I think most of us know how this feels both, in our daily lives and when it comes to the books that we’re reading. You fall in love with someone, get to know everything about them, would do anything for them, and then all at once you have to say goodbye. Sometimes, it’s irreconcilable differences, people who are too different from each other, one doesn’t respect the other’s feelings or boundaries… or the author is just a dick and kills them off.
Right now, I feel like I may be at a crossroads with the last one, only I am that author, and I have the final say this time. To be honest though, I can’t say I’ve ever really been interested in killing off one of my reader’s favorite characters just to suit my own bullshit agenda. Motivation through pain has never been a tool that I’ve liked to use in my writing. XYZ dies to motivate ABC to be a better… whatever just doesn’t sit right with me.
But now I find myself faced with exactly that. I’ve created a character that I absolutely love, and the people who have been privileged enough to get to see finished bits of my current WIP also love. However, he was never supposed to make it, the character was always supposed to die. He wasn’t supposed to be a main character, or a main supporting role. Yet, here I am, grieving the loss of the little halfling that I had every intention of killing in the next chapter.
What do I do?
My friend/reader says that he’s going to riot if I kill off this character. He and his girlfriend are incredibly invested- and I love them for it, I do. I think it’s great that I’ve created characters that people genuinely care about but, now I don’t know how to let them go when it’s time. He wasn’t even supposed to make it this far but, I loved him, so I let him make it a little bit farther. His death does, ideally help the story progress but, I can also see how he adds so many bright and diverse elements to that story, that now I almost feel like killing him off is a waste.
Kill your darlings. Okay, Stephen King but, how?
How do I kill them and survive? How do I kill off one of the characters that I love the most, and that makes me the happiest without losing a piece of myself, or a piece of the story’s heart? Because I lose a lot if I kill off this character, and I don’t know if there’s a way for me to mend the hole that he leaves behind. But I also know that if I keep them around longer than I should, that it would also have dire consequences that I am not prepared for.
I feel like I’m being torn in half because I’ve seen what happens when a character is allowed to stay around longer than they should, and how that in and of itself can ruin a story, and a character, and everything that they’re supposed to stand for. It takes away something precious and important, and I don’t want to do that.
Kill your darlings. But how?
-Sky
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