Death of a Loved One
     Victoria Grossack

Some of you may have noticed that I skipped my usual column a couple of months ago. I was too upset to write, for on the first of June, 2009, one of my best friends died.

Before you send me condolences – although I would appreciate them – let me confess that I killed this friend of mine. You could call it first-degree murder, because his death was deliberate. I’ve been planning it for a long time.

You’ve probably realized by now that I’m talking about the death of a fictional character (this is, after all, Fiction Fix). Nevertheless, this character’s death hit me very hard. I couldn’t write for the rest of the day. I did something I rarely do; I poured myself a drink. I wandered aimlessly from room to room (I do this far more often than I drink). I sniffed a bit and dabbed my eyes.

And on top of it all, I felt idiotic, because, of course, no one really died; this fellow was simply a part of my imagination. Furthermore, although I was devastated by his demise, I had intended to devastate myself; that was one of my goals while writing. If the death of my character didn’t affect me, the writer, how could I possibly hope to impact my readers?

Feeling upset about the death of a character is necessary for making your readers care about the death of a character – but it’s not always enough. So, let’s consider what else you can do in order to make a character’s death matter to your readers. In order to illustrate the points, we’ll occasionally consider the death of another fictional character: Dumbledore of Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

Make Your Readers Care about the Character

The readers have gotten to know the character. Although some readers are so sweet and kind that they will empathize with the faceless dead, most of us need more to identify with characters. So, the character that is to die should be better developed than the infamous Star Trek “red shirts,” who were lucky if they had a couple of lines before being killed in the show’s first act. Dumbledore died in the sixth of the seven Harry Potter books, and had been around since the first book, so the readers had many pages in which to become acquainted with him.

The readers have gotten to like the character. The more that readers like a character, the more upset they will be at his death. They will like him more readily if the character is worth caring about. There are many ways to help readers like characters: the characters should be mostly virtuous, with a few flaws; they should have struggled for things that matter. Dumbledore certainly had these traits: he was full of wit and wisdom and had risked his life and his position many times in order to do what was right. On the other hand, as Dumbledore admitted, he occasionally did make mistakes, and they could be serious.

Give Your Readers a Great Death Scene

Use Your Imagination. Killing off a main character is a significant moment in your story and you should make it as fabulous as you can. There are two major categories of death: quick and violent, or slower deaths from disease, but there is also everything in between. Consider the parameters of your story and then spur your creativity.

Show It. If possible, slow down the cameras and show everything pertaining to the death scene. If you can, play it out longer, and make it so that there is a chance that the character will live.

Let’s consider the death of Dumbledore. It takes place at the top of a high tower, which is a great visual. And he nearly talks his way out of getting murdered, only to be killed by another, late-arriving character.

Make It Heroic. Not all deaths have to be heroic. Some deaths can have more meaning through their meaninglessness – that they were unnecessary, that they could have been avoided, that they served no purpose (not even the purpose of those who killed them or let them die).

However, acts of heroism can increase the impact of death scenes on your reader. Perhaps your character goes knowingly to his death by creating a diversion so that other characters can escape. Perhaps he doesn’t go knowingly to his death, but nevertheless is killed while performing an act that is both brave and challenging. Perhaps she is dying of a disease, and is stoic in the face of great pain.

Last Words. If you can, consider writing some great last words. Now, these words may not be the very last things uttered – occasionally the very last word will have to be something like, “Look out!” if you’re writing an exciting, action-filled death, or, “Good-bye,” or, “I’m tired,” if you’re writing a death that is sad and quiet. But hopefully the character will say something evocative shortly before his death, something that will remain with the other characters who have heard it – and of course with your readers.

The Death Has Consequences for the Survivors

The death should have consequences for the survivors in your novel. They should miss the one who died. Furthermore, their lives may change as a result of his absence. There may be actions they need to take, decisions they need to make, or disappointments that ensue because of the death.

In the Harry Potter books, Dumbledore’s death does not mean that he is completely unavailable, as Rowling’s world is magical – Dumbledore speaks again through visions and through his portrait. On the other hand, his death is a major inconvenience, as Harry and his friends have to save the world with very little assistance and guidance.

Conclusion

Not every death in a novel needs to devastate your readers. But if your goal is to bruise the hearts of your readers, the elements above should help you manage it.

At any rate, my dear fictional friend died a couple of months ago. However, I’m now working on the rewrite, and in the chapter which I’m currently editing he lives again. That’s the good thing about your fictional friends: you can revive them by flipping back the pages.

Questions? Comments? You want permission to use this article? Please contact me at grossackva at yahoo dot com.

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About the Writer:

Victoria Grossack is, with Alice Underwood, the internationally published author of Iokaste: The Novel of the Mother-Wife of Oedipus, and other books coming out in the series called the Tapestry of Bronze (Tapestry of Bronze.com).  You can also read more of her articles on writing by ordering the e-book, Levels of Structure in Fiction from  www.booklocker.com.  

Odes to Olympians poetry contest, featuring Poseidon/Neptune, at Ode Form Contest.

Victoria was a moderator of a critique group for Coffeehouse for Writers and teaches the From Leaves to Forests and Writing Historical Fiction workshops for Coffeehouse for Writers.