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| by paul lasaine, found on tumblr |
Character deaths are common place. We, as readers and as customers (when it
comes to film/tv media) expect to lose a character we have come to love. Does it still shock us? Make us reach for the box of tissues? Yes.
Absolutely. But gone are the days
when we know that the main character will pull through, that in the end,
goodness conquers all. I suppose this is
a great revelation about the state of our society, but I also suppose that such
a analysis would take me a good 40+ pages.
What we can state briefly is that we expect to have our heart ripped out
and stomped on… and we love it. I’m not
even saying I’m any different, so I’ll amend it by saying: I love it.
A fairytale ending where the protagonist survives and everything is wrapped up in a pretty package is no longer necessary. We have come to a place where we expect that there will be consequences and death in a story with high stakes like Divergent, Hunger Games, Game of Thrones, Maze Runner, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc. It makes sense that death is a part of the story. But we’ve also come to the realization that though we cannot always have our fairytale endings, we can have a satisfying, complete and even uplifting ending even when our favorite character dies.
If that makes us jaded, then I am glad that we are. Death comes with life, as I had one of my characters tell another.
As a writer, death is never just a passing glance. I think I can firmly say that as writers, we stare at the page for a long time before we ever write a death scene. We become just as attached as the readers. The difference is that we cannot be sentimental. Sometimes a character has to go to further the story and make it stronger; that’s how I always approach ending a character. If it is just my own desire to irk out some tears, then it isn’t necessary and that character gets to live. If it is to further the story and it becomes necessary? Then I sit with some good ol’ fashioned ‘crying’ music and I write it and walk away, just like I do when I read a character death. I mourn and move on. I cope.
Fiction can reveal great lessons. It can reveal what love is, what heartbreak means, what courage it takes, what fear cripples and what death means. And we can figure it all out in the safety of a good chair and warm blanket. It makes us think. I won’t sit here and pretend that when the real thing happens, it isn’t vastly bigger than fiction because it is… all I’ll say is that fiction can teach us.
Character deaths can teach us and affect us. We even crave it because we want human experience that this heart wrenching is part of it. So we write it.
A fairytale ending where the protagonist survives and everything is wrapped up in a pretty package is no longer necessary. We have come to a place where we expect that there will be consequences and death in a story with high stakes like Divergent, Hunger Games, Game of Thrones, Maze Runner, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc. It makes sense that death is a part of the story. But we’ve also come to the realization that though we cannot always have our fairytale endings, we can have a satisfying, complete and even uplifting ending even when our favorite character dies.
If that makes us jaded, then I am glad that we are. Death comes with life, as I had one of my characters tell another.
As a writer, death is never just a passing glance. I think I can firmly say that as writers, we stare at the page for a long time before we ever write a death scene. We become just as attached as the readers. The difference is that we cannot be sentimental. Sometimes a character has to go to further the story and make it stronger; that’s how I always approach ending a character. If it is just my own desire to irk out some tears, then it isn’t necessary and that character gets to live. If it is to further the story and it becomes necessary? Then I sit with some good ol’ fashioned ‘crying’ music and I write it and walk away, just like I do when I read a character death. I mourn and move on. I cope.
Fiction can reveal great lessons. It can reveal what love is, what heartbreak means, what courage it takes, what fear cripples and what death means. And we can figure it all out in the safety of a good chair and warm blanket. It makes us think. I won’t sit here and pretend that when the real thing happens, it isn’t vastly bigger than fiction because it is… all I’ll say is that fiction can teach us.
Character deaths can teach us and affect us. We even crave it because we want human experience that this heart wrenching is part of it. So we write it.
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