: Re: Making People Unsure which Characters will Survive I hope this isn't too general. I wanted to ask for advice on making it unclear which characters will survive to the end. The first arc of

As addition to mbakeranalecta's answer:

You need to show characteristics, traits, motives of the characters. Specifics. If the reader finds among these that s/he like, adores, looking for, etc. then the character gets in the status of 'liked', the reader is "attached" (!!)! Depending on the setup and the reader, it may cause suspension, but it can also be just a good read. I liked Salvatore's dark elf stories, but I was not thrilled if the protagonists would die or not. I felt sorry for some characters, even for a few specific less meaningful ones, but should the big ones die? In that setting they were facing challenges, there was plenty of chances story-wise.

Expert chess player to be not taken out by sniper? Why not? It is a reasonable strategic move, should it be important in the story. On the other hand I don't feel a sniper to be a good thriller factor. For cluster deaths I would go with something else, like sneaking cut-throat by night, selectively killing some characters, with undisclosed, but recognizable preference. You can do several cases, where characters wander on potential, but not trivial big risk area. You may also work with "never seen it coming" events. As tools to use.

I think you should provide more details if you would like to get more exact answer, because I think we can go this far in general.

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: Chapters - Writing Order I, like most writers, have a number of ideas about my current work in progress. I know how some chapters in the story will play out almost precisely (the ending

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: I've read 2 different series of books, both that have a place named "Winterfell" that is central to the plot, but whilst reading the second series I no longer thought about the place in

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: How to write from a rich "bad boy's" perspective? I am currently writing a story that alternates perspectives between the hero and heroine every other chapter. I have gotten a lot of work done

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: How do I figure out what "challenges/issues" my character could encounter/go through? I will supply you with some character information and some context for my specific project, though I'm thinking

: Re: Making People Unsure which Characters will Survive I hope this isn't too general. I wanted to ask for advice on making it unclear which characters will survive to the end. The first arc of

More posts by @Gail2416123

: Chapters - Writing Order I, like most writers, have a number of ideas about my current work in progress. I know how some chapters in the story will play out almost precisely (the ending

: I've read 2 different series of books, both that have a place named "Winterfell" that is central to the plot, but whilst reading the second series I no longer thought about the place in

: How to write from a rich "bad boy's" perspective? I am currently writing a story that alternates perspectives between the hero and heroine every other chapter. I have gotten a lot of work done

: How do I figure out what "challenges/issues" my character could encounter/go through? I will supply you with some character information and some context for my specific project, though I'm thinking

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