Off With Their Heads!
Dear Maggie,
Do you ever kill off a character in your books? If so, how do you decide who and when?
Morbidly Curious in Melbourne
Dear Curious,
Sometimes I do kill off a character, but character deaths are not something I take lightly. It’s becoming more mainstream to take out an important lead for dramatic effect - think Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. Killing off a character in a believable, meaningful way has tremendous impact, but taking someone out every season becomes predictable.
Achieving the correct balance in writing is tricky. On the one hand, we don’t want to traumatize our readers for shock value alone. On the other hand, if we are writing in genres with danger around every corner (romantic suspense has to have the suspense!), it seems inevitable that someone eventually must go. The story loses believability if everyone makes it home in one piece.
If I am going to kill a character, I make sure that death has purpose. It can be a motivating factor for other characters’ actions. It can be a necessary and believable outcome of events. It can be used to push the plot forward. Once a character has died, showing the aftermath and effect on the other characters is imperative. I need to show their grief, anger, and maybe, ultimately their acceptance. A death can provide dramatic moments and add authenticity to the story, but killing a character should never be gratuitous. For example, in Run and Hide, the main female lead, Lucia Costa, witnesses her brother’s violent death when his undercover identity is blown. It was a heart-wrenching scene to write, but it was the inciting incident that pushed the plot forward, and this loss affected Lucia throughout the story.
When I’m writing in the romance genre, I’m also very aware that my readers expect a happy ending. This too is a consideration when I have to give someone the axe. With a dramatic death, the characters need time to recover so they can have that happy ending!
Thanks for the great question.
Do you have a question for me? Send it to maggie@msmaggieclare.com, and I’ll answer it here on the blog.
In other news…
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