portraying it realistically, but I don’t want to read a book/watch a movie and leave it with a sense of hopelessness."...I did not say to the seed of Jacob, 'Seek Me in vain..."
(Part of) Isaiah 45:19- Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
- Total Posts: 692
Interesting forum. I’m definitely subscribing to this because I need this kind of thing for my own story. I’m trying to figure out how my villain will kill my side character (how it will be a sacrifice for my MCs’). I agree with @godlyfantasy12. I don’t like characters coming back. Idk why but it really annoys me. If you’re gonna die, die. Bryan Davis did this with an antagonist in his Dragons In Our Midst series and I don’t remember any explanations. He did a better job doing it with one of the side characters because there was an explanation but I still hated it. Mostly because he changed when he came back to life. I won’t spoil it if you haven’t read it but you should know what I’m talking about if you have. The ending of the series made me so happy though. Anyway, I’m getting off topic. Lol 🤭😜
@otherworldly-historian I getcha.
Every character I kill stays dead.
except one. I’m bringing her back because I can’t keep her dead. I just can’t. I don’t want her death to be cheapened because of it but I just legit cannot keep her dead.
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSebHelpful topic. Thanks!
@sarafini
Is it characters that really die and come back to life that you don’t like? Or when it seems like the character is dead but they aren’t really?
He must increase, but I must decrease.
I would like to say that is exactly the reason you should leave the character dead (read some interviews with G.R.R. Martin).
But if you don’t want to kill her then you should make sure that her return makes sense. The best suggestions I have without knowing the exact situation are to use heavy foreshadowing and to also keep the reveal that she is not dead in the same book (worst case scenario use an epilogue).
Through darkness,
light shines brightestThe thing I dislike about character undeath is when it is done incorrectly. This is done when the return doesn’t make sense, feels unnecessary, or makes things pointless.
The series I am reading actually kind of had a version of this that was well done. In the book, one of the characters gets captured by the bad guys but you don’t see him die. The fact that he might not have died is latched onto by the MC (and you as the reader) even though it seems unlikely).
Through darkness,
light shines brightestto also keep the reveal that she is not dead in the same book (worst case scenario use an epilogue).
This is [art can be voided with well enough foreshadowing (like in the above example). Just if doing it through foreshadowing just don’t make your characters think this character is totally dead. Give them hope for the character’s survival (even if it is slim or semi-vain). Also having other characters that are likable/important die can help make it less bad when doing this.
Through darkness,
light shines brightest
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