: Re: How to write a good eulogy I'm writing a book centred on loss and heartbreak and I keep getting stuck at a point where the main character has to give an eulogy at a funeral. I'm hoping

@Moriarity138

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Keep in mind that writing a "good" eulogy is a different task than writing a eulogy that is "good for your book". As with any other element of your book, this particular piece of writing needs to serve the storyline, the character development, and all the other needs of the book. Therefore, depending on the needs of the book, you might want a eulogy that is offensive, shocking, overly intimate, digressive, disquieting, or narcissistic, none of which are qualities that you would want in a real-life eulogy.

I would start by deciding what you need for your character and plot at this point, and then build the eulogy around it. Should this eulogy create a conflict? Reveal a secret? Introduce hidden aspects of the main character? If the eulogy is early in the book, it should be creating problems, not solving them. Of course, this could take many different forms. If the deceased was a good person, you could do a more standard eulogy, and the problem posed for the main character is living up to the deceased's shining example. Conversely, if the deceased was not a good person, the main character might face the challenge of fixing the problems left behind --or the tension of lying to cover up a life that was not well lived.

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