Not Quite Rant.

[urbanamazon]

I hardly think this one would qualify me for one of those spiffy ranty-pants icons I've seen on a few particular journals, but I'd like to say this anyhow. It's been niggling at the back of my head like a Beanie Baby with teeth.

So. For all you writers out there ... original and take-command-fanfic realms ... I would like to say a few words one of the most volatile bits of reader vs. writer.

Character death.

It hurts, especially when it's a character not only an audience loves, but the creator adores as well. There's no maniacal laughter as the scene is written, no evil grins and thoughts of how the readers may react in shock and horror, no careless shrugs. It hurts. It really, really hurts ... because it isn't really the writer's choice at all.

Look at any case and ask these questions.

Was it both senseless and reasoned?
Could it have been avoided?
Does it tear your plot into angsty little pieces?
Does it change someone irreversibly?
Does it hurt you as much as it hurt them?

Then it had to happen.

I read a post on my flist some time ago, about an article they read on JK Rowling before the fifth Harry Potter books was released ... back when all that was known was that someone was going to die. After writing the scene, Rowling was so emotionally upset that she went to a close friend to tearfully confess. The friend said this, more or less: "If it makes you so upset, then don't write it. Change it. Do't put it in."

Rowling replied: "But I have to! I'm a children's author! I have to be mean and merciless and unbending! This person has to die!"

And the poster then pledged her undying respect for Rowling. Paraphrased, of course.

Death is senseless and brutal and unexpected. It hurts, it heals, and it rips apart. It's unavoidable and unforseen. No character is immortal, no matter how precious. Sentimentality is no excuse. Begging and pleading is no excuse. If readers run the story, then what's the point of it being written in the first place? (*cough*Salvatore*cough*)

But that doesn't mean that death is necessary in every story, though. If you hack down players left and right in an attempt to create 'tension' and 'angst', then you are really missing the point. Or ... you're living in Chris Claremont-world and the X-Men are your bitches ... and you'll bring them back to life for over-dramatic shock value ten chapters down the road to boost sales. Bad tactics.

In Black Angel, people die.
In tekMage, a lot of people die.
In Chaos Ink, the most undeserving of people die.

Because they have to. No matter how much I'll miss them all, my stories have casualties. Make the characters mean enough, because death should never be meaningless.

And if you don't like it, go read self-help books and Archie comics. I left warm and fuzzy with my day job.

Comments

[dhaunea.livejournal.com]

Amen.

Eloquently stated and true right down to the bottom line.

[aimlesscoyote.livejournal.com]

Mew! *hides under tail and peeks out* But but but... waaaah!

*Huggles Black and sniffles* Mine!


...PS - where are you, chica? I'm dying to continue our scene! :-D

[minimalismo.livejournal.com]

sigh.

death should never be meaningless

[newtypeshadow.livejournal.com]

well said. *is pleased*

After writing the scene, Rowling was so emotionally upset

i hadn't heard about the friend bit. just that she went to her husband (were they married then?) right after she killed [---] and was very broken up about it.

But that doesn't mean that death is necessary in every story, though. If you hack down players left and right in an attempt to create 'tension' and 'angst', then you are really missing the point.
*
It really, really hurts ... because it isn't really the writer's choice at all.

...really, i love you. i thought you should know.

although i'm probably guilty of senseless character homicide, i agree with you. however, if the story really matters to you; if it's not a random parody, something you're writing to blow off steam, or something you're letting the readers control; if you've grown attached to your characters and can understand their motivations, then...well, the death itself might be senseless and cruel, but there'll always be good reason for it. and if the writer does his/her job, the readers, too, will understand the death was necessary.

[guilen.livejournal.com]

thank God somebody who is writing can say that

I had Sylvie mad at me for ages because one of her favorites died...

No really. This is very very important. Never pull any punches. The best stories write themselves.

GUILEN