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Killing The Darlings

Perhaps you’ve got this death scene all planned out.  It’s tragic, it’s sad, and you’re sure your readers are going to bawl their eyes out.

But hold up.  A death scene isn’t just one scene - a tragically beautiful death scene involves a good portion of the story whether you realize it or not.  And it might be a tragic death that gets your reader to fling the book across the room and screech in pain like a pterodactyl, but if it was a character who died for the sake of dying, well, your reader’s going to learn to not trust what you’ve written.

The goal of this post is to give some tips when writing death scenes … and when you should probably avoid a death scene.

What was the purpose of the death?  Will this death serve a purpose later on?  Does it act as a motivation for the main character?  Does it get rid of an obstacle?  Open the door to discovering secrets?  Or does it only serve to play on the reader’s emotions and the death doesn’t actually add anything to the story?  If it’s the last one, it’s probably best to skip the death.  If you’re looking to create an emotional response from your reader, you shouldn’t have to take drastic measures to do so.  If you’re trying to improve your writing, you should try to invoke emotion through the smaller things.  Improving that area will make the larger things, like a death, so much more emotional.

Were you trying to get rid of a character?  Got an annoying character and you used the advice “kill the darling” because that character just wasn’t contributing anything?  If a character outlived his or her usefulness, consider his/her importance throughout the story.  Was s/he that necessary, or could s/he be taken out completely?  Maybe another character could pick up the slack?  Chances are, if you’re not connecting with character, neither is the reader.  And by killing the character the reader’s response is going to be more along the lines of, “Finally. He could’ve just died at the beginning for all I cared.”

How much time have you spent developing the victim?  Maybe you spent hours and hours into this character - you know him from head to toe, even his favorite flavor of ice cream.  But just because you’ve got him that well developed doesn’t mean it’s well translated in the story.  Maybe he doesn’t have enough time with the reader.  Or maybe you haven’t developed him at all, either in the story or in your notes.  Why should this matter?  Because if you’re killing off a character who wasn’t developed or gave the readers no chance to connect with him, his death is going to be as emotional as the lawn being mowed.

Is the manner of death necessary?  Especially if it’s a character you’ve grown attached to, it’s highly tempting to give her the death you think she deserves: An epic death that features a lot of drama and action.  But a lot of the time epic deaths can go over the top and aren’t as emotionally effective.  Deaths that are simple are sometimes the more effective way.  Deaths don’t have a lot of flare and aren’t drawn out can send a reader reeling.  Drawing out a death can sometimes kill the moment (pun intended) and the character is dead to the reader before she’s actually dead.  Another effective method of death is the sudden death.  However, a sudden death should only be used in certain cases.  In the case of war death is going to happen suddenly all around the place.  But in other cases, try not to make every other character’s death sudden.  It starts to lose its shock appeal.  Sudden death also lacks any telltale evidence that indicates the character’s last moments.

Is this the final death?  Just as annoying, if not more so, than a death scene not done right is the character who just won’t stay dead.  I am not referring to immortal characters or characters where there is a reasonable explanation for why he or she won’t die.  I’m referring the deaths where the characters come back time and time again.  Perhaps he keeps faking his death.  Perhaps the other characters keep assuming she’s dead every time they see blood and she’s gone.  Perhaps the other characters keep bringing the victim back to life to the point where a meme is made out of him and the readers start to wonder why anyone would want to keep around someone whose main talent is finding a new way to die.  When death is tricked time and time again in your story, readers are going to learn not to care if someone dies.  They’re going to assume the character will come back, and even if the character doesn’t, they’ve already detached themselves emotionally from your story’s deaths that when they realize it, they’ll just say, “Oh. That’s too bad.”  If it’s a character that they like, they just might get mad that it was that character who remained permanently dead and not any of the others.

Have you lost count of the bodies?  If you’ve killed too many characters, even if it’s to drive the plot forward, death isn’t going to have the same effect.  It might seem nice to be the next George R. R. Martin, but is it necessary?  It may come to a point where readers stop caring for the characters’ well being because they’ve come to the realization that everyone’s going to die.

Obviously, there are exceptions to the rules.  But it would not be wise to just throw in the exception to a rule because you feel like it.  The basics to writing a good death can come down to proper character development, developed reasons, and good story structure.  Without these, deaths will hold no value to the reader.

Describing the Feel of a Town

You’ve got your main character.  You’ve got your plot.  You’ve got a lot of things figured out.

But how the heck are you supposed to get the reader to understand the atmosphere of the town your character comes from?

It can take practice.  Consider your own hometown.  Plop yourself down in the middle of your hometown, watch for a second, and then start writing about it.  Talk about the buildings; how do they come across?  Are they austere and reflect the nature of the people?  Or are the people very friendly despite the buildings’ appearances?  Is it a busy street?  Are lawns well kept?  Make sure you mix it with the general attitude of the people living in the town. And add your perspective of the town.  If you like it, your description of the town is going to appear favorable.  If you dislike it, it will be portrayed in a negative light.

Sound confusing?  Don’t worry.  I’ll give some of my own examples.

From one point of view:

“Miles from the closest city, A— town sat out in the middle of nowhere.  The nearest neighbor was always on the other side of a line trees, leading to quiet evenings without a care for what the neighbor was up to.  Lawns were kept only half mown; only businesses near the center of town made sure they looked presentable.  The general store on the corner of the town’s one busy road served as the local haunt for the entire town. If there was a story to be told, it would first be told there.“

Same town, different view:

“A—- was miles from civilization.  Even the closest neighbor was so far away that a battle with eighteenth century canons could take place on the front lawn and no one would hear the racket.  People let their yards become so overgrown that children could easily get lost among the grass.  Only the center of town where the businesses were kept up any semblance of a good appearance, but it said nothing of the treatment strangers would get inside.  The general store in particular was the worst of the culprits.  It certainly had that unique, old town feel, and if you were from the area, you were greeted like an old friend.  But if the people didn’t know your name, it was clear they didn’t want much to do with you.”

When you’ve written your description of your town, take that description and try writing it from a different perspective.  Don’t like your town?  Write about it through the eyes of someone who likes it.  Like your town?  Write about it through the eyes of someone wanting to leave.  And try to make it sound genuine; not as though you were mocking someone with an opposing viewpoint.

Try this with nearby towns too.  Towns and cities where you’re familiar with, and you know the culture of, or the general attitude of the people living there.

Also, carefully read how other authors describe their characters’ hometowns.  One example that comes to mind is how Rowling describes Privet Drive in Harry Potter.  She describes it as being pristine and orderly, but paints it in a way to make it obvious to the reader that most, if not all, of the residences have an air of being stuck up.

Now, I have been using towns and cities as the example, but like in the Harry Potter example, sometimes a street holds a different attitude than the rest of the town.  My examples are drawn from smaller town experience, where the community is a little more connected beyond just a street or drive.  However, this is not always the case, and you should take this into consideration as you create your character’s hometown.  Maybe your character’s side of town is drastically different than the other side of town.

Remember, this is something that might take you some practice.  But have fun with it.  Give your description some personality.

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