Why I Should Kill Someone

Yesterday I realized, in the shower, I was to become a murder. So now that I have your attention and probably the NSAs. What I really meant is I was thinking through my plot and I saw that a character I am attached to will have to die. It makes me sad and I was not sure if it was really necessary or exactly how to bring about the characters death.

I have been reading a lot about making the decision to kill off an important character. It seems that there is some agreement on what the best and worst reasons are. Most of the things I read suggested you be sure the death furthers the plot, emphasizes the theme, develops another character or creates realism in your story world. I have also seen several suggestions that you avoid killing characters just for shock value, just to make readers sad or to remove an unnecessary character. If you have a character that seems unnecessary you should consider if they really have a place in the story. Could their influence be added to another character or removed all together? I know many authors break these "rules" and get away with it, but they seem logical to me. Plus this particular death will hit all 4 of the reasons I mentioned. As for how, I am still working on that and must do more research, thinking and plotting.

How do you choose to kill off a character? How do you feel about characters dying?

ROW80 Rundown:

1. Write 500 words per day on any project.
There has been some yes and some no. I made a lot of progress in the plotting department, but have not actually added it to the story document. I made an effort to spend time and energy working on writing every day except Saturday. On Saturday I was at a dear family friend's daughter's 6th birthday.

2. Blog at least every Wednesday and Sunday.
So last Wednesday I needed a break. I was stressing over getting a post out and wasted time trying to put it together. Then I realized the reason I couldn't concentrate on the blogging thing is because my brain was still working on The Most Magical Place. So I moved back to the story and was able to make some head way. Here it is Sunday night and I am still trying to get the post out. I am cutting it down to the wire and in my head I hear the Jeopardy song.

3. Check out at least 10 posts from each new ROW80 linky before the next one comes out.
I was successful with this from last Sunday, but did not make it happen for the Wednesday's check-in.

4. Use Twitter at least once per day.
On this front I was successful. I was a little put off by all the dress drama, but then I read an awesome post about it and I had to retweet it.

The dress is red because I set it on fire
— flora ivezaj (@floraivezaj) February 27, 2015

Oh and then there was this one.

I have no idea what color it is. I'm fucking colorblind.
— Anne Wheaton (@AnneWheaton) February 27, 2015

5. Post on my author Facebook page at least 3 times per week.
This did not happen on Wednesday or another time last week. I really need to work harder to make the posting happen.

6. Read 1 book per week.

Finally finished A Study in Scarlet. I can honestly say that I can now see what all the love for the Sherlock Holmes books are about. I loved the way the book was written, with the exception of the huge and unexpected jump in the middle of the book. Everything did tie in nicely and I understand, looking back, why we made the jump to another continent. I am looking forward to reading another of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books, but that will have to wait.

photo credit: via photopin (license)