: Re: Killing off a character What are the long term effects of killing off a main character (early into a series) that represents someone you'd like to move on from? Would that be cathartic, or

@Margaret427

Vote Up Vote Down

When I began writing my first novel I was very angry. I killed 11 people - I feel a lot better now.

The book didn't sell but by writing it I saved spending thousands of dollars in therapy . . . so I'd call it a win definitely.

More seriously . . . your plot dictates that certain people have to die. Pure hatred causes the mind to create ways to inflict extreme suffering on your villains.

For my first killing was a little tentative. A girl watches as her boyfriend chokes on a chicken bone and makes a conscious decision to nothing.

It's all learning. I could say, my first few killings were for me . . . but now I'm really good at it. I've had a character express the joy of being blown up on 9/11. No . . . I'm not joking.

Just so as I don't get marked down for bad taste.

When the moment came? Wow! The last rush. Like a breaking tidal wave;
our maker came calling. With a violent crash he reached into our
world. Then he took us. What a sensation! What a ride! There was no
feeling of pain, only a craving for the exponential growth of the
infinitesimal moment, no sensation of falling to doom. Our worlds
moved with us in a triumphant cascade. And there was music, blissful
music. Katrina came into my heart and together we surfed on the crest
of a magical wave of a million tons of beautiful concrete and steel.
And we flew as kites on a magical wind. And we danced our last dances
and sang our last songs. And we embraced one last time. And we laughed
out loud. We laughed our loudest, and our joy could be heard above the
twisting of steel and the breaking of glass. For all time our laughter
would echo in this place, on this wave, to be carried forever on the
magical wind, in this precious last moment of goodbye. At last we were
again, and forever together, as children.

(0)

Login to post a comment!