From Writers in the Storm:
The death of a popular character has caused more than one angry fan to send email to the author and unfavorable reviews to chat groups and review sites. So, when you absolutely must cause a character’s demise, how do you do that without enraging your readers?
When and how you choose to kill off a character can make or break a story. It’s quite difficult for authors. The characters are very real. Permanently dispatching them is a bit like purposefully ridding oneself of an ally.
Characters should be killed off when the purpose of their demise will be the most impactful. Death may occur near the story’s end such as in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, once we really feel for the victim. Or, like in Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, where deaths frequently happen with no warning, establishing the theme that the characters are never safe.
1. Make the Death Meaningful
Nothing aggravates a reader more than characters who die for no good reason. If you’ve built solid, relatable characters, then they deserve to die for a purpose.
For a death scene to be truly meaningful the other characters need to be invested in the outcome as well as the reader.
- Show how the death affects your characters
- Explore the repercussions of the death
- Look at the emotional impact on the characters
Hodor, one of the kindest characters in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice, sacrifices himself by holding a door shut with his body to block the attack of a horde of wights, allowing the family he served time to escape. He is torn apart, while he repeats his own name until it’s revealed that Hodor is really saying “hold the door,” a phrase that became the only thing he could say.
2. Foreshadow the Character’s Death
When done right, foreshadowing is a great way to create emotional tension for the reader. It can set up expectations of the characters’ behaviors and outcomes.
Here are some common examples of elements used as foreshadowing:
- Dialogue, like “I have a bad feeling about this”
- Active weather, such as storm clouds, wind, driving rain, clearing skies
- Omens, like a broken mirror or prophecies
- Symbols, such as blood, weapons, certain colors, types of birds, and physical/emotional symbolism like the pain of Harry’s scar in the Harry Potter series
- Settings, like a graveyard, battlefield, river, isolated path
- Characters’ reactions, such as secrecy, fear, apprehension, curiosity
- Time and/or season, such as midnight, dawn, twilight, fall, winter
If you end the life of an important character suddenly, readers are probably not going to react well. They anticipated spending quality time with this character. Ripping that character from them at the last-minute means sacrificing foreshadowing. And may get your book tossed across the room.
In John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, the reader knows early on that Owen is going to die. The narrator, who is retelling past events, tells us. Owen’s dreams provide clues to the manner of his death. When tragedy strikes, we are ready for it.
Link to the rest at Writers in the Storm
