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This week: Is it Dead? Edited by: Satuawany  
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| In fantasy, more than in any other genre, we have characters we thought were dead popping up later. They usually show back up just in time to save the day, ruin it, or need rescuing. Sometimes, they really do die, but because so many turn out to be alive, you have to leave no doubt that they're dead or you may fail to get the emotional reaction you want. Of course, it all depends on the story, the character(s), and the situation. I'll go over the basics here, and welcome you to write in with likely variants and exceptions (that work). |
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When talking about the death of characters, a hundred different approaches present themselves. We'll go with categories to make this clearer.
Protagonists
 It's Really Dead
When you don't show the death of a major character readers care, you give them the hope that the character is not really dead. If you give readers the smallest amount of doubt about the end of a much-cared-for character, they will spend the rest of the tale holding their breath, waiting for that character's return. If, by the end, that character never shows up again, and we have to admit---for some reason or another---that the character truly is dead, readers can leave the story feeling cheated, like you lied to them.
If they die, kill them. Let readers know, for certain, they're dead, so they can mourn and feel that. If it's a heroic death, excellent. Let them go out in a way that leaves no room for doubt. Point out the last breath. Let the narrator or point-of-view character feel or see the hero die.
If you're showing a "pointless" death, let the story and surviving characters show the fact that it's pointless. There is a place for the seemingly pointless death, but it has to be acknowledged. Otherwise, you have readers angry with you for "doing that to your character." They blame you for giving your character a pointless death when they feel that character deserved better.
The reader shouldn't be thinking about the writer at all.
It's Not Really Dead
Usually, the writer finds some kind of loophole in the death scene of a character who's not really dead. The scene cuts off before the blade slices through the hero's neck. Or we see her drink from the cup we know the villain poisoned, but have reason to doubt it was really the poisoned cup. And we probably never see her succumb.
The best ones I've read have a way of making someone seem dead, with just the slightest spark of hope if I sit and think about it. The trick is making the story roll along so well, making it so engrossing, that a reader never sits and thinks about it. When that character does show back up, the clues to his escape from death ride along with him. His very appearance makes us reexamine that death scene.
In fantasy, more than any other genre, you have magic and miracles that make it possible for a character to have a definite death scene and yet come back later, very much alive. Even if the magic of your world makes it possible to resurrect the dead, you still have to work it with finesse. Readers need to have seen hints that such a thing was possible before the fact, or else it all reads like God in the machine---the author's hand reaching in to save a character who should have been dead.
I repeat, the reader shouldn't be thinking about the writer at all.
Antagonists
It's Really Dead
As with protagonists, the reader needs a definite moment of death. In the case of a villain, without that definite scene, a reader waits for the fiend to dart out of every shadow. That can cause some good suspense, but once readers find out for sure that they've been dodging at nothing but shadows, they can feel diverted in a way that makes them angry with the writer.
Again, that makes them conscious of the writer, which is the last thing you want.
There are many a series out there where an antagonist dies at the end of one novel, only to reappear in a later one---either resurrected by cronies, as something undead, or through some other twist. If she has a definite death scene, there need to be hints and build-ups to her return, though you might not need as much of those as with a protagonist. Readers tend to believe in a villain coming back to life more readily than they do the same for a hero. Humans; we tend to expect the worst.
With villains, you might even get away without earlier clues that bringing someone back from the dead is possible, in the case of a undeniable death scene. In those instances, it's all about the hero(es) being sure the villain is still alive, against all logic---either through feelings, seeing the villain's hand in certain events, or even glimpses of the villain that they try to write off.
It's Not Really Dead
As with protagonists, if the fact that the character isn't really dead is too obvious, their return loses its impact. Though with antagonists, and especially villains, it's relatively easier to have them pop up later even when we've seen a pretty convincing death scene.
One method that's used a lot in fantasy, is to have a scene that lets the reader know the antagonist is not really dead, while the protagonists remain ignorant. If that happens at the end of a novel, it can be a real suspense-builder leading into the sequel. (It can also make for quite a suspenseful ending if there is no sequel.)
When you go with that method, you may have less work to do in the supposed death scene, especially if you want your protagonists fully convinced the antagonist is dead. This is assuming the narration belongs to an protagonist or is in the point-of-view of one. If you have a first-person or limited third-person point-of-view, however, be careful skipping to another point-of-view to show that the antagonist actually still lives. If there's no precedence for it, a point-of-view change like that can jar readers out of the story.
Hopefully, that gives you a jumping-off point for building your death scenes, as well as scenes where that character doesn't really die. As I said in the "About" section, there are always variants and exceptions. I'd love to hear your thoughts and examples on those via the reply box at the end of this newsletter.
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I wanted to take a look at some of the newest novels on Writing.com, and I'm inviting you to look with me.
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Fantasy: July 25, 2012 Issue [#5173]
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