HOW TO KILL

{Meilori mourning Sam McCord courtesy of the fabulous Leonora Roy}

 

David Farland has a great post:

Strategies for Killing Your Babies -
http://www.davidfarland.net/writing_tips/?a=144&utm_source=buffer&buffer_share=203ad

A very important subject since I stopped reading Stephen King for a time because he habitually killed characters I had grown fond of.

If I want to lose people I care about, I just have to remember my own life.

Not that Death doesn't visit my characters.  After all, she is the mother of my young gyspy rascal, Victor Standish.

There is a scene in one of my favorite series, THE DRESDEN FILES, where an enemy shows Harry Dresden an open grave in a prestigious cemetery with the ornate headstone:

HARRY DRESDEN
HE DIED DOING THE RIGHT THING.

Later in the series, Harry did die. But being a wizard, death had ... complications.

As a ghost, he convinced his shattered apprentice, Molly, he was indeed Harry by saying: "You must go to the Dagobah System and learn from Yoda, the Jedi Master who instructed me."

Molly falls to her knees sobbing, for she recognizes Harry's sense of humor and knows 1.) This is not some spectral imposter and 2.) Harry is indeed dead.

DEATH, LIKE EVERYTHING IMPORTANT, MUST BE DONE WITH SKILL:

1.) DEATH CASTS A LONG SHADOW -

Your first paragraph sets a tone. It should whisper Death is in the wings, waiting in the shadows ... no one is immune. Everyone dies at some point in this life.

2.) DENIAL IS NOT JUST A RIVER IN EGYPT -

Have Death thrust in the thoughts and conversations of your characters.  Do not ignore the 500 pound gorilla in the front room.

3.) THE THINGS THAT DEATH CAN BUY -

The 300 Spartans. The Alamo. A life well-lived is priceless. A death done courageously can be the door to life for countless others. Immortality is born from the fact that sometimes the worst thing about HELLO is GOODBYE.

4.) WHAT IS DEATH TO YOU -

Whatever worldview you hold, not everyone shares it. 

But you must remain true to what you believe awaits us after death. Your words should represent that belief in as stirring and simple prose as you can produce.  It will not ring true otherwise.

5.) AH, WHERE IS THE ETERNAL REST?

One of the reasons I chose "Science Fantasy" as a genre is that it is interesting and emotionally statisfying to show a possible world beyond death and the challenges that plane of "existence" has for its citizens.

6.) THE SUN ALSO RISES -

After Death visits, the dawn insists on rising to a new day. Have people living in it that the reader can like and relate to ... friends left to root for.

7.) KILL THE MESSENGER -

The reader may swear off your books when you kill a beloved character ... unless your words are the very best they can be, not just DURING the death scene, but AFTER Death comes and goes. 

The danger must still threaten, the fight still rage on in some fashion ...

and the prose should literally grab the reader by the shirt front, dragging her or him from page to page to find out who next will fall or if the protagonist has died for nothing.

How do you handle death in your novels?