On character death and warnings.

Precisely.

 

Heh. Jes, I think you meant you did and we all did this:

You're such an evil writer you know. I think I picked up on your evilness for my stories.

 

Glad I could pass on my legacy

 

You definitely have passed on a legacy. *goes off to be evil to various random characters*

And I just liked the way that you warned the evilness of the fics, because it's funny, but still gets the point across. (I distincly remember snorting a number of times at the beginning of fics. )

 

While I will label a story as an AU, I don't warn about character deaths.

 

As far as Character death is concerned, unless they die of a habit, like drug abuse or thrill seeking, I do not even forshadow it. If I do, I do so in a way that leaves a vague clues that don't necessarily clue the reader into what is happening.

 

I find character deaths necessary, even in AU. When I wrote TPM AU I wanted to save Qui-Gon but I couldn't so I had to let him die. I killed an OC in AOTC because I had to. and inn ROTS AU I plan to kill another important character (whom I will not name as it'll spoil the story).

As for letting people know before hand, that all depends. If you want to kill Palpatine at the start of ROTS in an AU then you should say so. other than that it'll ruin the story.

I actually LIKE leaving my readers in suspense after I kill off a main character. I have a Diablo II fic on ff.net where I killed off my main character and posted two weeks later when I brought him back

 

I've only announced once ... and that was for a character that several of my readers really liked - and I don't think I should have. I think I'd stick to film characters in that regard.

And inorganic objects such as droids and/or starships do count as characters. If you're gonna zap C-3PO or blow up the Millenium Falcon, you might wanna use the normal character death procedures.

 

Death scenes can be quite poignant though, especially for characters you love and feel you need to kill off.

I'm all for happy endings, but IMHO the best ending is one that is both happy AND sad. Like one character who dies yet another lives and moves on from their death.
I'm thinking of red_rose_knight's The book of Paths series where she kills Obi-Wan at the end but his Padawan learner Bali lives. One life ends, another begins.

 

I think the muse dictates whether a character dies or not. I've written stories where I REALLY didn't intend to kill off a character, but as the story progressed it became obvious that it needed to happen. That's why I can never promise NOT to kill off a character in any given story or time period because that would just be like daring my muse to toy with me. The muse rules the path that the story takes, so arbitrary promises or deadlines just wouldn't work for me. If the muse says they die, they die!

 

NEVER argue with the muse

Unless you're doing a humour fic, and even then you must be careful.

 

Now that's a tough one. As a reader, I don't mind in the least. It doesn't upset me when a character dies - although it might affect how I view the story if I was invested in that character. I don't feel that I need to 'warned' in a good story.

I've never actually written a character death story yet so this is a very good discussion for me. I wasn't planning on doing so - warning the readers - besides it's already too late for that since the story has been started....

I would have thought warning the readers about a character death would affect the 'shock' of one. Well if we were to take cues from the professional world - JKR did warn us that 'someone' would die in Bk 5 and 'more deaths' were coming in Bk 6. And I know the whole premise of the TV show 'Lost' was turned on its head because the producers didn't like the idea of Jack dying in the pilot, as was initially planned....

On the other hand: JKR didn't warn us about Bk 4 though... Lucas never siad for sure what would happen to Padmé in RotS . And I wasn't there but I'm pretty sure Lucas didn't tell anyone that old Ben would get the axe before the end of the first movie.




I think the writer should just decide for himself. I, on the other hand, will continue with my intention to massacre beloved characters in as shocking and upsetting a way as possible.


edit - Just realized that I have written a character death fic.

 

I had that happen to me when I was writing a response for the "I'll Trade You 1,000 Words For This Picture" challenge. Until then, I swear I had no intention of killing off that character. I eventually worked out a future for her with one of the other OC's. But by the end of that piece...she was dead!

That's the funny thing about fiction. Always a fluid, living organism...unless you kill it.

Although, I only will kill off my OC's. I don't bump off canon characters. (No dead Han or Chewbacca, for example). Some readers might get attached to them, but I think it makes readers more upset if they see one of the canon characters getting rubbed out. (Well, except in the case of Jar Jar...).

 

Oh I don't know about enjoying it...but when I was writing Japor I had great fun slaughtering the various Jedi...


and even more fun reading the replies when I killed someone's 'favorite'

 

That's a good question, Leona, but I have to say that once again I put my trust in the muse. In fact, as Gina can tell you, I tend to question my muse when she says a character I had not intended to kill must die. I whine and complain and fret, and Gina gets to hear it all! But, in the end, you do what the story requires. If it shocks or angers, that can be a good thing. Killing off characters to increase your body count or merely to provoke readers doesn't tend to work, and neither does NOT killing characters because you've said you won't. That isn't listening to the story. The story must decide.

 

Well said!

 

i basically started a story killing a cannon character, mainly because it setup what i needed emotionally for someone to be different from what they were for the whole fic. otherwise it just wouldn't have worked. i think that if you do something like that in a first chapter, it's fair warning that no one's safe. especially if you have a force ghost already in it.

i don't kill people just for the heck of it, but i have had a fic that was based off of the death of luke skywalker. a one shoter, that ended a bit different than what was expected by others, though not myself. it's fun killing characters, cannon most of all. (no, i'm not sadistic, it just creates certain dynamics you couldn't have otherwise)

 

Yeah, good quesiton, Healer. I've only recently even given though to the idea of killing cannon characters. I'm not sure if it was my master or what, but somewhere, I got the idea that they were sacred. I've also not read many fics in which such cannon characters have been killed. It can't be pervasive. I guess the only reason I would do it, is for emotional impact within the story. Doing it just for kicks doesn't seem to make much sense.

Edit: But killing OCs is another story...and a lot of fun.

 

Agreed on making the decision for any reason other than the story. I guess I'll just wait until I get closer to the time, and since it would be the very end anyway, maybe write 2 endings and let the reader decide.

 

Well, I guess I'll throw in my two cents on this. Personally, I prefer not to know a character's going to die. I mean, I knew Anakin died in SbS before I read it, and as a result I spent the entire book dreading it and freaking out every time he had a scene, as well as not really paying attention to the rest of the plot. And then when he did finally bit the dust I wasn't that upset at all because I'd been prepared for it, if that makes sense. On the other hand, not knowing if Raynar was going to make it throught DN made the whole series way more emotional and exciting for me. So, personally, as a writer and as a reader, I prefer to be suprised. Then again, I love sad movies and get a real kick out of crying my eyes out because I think it makes a story better, so I may not be the best person around to ask!

Honestly, yes. I had a fic going that I ended in a cliff hanger without letting the readers know if a character was going to live or not. I kept them in the dark for most of the sequal because it was really fun to see their responces, horrible as that sounds! In reality I had no intention of killing the character, but seeing how nervous people were made me realize the story could be a lot more effective and have a better emotional impact if I actually did kill the character! It rocked so hard!

 

The only time I ever killed characters, I did it en masse. And I did it because the muse told me too, that's all. I'm with all who've said that the muse dictates such things.

 

I've done that, you have all these characters so you simplify things by putting them all on a starship and blowing it up.

That being said I don't like killing characters unless their villains when there is an element of sadism in there. Like, who can't not enjoy killing Grevious? He has about the best death their is. Or Vader choking a random Imperial officer? I always laugh when he 'demotes' Admiral Ozzel in ESB.

But for protagonists, I hate doing it even if I know I have to. OCs are particularly bad but canon characters can even be harder to kill. I don't WANT to kill this character, I would PREFER is he/she was alive but if I let he/she live the story would not have as much impact as it would with them dead.

 

For the original question, I'd say: Kill if you want, and if you know from the very beginning that you want to kill someone, I'd hate to see a warning for that. Spoilers and all. I like surprises. (omg, Anakin = Darth Vader!)

If you didn't plan for it, and the story wasn't already that dark to start with, a warning might be a good thing if the plot is suddenly plummeting into the depths of angst hell. But to me, it's just one of those things that readers can sense (i.e. the plummet), so a warning isn't necessary either way.

I have no problems killing anyone. In fics, of course! But it has to be a believable death. If Obi-Wan gets hit with a falling piano, there can be a great reason.

 

Well, in my first long story I killed Han, Leia and Mara in 9 chapters and it was... satisfying. In truth, it took me 8 chapters to kill Han and only one for Leia and Mara. Strangely, some readers even liked it. I had Han's death planned, Leia and Mara's were developments of the plot. I didn't warn anybody, althought there were good hints at the Intro.

Edit: I just remembered that I warned my readers that the story would be depressing, but not about the deaths.