Killing a character is one of the most difficult things to do as a writer. It’s not only that you despise yourself for it or that your audience does, it’s also because you could permanently damage the narrative.
You’ve probably experienced the devastation of seeing your favorite characters die on screen or on the page. You grieve and you rage but there’s nothing you can do about it. In the end, though, you’ll understand why it had to happen.
Tips on Killing A Character
A character’s demise might be necessary to advance the story. It may be difficult to do but if you pull it off, then you’ve got yourself a much more powerful narrative.
Here are a few tips on killing a character that won’t leave a gaping hole in the story or enrage your audience to an unrecoverable level.
1. Have lots of characters.
If you only have one character and you kill them off, who’s left to pick up the pieces? Even if you have a few main characters, make sure they can carry the rest of the story.
If you don’t have enough characters and decide to kill one off, you risk the danger of thinning out your story too much. A death means fewer actors, fewer possibilities for action, and fewer POVs.
A character’s death is meaningless without its consequences—consequences that are only felt by the living. You need characters that will react, grow, and reflect on this death.
2. Who you kill matters.
Your readers are ruthless. Massacre a thousand faceless characters and they won’t blink, but kill a beloved character and they’ll turn rabid. Hell, kill a hated character and they’ll rejoice.
Why the difference in reactions? For the first, they recognize the evil and despair of a massacre but don’t really have a connection to these characters. So by all means, burn down a village, start a war, or destroy a whole planet.
The latter two are characters your audience has followed, watched, and invested in. Killing either of the two would destroy or fulfill that investment.
The point is that if you do decide on killing one of your characters, it has to be someone your audience will care about.
3. Don’t go for a normal death.
A normal death is often boring. Now, this doesn’t mean killing your characters in the most creative ways.
Instead, you should give it some drama. A stab to the gut is heightened by a character struggling to save their family despite the grave injury.
Even a character dying from natural reasons can still make a lasting impression. Have them write a will that either reveals a long-buried secret or disrupts the already fragile family dynamic.
And remember, you’re writing fiction. There’s no reason not to play around with the realities of death. In real life, you can’t choose when or where a person dies and how they react.
In fiction, you can have them die in a time or place crucial to the story. It gives you a chance to make the most out of their final moments. Make them heroic, have them express their regrets to a close friend, and kill them right before they achieve a goal.
4. Make it meaningful.
A character’s death has to mean something. Otherwise, it doesn’t add to the story and only serves to infuriate your readers.
It should be a pivotal moment in your story and not something that quietly happens in the background. Don’t confuse your readers and don’t rob them of the emotional catharsis.
Have their last act or dialogue be something that has a lasting impact on the rest of the story. Let them do something heroic, spiteful, or surprising.
Better yet, give your audience what they want. If their beloved characters are dying, give them a glorious death. If it’s the villains they hate, give them their just desserts.
5. Don’t shy away from the details.
Details make deaths more memorable. Don’t cram your death scenes with details though, just the ones that will matter—the pain, the realization they’re dying, their body slowly shutting down.
And don’t be afraid to be gruesome if it’s what the situation demands. The more vivid the details, the better it translates to your audience’s imagination.
The last thing you want is to go ahead and kill a character but don’t provide a clear picture of it. It leaves them unable to properly mourn or celebrate as they don’t really understand how it happened.
6. Make it sudden.
An expected death won’t have an impact. Even if you’re already hinting at a character’s demise in the future, the death itself should surprise the reader.
You’re not required to go for an ironic death or poetic justice. Just make sure that you’re not being obvious in setting up the death scene.
The greater the shock, the more memorable a death is. Make your audience shout “Nooo!” as they suddenly realize their favorite character is about to die and they can’t do anything about it.
7. Trick your audience.
There’s no rule about being honest in storytelling. Make your audience believe you’ve killed off a character and then have them show up alive.
Be realistic and clever about it though. There’s no way a human can survive being squashed by a falling building. But what if they notice a manhole cover nearby and manage to get to the sewers below?
It’s hard to set up a trick, but it can be worth it to keep your audience on their toes.
Pros of Killing A Character
Are you thinking about killing one of your characters? You monster! But kidding aside, there are a few reasons why you should kill a character, or at least think about it.
- Advances the plot—The death of a character allows for the narrative to move forward as it raises the stakes and opens up different ways for it to develop.
- Creates a sense of consequence—Consequences help make your world more realistic by showing that no one is safe and a mistake can be deadly.
- Character development—The loss of a character is the perfect way to motivate other characters into further development.
- Awarding the audience—At some point, the audience expects specific things to happen—heroes sacrificing themselves, villains getting their comeuppance, and desperate last moments.
- Setting the tone—If you need a story to be dark and gritty, the death of an important character can easily set the overarching tone of the narrative.
Cons of Killing A Character
Pulling off a character’s demise is one of the most difficult things to do as an author. Here are some reasons why:
- You might write yourself into a corner—Killing off a character might leave you with no way out of certain situations, events, and subplots.
- You might demotivate your audience—A character’s death could easily infuriate or sadden your readers to the point that they’ll just stop reading.
- The death makes no sense—If you’re not able to write a death scene that makes sense, you risk alienating your audience. They won’t understand why or how the character died.
- The death has no purpose—A meaningless death clutters the story and rarely adds to it. If you want your audience to be affected, it should be a death that cuts deeply at your audience.
What book about reality do you plan on reading? Share it in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- How to Introduce a Character Your Readers Won’t Forget
- How to Write Engaging Character Dynamics
- Character Regression: How to Use Setbacks to Create Better Characters
- How to Write a Character Analysis: Tips and Examples from Literature
Cole is a blog writer and aspiring novelist. He has a degree in Communications and is an advocate of media and information literacy and responsible media practices. Aside from his interest in technology, crafts, and food, he’s also your typical science fiction and fantasy junkie, spending most of his free time reading through an ever-growing to-be-read list. It’s either that or procrastinating over actually writing his book. Wish him luck!
