Are You Killing Off Your Main Character? Avoid These Writing Mistakes
Killing off main characters is not a feature of every story. But when it happens in order to pull it off it must be done well.
It’s not something to take lightly.
After all, our reader has spent the last couple days or weeks even, falling in love with our main character and now we are asking them to accept their death as a meaningful thing.
How do we do this? And how do we do it well?
Avoid these mistakes and it’ll be much easier for you to have your reader accept your main character’s demise.
It feels contrived or forced.
Don’t make the mistake of forcing their death. Just because you want to have your main character die doesn’t mean it works within the story.
How do we avoid this?
It has to be at a time and place in the story that feels organic. It has to feel natural.
If it doesn’t come across as “this is the way it has to be,” it’ll feel forced.
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Making it out to be a good thing.
Our main character dying needs to be somewhat bittersweet.
Some things need to be resolved through their untimely passing, while it also leaves some things missing.
It’s not a happy ending. If we set things up for our main character to die and be gone forever then there should be a lingering sadness there.
It may be a time of victory and maybe they died to save someone or many (I love you 3000) but it doesn’t mean we can all rejoice right away. There needs to be a time of mourning before we express the happiness that can follow.
Making their ending fully miserable.
This is more of a personal preference. A full-on tragedy may leave the main character dead and no resolution, just sadness.
Some critics really like that.
Personally, I think it’s a mistake. I don’t believe most (not all) readers will find that enjoyable and look for more writing from you. This type of ending usually leaves the reader feeling less than satisfied. Not a good idea.
The ending of a main character should have meaningful tones as well as sadness tones, not just unresolved sadness.
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It’s obvious there was a way out.
This is a plot hole to be avoided in all situations but especially with our main character dying, there must be NO OTHER WAY.
It is the ONLY way.
This makes the death feel justified, earned, and worth it.
It doesn’t mean that it isn’t hard and painful to accept. It just feels like it had to happen this way.
If our reader can instantly in their mind say, “dude! Come on! That’s so unrealistic! All they had to do was (blank) and she would have survived.”
It’s a hard thing to do so tread lightly in the department of killing off your main characters, but when you do be sure to look at the situation from all angles to make it an impossible situation without the main character dying.
It’s not a meaningful death.
This is probably the most important thing to think about.
Was there death truly meaningful?
If you’re going to have your main character die, there better be a REALLY good reason for it.
Don’t just have them get hit by a bus (everyone in the audience glares at Mean Girls).
But seriously, this is probably the biggest mistake any writer can make when deciding it’s time for a main character to die.
The way they die is just as important as the why. And these two ideas have to mold together perfectly in order to get away with murdering your main character.
It needs to push the story to its logical and meaningful conclusion, or it needs to push the remaining characters forward in such a way that the readers left sad but feeling justified and like it had to be this way.
It doesn’t have to make sense at first, but maybe your other main characters find out secrets along the way that show how purposeful and meaningful it really was. (I, Robot)
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Final Thoughts
Make your main character’s death natural and organic, never forced just to try to up the emotional weight of the circumstances.
The main character’s death may be for their best (meaning to save everyone else), but it doesn’t mean it has to be a happy thing for anyone. Allow and create a time or moment of mourning through one or more characters. Write a funeral or characters sitting around a fire sharing stories of the lost loved one.
Don’t make their death pointless. Make sure that there was no other way. They had to die. It was inevitable.
Create a scenario where how they die and why they die are extremely meaningful to the complete story arc.
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Hope this helps!
Happy writing!
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Are You Killing Off Your Main Character? Avoid These Writing Mistakes
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Are You Killing Off Your Main Character? Avoid These Writing Mistakes
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Are You Killing Off Your Main Character? Avoid These Writing Mistakes
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Are You Killing Off Your Main Character? Avoid These Writing Mistakes
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