Writing Excuses 7.39: Death

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Writing Excuses 7.39: Death

From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2012/09/23/writing-excuses-7-39-death/

Key points: character deaths can raise the stakes and increase tension. Don't waste character deaths, make the deaths meaningful by letting the readers know the character. Death reminds us that there is a cost. Consider alternatives -- what if they die or what if they live? The number of deaths and the way you present the deaths should match your genre. Showing just the key images allows the audience to imagine the rest. The purpose of the death should affect how they die and what you show the audience. Writers are often emotionally invested in the death of a character.
( Graveyards and coffins and all of that... )

[Brandon] Yeah. Anyway. Let's go ahead and do a writing prompt. Does anyone have a death oriented writing prompt for us, Dan?
[Mary] [laughing]
[Dan] Oh… Um. Yes. Well, I think just what we were talking about. You need to find a way to kill a character, and then write it in a very sad way, and in a very heroic way, and in a very accidental way.
[Brandon] I would suggest, pick a character from a story you've already finished, and rewrite that story with them ending, with them dying.
[Mary] I think that's a brilliant plan.
[Dan] Cool.
[Brandon] All right. This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write.