Death - bad habit?
Feb. 14th, 2005 10:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI've been looking at my Grand Huge Fanfic Epic Of Doom plan and I started to think maybe I've kind of picked up some bad habits from Highlander. Need a dramatic turning point? Kill a character. Getting kind of fluffy? Kill a character. Can't think of what to do next? Yaaay, kill a character! They'll be back in a minute, where's the harm?
Oh, yeah. That. Er, oops?
So I tried to figure out why, other than 'habit', I write things that way.
I know part of it is I want to make the audience jump. Lookit, really dead this time! Nope, no, sorry... AAAAH! Ex-parrot! Nope, sorry, false alarm again... And really, I know that is stupid and cheap and if that is the only reason I'm doing it I should stop *now* and get rid of all of that. I mean half the times I could just knock someone out and that would be sufficiently dramatic.
But another reason is- people are fragile. Like, *really* fragile. You hit them, not only do they bleed, they have a tendency to break and, you know, *die*. All those times on BtVS that Giles got hit on the head, how many times did he get rushed to hospital? Once. When they wanted to freak out the Slayer and send them after Angel. Any other times? Oh, don't worry, it's only serious skull trauma followed by prolonged unconsciousness, not a problem! I'll just drink some tea!
People get hit, people get hurt. I realise we're writing fantasy here, but if at least that much isn't preserved then all tension is lost. And if people get hit a *lot* then they get hurt in ways that hang around. I'm not saying I want to write a brain damaged Giles - I read this stuff to escape - but the more times he gets removed from the action that way the more likely it becomes. There are boxers with less skull trauma than Giles! And actions should have consequences in serial drama. He should at least be getting a bit fragile by now.
Another thing is I'm setting up to write a series mostly about ghosts. That means that quite often a character dies before they start being relevant to the plot. And if it is always just the monster of the week that dies and the hero always just keeps going unscathed then, again, loss of tension, loss of consequences. Plus once you start thinking that dead people can still be people there becomes much less of a reason *not* to kill your characters. Okay, so they end up kind of limited, but they get a nifty memorial service and everyone cries!
Er, that part might just be back to audience-poking again. Sorry.
Most of the times I 'kill' someone tho, it is to set up some big choice. Life or death choices only have impact if the 'death' part is a serious option. And whichever half gets chosen there are consequences. *Especially* in a ghost story, everything has knock on effects.
So I looked over my main plot, and found- one secondary character death that sets up plot and character, one main character 'death' that sets up the plot, one main character 'death' that sets up a major choice, one main character 'death' that sets up an entirely different major choice, and a bunch of consequence deaths if I write long enough. Plus of course the deaths that make the ghosts. And, okay, that is quite a lot of ex-parrots for one or two seasons, but not a single one of them is there solely for the purpose of button-pushing in the audience.
So if character deaths are so integral to the plot, why am I so worried about writing them?
Basically because warnings. Those bits right under the disclaimer where you make a summary of everything that might put someone off your fic. That line where you try to *scare off readers*. While at the same time hoping everyone will ignore it and come read anyway.
I'm rather worried that the people most likely to like the series are also the ones most likely to not read it because of who I 'kill'. But if I don't kill people all those times, I have to write an entirely different story. And I *like* this story. I've had it in my head in roughly the same shape for a year now. I've been pulling at it to see what it doesn't need and I'm pretty sure all the parts left in it are important to it. So there will be deaths, and 'deaths', and therefore warnings.
Is a bit of a puzzler really.
I guess this is where recs and reviews really help. I mean a Death warning (or a Transformation warning, for if someone gets vamped or ghosted or similar) covers a lot of different kinds of story. And some of the stories that I least wanted to have read once I finished them didn't bother with a death warning anyway, because they were only killing the bad guys. So to decide if a story is good-to-read or not input from fans with similar tastes and reading habits is necessary.
But, well, that rather relies on getting one person to read it to start the ball rolling.
*ponders*
*wanders off to, you know, WRITE something so all this pondering isnt completely pointless*
Oh, yeah. That. Er, oops?
So I tried to figure out why, other than 'habit', I write things that way.
I know part of it is I want to make the audience jump. Lookit, really dead this time! Nope, no, sorry... AAAAH! Ex-parrot! Nope, sorry, false alarm again... And really, I know that is stupid and cheap and if that is the only reason I'm doing it I should stop *now* and get rid of all of that. I mean half the times I could just knock someone out and that would be sufficiently dramatic.
But another reason is- people are fragile. Like, *really* fragile. You hit them, not only do they bleed, they have a tendency to break and, you know, *die*. All those times on BtVS that Giles got hit on the head, how many times did he get rushed to hospital? Once. When they wanted to freak out the Slayer and send them after Angel. Any other times? Oh, don't worry, it's only serious skull trauma followed by prolonged unconsciousness, not a problem! I'll just drink some tea!
People get hit, people get hurt. I realise we're writing fantasy here, but if at least that much isn't preserved then all tension is lost. And if people get hit a *lot* then they get hurt in ways that hang around. I'm not saying I want to write a brain damaged Giles - I read this stuff to escape - but the more times he gets removed from the action that way the more likely it becomes. There are boxers with less skull trauma than Giles! And actions should have consequences in serial drama. He should at least be getting a bit fragile by now.
Another thing is I'm setting up to write a series mostly about ghosts. That means that quite often a character dies before they start being relevant to the plot. And if it is always just the monster of the week that dies and the hero always just keeps going unscathed then, again, loss of tension, loss of consequences. Plus once you start thinking that dead people can still be people there becomes much less of a reason *not* to kill your characters. Okay, so they end up kind of limited, but they get a nifty memorial service and everyone cries!
Er, that part might just be back to audience-poking again. Sorry.
Most of the times I 'kill' someone tho, it is to set up some big choice. Life or death choices only have impact if the 'death' part is a serious option. And whichever half gets chosen there are consequences. *Especially* in a ghost story, everything has knock on effects.
So I looked over my main plot, and found- one secondary character death that sets up plot and character, one main character 'death' that sets up the plot, one main character 'death' that sets up a major choice, one main character 'death' that sets up an entirely different major choice, and a bunch of consequence deaths if I write long enough. Plus of course the deaths that make the ghosts. And, okay, that is quite a lot of ex-parrots for one or two seasons, but not a single one of them is there solely for the purpose of button-pushing in the audience.
So if character deaths are so integral to the plot, why am I so worried about writing them?
Basically because warnings. Those bits right under the disclaimer where you make a summary of everything that might put someone off your fic. That line where you try to *scare off readers*. While at the same time hoping everyone will ignore it and come read anyway.
I'm rather worried that the people most likely to like the series are also the ones most likely to not read it because of who I 'kill'. But if I don't kill people all those times, I have to write an entirely different story. And I *like* this story. I've had it in my head in roughly the same shape for a year now. I've been pulling at it to see what it doesn't need and I'm pretty sure all the parts left in it are important to it. So there will be deaths, and 'deaths', and therefore warnings.
Is a bit of a puzzler really.
I guess this is where recs and reviews really help. I mean a Death warning (or a Transformation warning, for if someone gets vamped or ghosted or similar) covers a lot of different kinds of story. And some of the stories that I least wanted to have read once I finished them didn't bother with a death warning anyway, because they were only killing the bad guys. So to decide if a story is good-to-read or not input from fans with similar tastes and reading habits is necessary.
But, well, that rather relies on getting one person to read it to start the ball rolling.
*ponders*
*wanders off to, you know, WRITE something so all this pondering isnt completely pointless*