Killed off a character everybody hates

Today, during lunch, I wrote the first draft of the scene where a despised character named Guy dies -- ickily.


Everybody familiar with my story despises Guy. I hope that's a good sign in this case. While not an outright villain, he is not one of the good guys. More like a corn on their little toes. When I mentioned in a writing chat that I had decided to kill Guy off, a number of people gave me tips. Many ideas were rejected because they would have made his death too quick. I hope that this is a sign that when (not if!) my book gets published, readers will love to hate Guy. Either that, or people will simply think my characters should have killed him off much sooner!

In the original draft, Guy was caught trying to kill one of my heroes, Moonstone, by hitting him on the head and shoving him into the river from the deck of the yacht. Later, warriors working for the bad guys free Guy (who is awaiting a flogging) so that he can later help them find entrance to the castle of my other hero, Brodin. But I realized that although this would involve an exciting battle scene, it still managed to slow down the action of the novel. Now, instead, Guy tries to escape his punishment by climbing down a fish net on the hull of the yacht, just as the yacht is passing through a narrow canal with cliffs rising on each side. The yacht is forced to suddenly to evade a passing barge on the other side by pulling somewhat toward the side of the cliff, and... well, you can imagine the result.

NeuroFizz said:

Are you sure you want to kill him off right now? If everyone hates him that much, you may be removing one reason the readers are flipping your pages. A good villian is just as valuable as a good, sympathetic protagonist, in some stories, even more valuable.

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Hmm. I'm not sure Guy qualifies as a good villain. He's more like the annoying overambitious yet not very bright servant who keeps trying to insinuate himself into the life of the lord. (Where's the smiley for Ewww?) I don't want to try the patience of my readers. Besides, even if he does survive, Guy wouldn't get any POV scenes.

NeuroFizz said:

You can always mess him up and leave unsaid if it is fatal or not. Let the readers wonder. Then, you have the option of either bringing him back later (at the most inopportune time) or leaving him as a skid mark on the cliffs forever. You can even leave his fate a mystery in your mind and see if the evolving story brings him back. You can always tidy it all up on the next draft.

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I tried to let him live, I swear. I went into convolutions trying to think of ways in which the bad warriors would attack the yacht and take Guy, rescuing him from the brig or just before his punishment. But I couldn't think of a reason why they would want to take him. If they did take him, they would probably soon tie him up and gag him and leave him in the forest.

Aconite said:

They don't have to want to take him. Really obnoxious people have a talent for managing not to be disposible, and for turning up in places neither they nor you want them to be.

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Hmm, sort of like The Ransom of Red Chief...

I might have him come back as a ghost, just a really ... odd-looking ghost. Maybe they can exorcise him, and he can wander about until he finds the baddies... Hmmm.