On April 16, 2010, Ezmirelda wrote, How do you kill a character you’ve become attached to? If the plot needs for a certain character to die how do you do it? Have you ever done it before?
I’ve killed characters, but not many. The mother dies early on in Ella Enchanted and in The Princess Test, and Dave’s father dies at the beginning of Dave at Night. A few characters bite the dust in The Two Princesses of Bamarre, but I won’t say which ones for those who haven’t read the book. I’ve even knocked off a few fairies, tra la, in the Disney Fairies series.
Getting very serious – briefly – people I love have died, real people. I’m sure many of you have lost loved ones too. My father died when I was thirty-eight, my mother when I was thirty-nine. Their deaths were a long time ago; I’m sixty-two now. But I still miss them and think of them often. A situation arises, and I imagine what my father would make of it. In a group of people, it often seems to me I’m observing through my mother’s eyes. Sometimes I picture their astonishment at the technological miracles that have come along since their deaths. The frustration of course is that I can guess what they might say and do; I make them characters in my internal narrative, but I can never be sure if I’m correct. Their absence in flesh and blood will remain sad forever.
If you’re feeling pain at the prospect of killing a character you love, I hope you’ll take comfort. When characters die, they’re not fully dead. I – or you – can bring the dead back to life in imagination. I can make up a new flashback or write out future scenes as if the character hadn’t died. Take Ella’s mother, for example, I could write her first meeting with Ella’s father, Sir Peter. Maybe she’s heard rumors about him. People say he’s dangerous, so she’s curious. Before the ball where he is to be, she dresses with particular care, to Mandy’s dismay. They dance, and she finds the courage to flirt. She tells him about her day, her family, secrets she’s kept for years. His eyes never leave her face. He smiles and compliments her. She hasn’t lost her sense of humor, so she tells herself that this is ridiculous and happening too quickly. Alarms are going off, but she’s taken in anyway. If I like, I can write what she says and how he answers.
Or I can jump ahead and bring the mother back for Ella’s wedding. The reader can see her joy at her daughter happiness. And so on.
You honor your beloved dead character by making the reader love him too. Don’t hold back on giving him qualities you adore, and go easy on the faults. In Dave at Night, I made Dave’s father pretty saintly, so the reader would feel Dave’s grief. You can make the character’s faults endearing ones. Even a villain can be lovable if you make the reader understand the villainy and see where it comes from. It is fine to do in a character for plot reasons, but make the death resonate if this is an important character. What we don’t want to do is rush the death to reduce our own pain. Death is an occasion for wallowing.
You can soothe your pain by keeping the dead character in the reader’s memory. I hate when an author forgets to do this. The character dies; the story is sad for ten pages, and then the character is hardly mentioned again. The consequence is that the living characters who appear to have forgotten the dead one come off as unfeeling. I’ve seen this in thrillers. In the first chapter the hero’s wife is killed. He sets off to avenge her death, which is the whole reason for the book, but the adventure takes over and he stops thinking of her. And I think, How crummy is this! If you go the other way and have the character remembered, whoever is doing the remembering becomes more sympathetic, generally a benefit.
The treatment of a character’s death is masterful in A Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. I read it a long time ago, so I just read a plot summary and almost cried. If you haven’t read the book, it is marvelous.
Guilt often accompanies death. For example, the sole survivor of a car crash is likely to be burdened with guilt, even if he wasn’t driving. He may play out in his mind many scenarios that don’t end in an accident. If I’d done this, said that, he may think, we wouldn’t even have gotten in the car. If I hadn’t turned on the radio… If I had stopped her from answering her cell phone… When you build in guilt, you make the death more believable.
I’ve been a little prescriptive in saying how to treat a death. Each story is different, and you may need to handle it differently. You may have a main character who can’t deal with sadness and deliberately buries the feelings. Disconnection from feeling may keep the dead character in mind as effectively as wallowing. Oh, we think as we read, he’s being callous because he’s in pain. Why pain? Oh, yes, because Juliette died.
Or you may find another approach that works.
Another option, naturally, is not to kill off the character. You may be able to get rid of him without an actual death. Sometimes a character has to die. You feel it as you’re writing. But sometimes there are other options. He can move away. He and your main character can argue irreconcilably and separate forever. He can live, but he’s in a coma and no one knows if he’ll ever recover. It’s worth thinking about why you want to kill him and why you’re hesitating. If you let him live, you can bring him back into the story later on.
Ever, my Mesopotamian fantasy, could have been a tragedy. Initially, I thought it would be, but I couldn’t go that way, so I steered the story in another direction. Tragedy was too bleak for my temperament. Someday this may change.
As for how my characters have died, I’ve used disease, incineration, a fall, disbelief (in the case of one of the Never fairies), battle, even overeating, and maybe I’m leaving out a few. No murder and no humans killing humans even in battle. In fact, I haven’t staged any battles between peoples, only people against monsters. So far I haven’t had the stomach for it, but that may change, too.
I haven’t treated any of the deaths clinically, but there are resources that can help you get inside dying. For one of my books, won’t say which, I needed to know about poisons and their effects, and I found plenty online. Just now I googled “how to write a death scene,” and many entries popped up. I also found a book series called Howdunit, which is for mystery writers but which would probably have other writing uses.
Here are three deadly prompts:
• Your main character’s best friend died of a rare cancer a year ago. Write notes about the impact this might be having on her. Write a scene showing these effects. Write a session between her and a grief counselor.
• Think about killing off a character in a story you’re working on. Consider which character might die and what the consequences would be for your story. Write notes about this. Write the death scene. (You don’t have to really use it.)
• This may not be to everyone’s taste – this entire post may not be – but for the lighter side of death, write from the vantage point of a happy arch villain who is joyously plotting a murder. Get inside her, the more gruesome you can be, the better. Make the character she is planning to kill a great humanitarian whose death will be an enormous loss for all mankind.
Have fun, and save what you write!
F says:
I loved this post, thank you, Mrs. Levine. I agree completely with you about showing the lasting effects. And how hard it can be to kill off a character sometimes. One of my main characters I meant to kill off at the end of the novel (I actually forgot whilst writing, so he's got a momentary reprieve.) Anyway, when I was considering the death, I genuinely felt sad. It is tough to kill of characters, but I think it's a necessary loss. It always strengthens the story.
Also, I have a question that ties in some-what with this. Mrs. Levine, do you think books are becoming more predictable nowadays? I feel that, whenever I read a book, the stakes are never high enough against the characters, and that of course the author won't kill so-and-so off! And that's begun to annoy me a bit. I mean, sure, a happy ending is appreciated, but if there's no risk, no doubt, then that takes away some of the pleasure of reading.
**SPOILERS**
The only good exception to that that I've seen is the Harry Potter series – there really was no certainty that Harry Potter won't die. And then, in the Two Princesses, when Meryl becomes a fairy. She doesn't die – but life isn't the same as before, either.
**END SPOILERS**
Jenna Royal says:
Thank you so much for this post! I am having a hard time planning the killing of some of my characters, so this post is really helpful!
I think that watching people dealing with losing someone is probably the best way to write a realistic story in which a character dies. Remember how they spoke, how often they seemed sad, and for how long.
I think that one of the worst things you can do in a death scene is to make people over react. If all they do is cry all the time, for the next five chapters, it's going to get boring. It can be done, with the right character, but other things have to happen too. But then the character can't just forget about it. They have too keep grieving, or the story doesn't seem realistic.
@F – I agree, stories are way to predictable. That's something I try not to do in my writing, but I think at times I overdo it. I find it hard to know how many characters to kill, and I worry if I'm getting the right ones.
Rose says:
I have a soft spot for drama, perhaps even over-drama. But often, when I plan for a character to die at the end of a story, I can't end up doing it. Once I get to know them better, I let them go safe. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. So far, I don't think it's hurt any of my stories.
However, there are some cases where it just seems cheating that the author dredges up a random way for a character to survive when all the signs have been pointing to their death. When you've spent the whole book preparing for a character's death, it seems rather odd to suddenly turn everything around and end it like a comedy. But there can be different opinions on this one.
#####SPOILER########
I was sadder over the end of _Two Princesses of Bamarre_ than I would have been if Meryl had actually died. Strange but true. It seemed as if, that way, Meryl was almost as lost to Addie as if she'd been dead. Like Addie said, she didn't really have a sister anymore.
But then I've also said to my brother – if there'd been a perfectly happy ending to that book, it wouldn't have been as memorable or powerful to me.
#####END SPOILER######
Silver the Wanderer says:
Very helpful post! So far in my story, the only characters killed off are minor characters or characters who were dead before the story began. I originally thought of killing off one of my main characters, but now he's become much more important than I anticipated, and I can't bear to lose him.
I don't think I could ever kill off one of my main characters, even if it is predictable like F pointed out. I love them too much, and I'm also afraid that the reader would come away upset if one of them died…
Erin Edwards says:
A great post, even though I don't plan on writing characters dieing. 'Cause if I write for me as a reader (or my daughters), I (and they)don't like it when characters die.
In books I read, though, if characters die there has to be a reason. Like in ELLA ENCHANTED it was her mother's dieing that made Ella vulnerable. (And it helped that you weren't attached to the mother character yet. I was more sad for Ella's sake.)
I know people die in real life for no reason, but a book is not real life. In fact, I'm not sure I want to watch the last Harry Potter movie because I refuse to think of one of the Weasley twins as dead. The other deaths were fine; they all had a reason. But the twin's death just felt like it was thrown in there for shock value on the randomness of war. Since there were already lots of deaths, that wasn't enough story purpose for me.
gailcarsonlevine says:
F–Your question got me thinking. I don't know if books have become more predictable, but I've certainly become better at predicting. In the classic HEIDI, for example, which I loved as a child, the plot outcomes can be spotted from a mile away, but I didn't spot them. We become more experienced readers over time and learn to see what's coming. Being able to anticipate is probably also a consequence of writing stories. Writers know what to look for.
Grace says:
Thank you again, Ms. Levine, this post was very helpful.
I agree with Erin Edwards in the way that a character death needs to have purpose. I don't kill off characters excessively but I have done it a few times. I also think a death, if done correctly, can set off a domino effect that can move the plot along at a fast clip.
In a current work in progress, a young adult fantasy, the main characters are on a quest. While on the quest a character dies who another, happy- go- lucky character, was very close to. Because of his death the once happy character is plunged into grief. Because he died valiantly on a quest to save his country his death causes the other character to summon up the courage to later sacrifice herself honorably to save the fate of her country and others who would have died needlessly. Though two characters dying in warfare like this is sad and a bit intense, hopefully the second character's brave sacrifice will give the book a bitter- sweet feel and both of the characters will hopefully be remembered fondly.
As far as deciding whether or not to kill a character, I always write the scene first and see how it feels. I also find it helpful to pull out the old "pros" and "cons" chart. Though I am by no means an expert, I hoped this helped.
Thank you again, Ms. Levine, these blog posts are much appreciated.
F says:
I never thought of it that way, Ms. Levine, but you're absolutely right. It is true that we become more experienced as readers, and that is how we can predict the ending.
But there is still the death thing. In most stories it's a given that the main character will survive. And that's what we as a reader want, too. But don't you think it would be better if there was a little doubt cast along the way?
Wonderwegian says:
Thank you for another great post. A Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson is my favorite novel. I cry everytime I read it.
Jessica says:
F, it depends on what a reader is drawn towards. Some people want to be left guessing, other people don't.
Some people hate suspense and guessing about the plot so much that they skip to the end and read it first so they will know how the book turns out; then if they like the ending the will read the rest of the book. My mom is like this. If it is sad, she won't read the whole thing.
It really is better to just write things the way you want them to be, it is not necessarily better to leave you reader's in doubt.
Erin Edwards says:
Hmmmm… the avatars aren't showing up when I view the comments anymore. Is anyone else seeing them? It help me keep track of kind of who-is-who in the conversation.
@Jessica – I don't like sad books either! But I prefer not to know the end as I read. A quandary. 🙂 My daughters have had me read the end of books for them to find out if they want to spend the time reading a book; they don't like sad endings either.
lilyofseafoam says:
Great post! Death is difficult to deal with on and off the page, so thank you for your advice! I love the last prompt–it's always fun to get into the mind of the villain to see how he or she ticks and why they kill. Since Harry Potter already got brought up, I'll mention Bellatrix–my favourite villain because I think she kills to gain Voldemort's confession of undying love for her (which of course she won't get). I also love Richard Boleslavsky's comparison of a serial killer's act of murder to the every-day swatting of a mosquito buzzing around your ear.
F says:
@Jessica: Ah, yes, I'd forgotten about that. Oops. I know some people read the end first before the book, to seen how the author would bring about the conclusion. And I…read ahead too, so complaining about predictability is a bit moot. Oops again!
F says:
Oh, and @Erin – I can't see the avatars, either, but I hadn't noticed their absence.
Erin Edwards says:
@ F – I just used a new gadget, Gravatar, that is supposed to help your avatar follow you around when you comment, and I wondered at first if that had messed mine up. Plus, I'm knew to all this avatar stuff… probably why I noticed.
I have trouble keeping names straight even when I meet people in person, with no faces to go with the names I'm even worse, so pictures (even of things) help!
Rose says:
F – I think it's a bit awful to kill off an MC without a Really Good Reason. Foreshadowing helps too, so that we're not caught completely off-guard. I know several good books (not telling, for those who haven't read them!) where a/the main character dies. Sometimes more than one of them.
I do like a bit of uncertainty, though. Some authors I'm thinking, "Okay, nothing is going to go wrong, everything is going to be sweet and happy-ever after," and with other authors' books I get nervous: "what if it doesn't turn out all right?"
A very good book that I won't mention the title of, made me wonder a lot. I expected the MC to die in the end – I was setting myself up for it, because there was a really good thing she could achieve by her death. But when she survived, I was really happy. I prefer to be scared at first and then pleased in the end than laughing all the way and then getting a (figurative)bucket of cold water thrown on me at the end.
Grace – your story sounds good. I don't see anything wrong with doing it that way at all.
Hope this helps.
Silver the Wanderer says:
I actually haven't read any books where the main character dies. Though, I do remember before Harry Potter 7 came out how people didn't know whether he would live or not. The suspense was exciting – that explains why I devoured that book within thirty-six hours of its release. 😉
@Erin, I noticed the avatars' disappearance as well. Good to see it's not just me – I thought my computer was acting up. They're not showing up on any of the other blogs I follow, and every "Search This Blog" text box is stuck on "Loading…" Maybe Blogger is having technical problems? I hope my pretty avatar reappears again soon…
Rose says:
Oh yay, everyone's avatars are back! (To me, at least.)I still can't figure out how to load mine, but . . .
Erin Edwards says:
Great! I'd only recently gotten around to putting up an avatar and I was bummed that now they were getting removed, or I messed mine up somehow….
Silver the Wanderer says:
Oh yes, they're back on for me too. Rose, all you need to do is go to your dashboard and click on the "edit photograph" link.
Carmen says:
Great post!
I've found that I enjoy Brandon Sanderson's books, possibly even because I know there's no guarantee about who lives or dies!
I don't usually like it when a main character is killed off, but if it never happens then the story becomes too predictable. I like trying to guess an author's next step, and an unforeseen death can help things stay exciting.
By the way, does anyone have any advice for an aspiring writer looking for an agent?
Wendy says:
***FAN LETTER ALERT***
Ms. Levine, as of Tuesday morning, I have read ALL of your books! Even Betsy Who Cried Wolf (I'm still waiting for Betsy Red Hoodie). I love your writing and _The Two Princesses of Bamarre_ is my favorite book. I also love _Writing Magic_.
Good post! I haven't written about death very much, but in the story I'm working on right now my main character's new best friend dies towards the end. It was really helpful to read that the grief should be continuous… I hadn't thought of that before. Very helpful! Thanks!
Erin Edwards says:
@ Carmen – For looking for an agent, I would recommend starting with these websites/blogs:
http://blog.nathanbransford.com/
http://pubrants.blogspot.com/
http://www.querytracker.net/
http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/
Good Luck!
April says:
My husband says he usually likes Japanese movies better than American ones, because Hollywood likes to tell "happily ever after" stories. A lot of Japanese movies will end in tragedy (Hamlet style). I think this happens in books too, though not necessarily between the US and Japan; certain authors lean one way or the other.
I remember reading a book once when the main character died, and the first person narrative switched from him to one of the secondary characters as the first lay dying (I think it was a Cynthia Voigt book, but I'm not sure). That was quite a shock! And a rather awkward and unsatisfying transition. It was like she got tired of narrating the protagonist's thoughts, so she bumped him off so she could follow the other character instead, who had been rather flat until that point.
I agree with others that death can make a story better, but only when it's called for. Kiilling in and of itself is not the magic formula to enhance a story.
One of my WIP has a scene where it appears the main girl dies, and the main boy is dying, too—but they are saved just barely in time. I'm trying to decide if I want to resolve this tension as the end of the story, or to end it right where it appears they'll die and expand the rest of the story into a second book.
If I do the latter and get published, I thoroughly expect to receive letters from readers telling me they threw the first book against the wall when they finished reading it! 😉
幸平平平平杰 says:
精彩，ｔｈａｎｋｓ！............................................................
Rose says:
@ April – I have read that book!
#######SPOILERS FOR BOOK FOLLOW########
It's _The Wings of a Falcon_ by Cynthia Voigt, and it's my automatic example of a sad book! I liked Oriel sooooooo much and then Ms. Voigt let him die – it's not FAIR. And that fellow whose name began with a G – the secondary character – he was completely boring before then.
In general, it was NOT satisfactory. Everything was shaping up nicely, and then everything went irretrievably wrong. I'd struggled through most of this very drear, depressing book, and then good things finally started happening, and then . . . all I can say is, I was not pleased!
However, I think there was a reason, of sorts. I believe Ms. Voigt is trying for a bleak, unfortunate atmosphere in her series of Kingdom books. I just think she slightly overdid the bleakness in that one. A very nice, pleasant ending could have been reached, after a lot of horrid stuff – but she chose another way. Oriel's death was a style decision I don't really support.
Excuse the long rant/comment. I've had this bottled up for a while, as I don't know anyone else who'd read the book!
As regards your story: I would resolve the matter. Due to the long release time for books, people might have to wait over a year for the next one. Maybe you could resolve the situation for 1 character but not for the other? I. E., have the boy rescued, but still let readers think the girl's dead?
F says:
@Rose: You're perfectly right, that's exactly what I meant! I don't _want_ any character to die, but it's kind of useless to know they won't!
And @April: That Cynthia Voigt book sounds interesting…what's it about? I might try to read it if it's clean. 😛 (Though I accidentally read a bit of the spoilers…ooops…)
Rose says:
@ F – I'm not April but . . . I think the book's pretty clean, from what I remember. Not entirely clean, but nothing much described on-stage. A lot of unpleasant stuff happens though, as you've probably gotten by now. It's about a boy and his friend and his journey to manhood . . . it doesn't sound original that way, but it is. However it IS really sad.
Rose says:
The title is _The Wings of a Falcon_ by Cynthia Voigt. It's the 3rd in her series of the Kingdom books – 1st is Jackaroo, 2nd is On Fortune's Wheel. 4th is Elske but I didn't read it. The books are independent of each other and Jackaroo is my runaway favorite.
Mya says:
@F- I'm glad you asked that question! I never realised it either, that our own perceptiveness could have grown rather than books having become more predictable.=)
Personally, I find it comforting to kill of a character, main or minor, odd as it sounds. It helps channel real-life grief into something fictional. That doesn't work so well when I'm happy though.=)
In fact, I think the books which have 'worse than death' scenarios are the most tragic. The character, if it is a romance novel, finding out her love is about the die, or already married, isn't it more horrendously sad than her love being dead?
And there's The Two Princesses of Bammarre. I loved the book, Mrs Levine, it was tragic seeing the sisters separated in such a way, but I wouldn't have loved and appreciated the story so much any other way.
I'm glad Harry Potter was brought up.=D It was amazing how many beloved characters JK Rowling knocked off, but managed to get the story going. There are far too few authors these days who really kill off characters, and lead us around surprising turns along the way. I've yet to read a story in which the MC is killed off. Even in the Sherlock Holmes mystery/murder series, the detective comes back, in the next book. Although, that happened due to outraged fans and hatemail demanding his return to life, piled on Sir Arthur Doyle's desk.
@April- My parents watch Japanese (and some Chinese) movies, they're definitely tragic stuff.=) But I think British movies have a somber note on them too, that is, compared to hollywood.
F says:
@Rose: Thank you! I'll check them out from the library if I see them! 🙂
@Mya: Yes! The Harry Potter deaths were…great, even though that sounds mean. The one that really got me was the one at Shell Cottage – if you get what I mean. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read the books. I nearly cried at that, and I never cry at fiction!
And I agree with everyone else when they say that it was sadder to see Addie and Meryl seperated in that way…sadder, yet satisfying. 🙂
Mya says:
@F- That death made me so sad too.)= Another which really struck was with Voldemort and his snake in the Shrieking Shack. I was in buckets then, and I've never cried for a fictional death either!
I'm actually going for the death of a main character and its been rather hard to write. But I'm also doing a 'worse than death' for another character, which has been much worse, emotionally and the writing sense, but exciting in its own way.
Alex P says:
This is not really addressed to anyone. I’m just sort of…ranting I guess? Looking down I guess that’s what those unsightly paragraphs are called. Ugh. Did I really…? Long comment. ;D
I'm not a tragedy person- Note: tragedy and drama are separate things-that much (although I've been known to kill off characters), but I can bear with it as long as the death doesn't cast an everlasting, overbearing shadow of sorrow over the entire story. What I dislike more than character death is when a character loses their personality-uncharacteristically- to despair and you end up wondering what on earth happened to the story and the character who is now…not who they were in a bad way. I can't help but accuse Charlotte Brontë of doing this in her Jane Eyre. I personally despised how Jane droned on in the middle as if she thought the page count too low…but that doesn't really have anything to do with death.
It's more the mood change in a story I'm speaking about here, since it’s commonly an effect of character death. I don't like the fact that, often in a story, when things take a turn for the worst, the writing takes a turn for the worst. I personally have no idea what happened in the plot of Jane Eyre (if it weren't for Sparknotes ;D) whenever Jane took it in her head to become flustered or at all upset.
Summarizing all my gibberish from one writer to another: Be careful not to lose characters, or moods, or even what shelf your story would rest on by becoming TOO influenced by a large amount of drama or tragedy in the plot. Any sort of drama is usually very selfish and doesn't care what elements/character/plot/miscellanea of a story get lost in its rise to the top. I personally get bored and put a book down if I have to try too hard to understand what's going on through the discord and unclarity of a mourning or overly upset character. If you are trying to write a romance, don't suddenly plunge into a satire- if it doesn't suit the plot. If you're writing a tragedy, don't turn it into a tragicomedy (yes, that's a real word) unless you can control the plot/characters well enough. Those story elements are dangerous. They WILL try to take control. Follow your writing heart wherever it may lead you if you will, but please, NOT at the cost of the poor reader’s understanding.
ON death in stories itself- doesn’t bother me if I’m not attached to the character. I feel sad/cry if I liked the character or a character I liked did. I’m strongly empathic (translation: emotional), but actually have written some deaths in a roundabout, not-very- cruel way. Now. How about we talk about butterflies or rosebushes…
Rose says:
Hi Alex P!
I agree. Stick to the mood, etc. I'm hardly one to talk – I keep making my funny stories depressing in the middle – but it's a real problem when people do it. I don't mind a story suddenly becoming more serious, but I don't like it being depressing – does anyone get what the difference is? Things can be serious without being depressing . . . I think that's the mood to strike.
One of the things I hate most in books is authors letting the characters wallow in guilt, despair, grief, etc. There're ways to show that sort of emotion without throwing it over us in buckets.
F says:
@Mya: Oh, that one was so sad!! 🙁 I love that character now, he's my personal favourite. I think he's even better developed than Harry! So tragic…so tragic! 'Look…at…me…' Saddest line EVER. *sighs* 🙁
@Others: I don't know about too much tragedy, but I find that I love the semi-serious style adopted by a few authors, like Eoin Colfer (and I suppose J. K. Rowling? She found the perfect balance, I believe). Serious when they need it, otherwise cracking with jokes. 🙂
Mya says:
@F: He's my fav character too.=D He was always so intriguing. I was a pretty smug for days, having already predicted and insisted on his good guy theory, but it was so shocking sad, the way it ended.)= I had a keep wiping off the fountains of tears in order to keep reading.)=
@Alex and Rose- Hmm, you know, its interesting, I've yet to come across a story where the author spent too much time writing about the dead character, or dramatises things in link with the death. It usually seems like they forget about the character after a few lines, which makes me quite indignant. But I agree too, about the mood balance.
Megan says:
@F – it's so sad!! i could hardly stand it, the tears were flowing! the worst bit is when dumbledore says, 'after all this time?' and he says, 'always.'
ms. levine – i was just wondering, when you write your fairies books, do you tend to set up for the sequel a little bit, despite the fact they are stand-alone books, or do you write them as separate stories?
Grace says:
Jumping in a little late on commenting here but oh well.
I agree, J.K. Rowling is amazing. I counted in the 7th book, she killed off 13 characters(major and minor.) Though she did that, all of the deaths were, for the most part, very well crafted (there were a few in the battle of Hogwarts that seemed kinda random to me…) I really admire her for that. I also love Harry's additiude toward it all- marverlous.
Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series, has a very unique voice. It is always so in character (he uses 1st person) and laugh out loud funny. But when something serious happens, he can always make the suspense and drama rise as well. I could not put his books down. If you haven't checked out his books yet, I would highly reccomend it.
athena14Lee says:
Wow, I am REALLY late in on this. Now me, I don't normally cry at emotional points in the story (the end of HP and the Deathly Hallows was the exception) but I go into this state of numb shock. I agree with what most of you have said: J.K. Rowling is great with this kind of thing, as are Riordan and Colfer. Another author who's really good with death scenes is Suzanne Collins, who wrote the Hunger Games books, which I think is one of the best series(es) I've ever read. On the surface of things it may sound like Twilight (shudder) but it is really much, much better. I can't really describe it, but I reccommend it to all.
April says:
Oops, late to replying in the comments. Sorry!
I'm glad someone remembered the story I was referring to, because I honestly don't remember the title or the plot. I read A LOT of books during that time period, and that was over 10 years ago.
Rose says:
@ April – and yet you remembered that part of the plot with no trouble – yes, I love how that happens! I read A LOT of books, and pretty fast too. Most of the time I can remember more or less what happens in each of them, if I see them again. But then there are the parts that really stand out with bright clarity no matter how long ago you've read them. It might be a line, a scene, a chapter . . . but always bound up in some emotion, whether joy or fear or sadness.
bluekiwii says:
I really like this entry. It's true that the people who mourn often feel guilty–but not necessarily because of the way they died. It might be because they wished they'd been nicer to the person who died; wished they had said and done certain things. Everyone goes through some of the same feelings when death of a loved one occurs. How they show those feelings, if they let them completely take-over, what they say and what they do. . . those things are different for each person. So I guess the hardest part is to remain true to the characters, even as the characters change as a result of their loss and grief.
I checked on the Howdunit series. They look amazing. There's all this information on how poisons work, how criminal investigators operate, and the whole procedure that takes place when a crime has taken place. Thanks for the recomendation.
I like the prompts, especially the last one. I usually get stuck when I write villains because I want the readers to hate and feel repulsed at the villains, while at the same time having the villains be human people with reasons for acting that way do. I don't want the whole backstory of a villain to a pity fest either (it's a bit cliche) or have their bad actions be thought of as less evil because their history or past circumstances that may have driven them to that point. So. . . how do you write villains? How do you write them so they seem human and ordinary? How do you write villains who are very extreme–such as murderers or obsessive, fanatical criminals?
Just some food for thought ~
gailcarsonlevine says:
Megan–In the FAIRIES books, I have deliberately left openings for future stories, but I haven't planned the future ones out ahead of time.
Blue Kiwi–Excellent question! I'm adding it to my list.