Death in Fiction

[Rath/Brendan]

I'm writing this screenplay, and as these things often do, it came to me that one of the characters has to die. It's a particulary nasty death, and I don't want to write it. But part of me knows that unless I sit down and write it, the script is never going to get done. But the very thought of how this character must die repulses me.

Has anyone been in a similar situation, where you found out you had to kill one of your characters but didn't want to do it? How did you deal with it?

[Coyote]

I plotted revenge.
There's a character in the novel I'm writing that not only has to die that I like, he's one of the good guys, and he has to be killed by the main good guy, our narrator (of course, my good guys are never shinning knights to begin with).
Imerse yourself in the reactions of the other characters to what happens.

[CHRISTIAN @ LEGION STUDIOS]

I've had problems where I've grown to like the character so much that when the moment comes to kill them, it can be strangely unsettling; however, it's never bothered me enough to not write the scene. You have to treat each story like life, you'll make some friends and some enemies, some will stay with you and some will be passing through...I don't know if that helps any, but there you go.

[Nash_Gorfang]

and remember, they are never tury dead. there is always perquile (spelling?)

[Dan Whitehead]

Have the character lay an egg halfway through the movie. Then make the last shot of the movie a close-up of the egg hatching with the words "To be continued?" plastered across the screen.

Works every time. Just watch the uncut version of "Terms Of Endearment"...