Un-killing a character...

[NicoleMD]

I axed one of my favorite characters yesterday. Still coping, I guess, so I'll ask this question:

Have you ever killed a character and then regretted it? Not like emotionally regretted it, but storywise -- you redraft and realize the character needs to live.

Doesn't it make you feel like there's this dirty little secret hovering over your resurrected character's head?

So how do you un-kill a character?

Nicole

[DeadlyAccurate]

I just rewrote it so she was shot, near fatally, but not killed. Her death was too Whedonesque for my taste, so I had to bring her back.

[Azraelsbane]

Depends on the genre. Fiction, I'd go with something like Deadly mentioned. Fantasy...well, there's a lot of room to work with on that one. I axed a character, but he had to be alive for something later. Problem was, his earlier death was important to the storyline, so I just had another one of my characters sacrifice himself to bring the other back. Character two was SOL, but such is life. ;)

[Madican]

Killed the second MC with an extremely unholy, soul-devouring weapon.

First MC (who was a Grim Reaper) forced Thanatos to revive second MC.

Second MC comes back as a Grim Reaper, since a true resurrection is impossible after the circumstances of her death.

Still not sure what happens next. End of book?

[reenkam]

In a WIP I killed off a couple characters...but then I missed the complexity they brought to the book, so they kind of just came back...they hadn't actually died...

it's amazing, innit? :)

[bunnygirl]

Yep. I killed a character last summer, but she was having none of it. So I re-wrote the ending, and it worked much better.

Give yourself a few weeks to decide, though, if your character really needs to die. Sometimes they do, so you want to be sure you don't resurrect them just because you're grieving.

[Zoombie]

I killed two characters in my first draft. Then I realized I couldn't kill Jack AND Udo in the same page. So I ended up re-writing it and adding in a third character to take Jack's evil traits (so he becomes a good guy) and take Udo's bullet. Ha! That worked.

[JoNightshade]

My dude just wouldn't die to begin with. He refused. Which is surprising, since he spends a lot of time being borderline suicidal.

[Chasing the Horizon]

In my original loose outline for my series one of my main characters was killed in the 7th book. Well, when I was going through and writing the detailed scene outline for that same book some months later, her brother, my true MC, informed me that if I killed his sister, he quit. He loved her too much to carry on with the main plot, and her death had the (quite unexpected) result of him losing his magical powers (uh, it's complicated why). Basically, if I killed her, the series would end there, in tragedy. I certainly couldn't have that, so I had little choice about changing the scene. I decided to strike a bit of a compromise and made it so one of the bad guys created a magical illusion that made it LOOK like his sister had been killed, when she was actually just captured. I couldn't just eliminate the scene because I needed something that would distract and disorganize the protags enough that one of the three different villains could carry out her malicious strike against them. Having it be a magical illusion actually worked out better, because it left several aspects of her death that didn't 'add up', distracting the protags who didn't care deeply about her with a mystery to solve on top of the 'tragedy'. Then she escapes and shows up in time to save the day, which is just so much cooler than dying.

I also kill another of my main characters in the second book, but the main plot of that book is the amazing journey into the land of the dead to get her back. Resurrecting a character this way carries its own set of problems, though.

Anyway, I admit to being a complete wimp about killing MCs, just like I always insist on writing a happy ending. (Secondary characters, villains, henchmen, and innocent bystanders are a whole different story, though. I love killing them and do it often.)

I never felt any 'cloud' over my resurrected characters. I've made so many plot changes to the series that I don't take any initial ideas too seriously, no matter how good they sound. Since she didn't die, why would I even worry about it? I don't look at anything as having actually 'happened' until I type 'FINAL EDIT' at the top of the chapter heading. My first outline and the current draft of my completed novel are barely recognizable as the same story.

[glutton]

I've only had this happen once, in a short story. In the original draft, the main character gets speared through the chest, and dies at the end after much suffering...

In the second, the exact same thing happens, except that she manages to live--which is a more typical reaction for one of my heroines to getting run through with a spear, anyway. ;)

[JohnDavidPaxton]

I call this "Doyling" and I think it's probably the greatest sin in written word. Literally. It disgusts, confuses and annoys me.

Named after Sir Author Conan Doyle (or something like that) and his killing of, and later revival, of his character Sherlock Holmes. After killing him off fans demanded that he be revived; and so he was. The excuse was that the mysteries happened BEFORE his inexplicable dip into a waterfall, ergo, it wasn't cheating.

Doyling. Any time you revive a character that you didn't lay the groundwork out for PREVIOUS to the death is Doyling. If people can be revived, that's fine. Make it clear beforehand.

SPOILER ALERT.

Jesus, for instance, was not a Doyle. Jesus, before his death, revived Lazarus. Therefore, when comes back to life himself later on in the story, it's not impossible.

Doyling, noticibly, only occurs on likable characters and truly sinister villans. If you don't have a story without the death of the character you should probably rethink killing them.

More forms of Doyling:

Flashbacks: Yes, in the sense of context, you're not cheating. But if you kill a character off he should be good and dead and any more time spent with him is something you missed.

Notes from beyond the grave: Why does everyone who died in a parlor write out an exquisite not detailing, almost as if it were an outline for the story, characters and their true motivations? Couldn't they have just told the protagonist? Did they have to hide it from everyone but the hero? What is about being stabbed them makes someone so attracted to a stationary over a cellphone?

Spontaneous revival, or, the AH-HA: No. Either kill your character or don't. If you have them falling to death, don't make every character in the book so damn stupid that they can't look down the hole and say "Hey, this is only a few feet deep!" This is typically done with villains but can be done with good guys, too.

It only LOOKED like I was dead!: Also, no comatose states. Unless someone else is in a comatose state and revives out of it, or you've specifically introduced the vial of elixir that causes this state, don't. This rule is also know as a J&R or a reverse Romeo and Juliette.

I'll leave you with this: You're sad that your character died. Do you think your audience will feel the same way? If they do you've done your job as a storyteller. You've made them feel something genuine. If you're going to keep them around they damn well BETTER be able to pay more in whatever qualities you like than that tragic death. Otherwise you're just taking the suckers money.

[ChaosTitan]

In my most recent manuscript, I killed off a favorite supporting character as part of a plot twist (about 100 pages before the end). As I kept writing, I realized that I didn't want to his death to be permanent. Figuring out how to "resurrect" him gave me great fodder for Main Character Angst in the final few chapters, and helped define yet another supporting character.

And let's face it, Main Character Angst rocks. :D

[swvaughn]

Hmm. I don't think Nicole means to leave the death in; I think she's considering a rewrite that would make the character not die in the first place -- right? :D Rewriting holds endless possibilities.

Anyway, it's best to assure yourself that the death is necessary -- and if it is necessary, leave it in, no matter how much your character begs to live.

I had to kill a character in order to enrich another character. I didn't want him to die. No one wanted him to die (shut up, dude! It was for the best! No, you can't come back...) Ahem. This guy was my other guy's only friend. I had to kill him for a number of reasons (yes, they were good reasons, stop whining!) -- it was the only thing that would work for the story.

I'm probably not making any sense at all. Excuse me, I need more coffee...

[Soccer Mom]

I've killed off characters and then changed my mind, went back and re-wrote the scene so that the character lived. She was just too b!tchy to die.

[Mania]

One of the guys I killed was a big leader of a religious group, so I just brought him back for a kind of war. I brought a lot of characters back at the same time so it was fun writing about those that I had once really loved again.

[Alexandra Little]

In my most recent manuscript, I killed off a favorite supporting character as part of a plot twist (about 100 pages before the end). As I kept writing, I realized that I didn't want to his death to be permanent. Figuring out how to "resurrect" him gave me great fodder for Main Character Angst in the final few chapters, and helped define yet another supporting character.

And let's face it, Main Character Angst rocks. :D

Speaking of Main Character Angst, I had killed off my MC's love interest and then realized that that just sucked, so I switched who died--I killed off her brother instead of her lover. And it ended up making the ending much better and more Angsty.

(Oh, and is your avatar of Simon by any chance, or am I just imagining things?)

[IrishScribbler]

The beauty of writing is you can undo death and the readers never know! I've toyed with killing my MC at the end of the story, but she doesn't want to die, so I simply highlighted the text and hit "Backspace." Poof. She lives happily ever after (sort of).

As Zoombie would understand, you could also have the ChronoGuard fix it. :D

[NicoleMD]

Hmm. I don't think Nicole means to leave the death in; I think she's considering a rewrite that would make the character not die in the first place -- right? :D Rewriting holds endless possibilities.


Yes, exactly. Sorry I've been slow to respond. I've had actual work to do today at work!!!

And thanks, bunnygirl. I think I'll give it a few weeks to sink in. It was sort of unexpected. I'd thought about killing him once, about a year ago, but I was determined to have this end happily. I should have known better with all of the angst my MC has.

I know I can rewrite, but it just feels so final...

Nicole

[aadams73]

What if you don't kill off your characters at all?

There's no rule that you have to kill characters. Loads of books have characters who all live.

[WordGypsy]

You know inside whether they need to live or die. I had a tough time of my WIP until I realized one of the MCs was dead. She only showed up in flashbacks and once I realized she was dead it made the whole thing SOOOO much better. Now her death scene, when I finally got to it, was devastating to write. But it was made easier knowing she had to be dead. Look inside and sleep on it. Trust your dreams. Wow...look at me being all deep today?! :D

[glendalough]

Watch my soap (General Hospital) or any soap, they unkill folks all the time! Be it an identical twin, a totally UNrelated identical twin, I've even seen identical COUSINS on GH...or just folks that didn't actually die. They went underground. They almost died and had amnesia. They were kidnapped and a lookalike died. Etc etc.

[Lady Esther]

You know inside whether they need to live or die. I had a tough time of my WIP until I realized one of the MCs was dead. She only showed up in flashbacks and once I realized she was dead it made the whole thing SOOOO much better. Now her death scene, when I finally got to it, was devastating to write. But it was made easier knowing she had to be dead. Look inside and sleep on it. Trust your dreams. Wow...look at me being all deep today?! :D

I realized my MC's father was dead. He's not the type of man that would EVER abandon his children, but he was never around. Then, I thought, oh, well, he's dead then. And it actually fit the story well, and gives my MC the angst I need her to have.

Yes, I too love MC angst. :)

[mscelina]

I can relate to that. I enjoyed killing one of my characters so much that I brought him back in an alternate reality and killed him again. :D

[MattW]

Let the dead stay dead or you are cheating the reader. They went though the appropriate emotional reaction, but pulling a fast one by bringing them back is a cheap trick to create drama without consequences.

It can be done deftly, but when it's in every other story, and happens to half a dozen characters, I get really peeved!

[Shady Lane]

Pssh. I don't write fantasy.

*ducks*

[Zoombie]

Let the dead stay dead or you are cheating the reader. They went though the appropriate emotional reaction, but pulling a fast one by bringing them back is a cheap trick to create drama without consequences.

It can be done deftly, but when it's in every other story, and happens to half a dozen characters, I get really peeved!

I'm thinking most of these people mean in re-writes and so on, not in actual cannon story line.

I've only brought one character back from the dead. And that's in a story that must not be read as it was my third and was still not good enough for anything ever.

Anyone else was either never actually dead or only almost died.

[NicoleMD]

I just got an idea of bringing this character back in the last scene, in the MC's drug induced hillucinations. (Yeah, he's way gone, already, so it kinda fits.) May be cheating, maybe not.

I'll play around with it.

Nicole

[Talanic]

One of my characters is a prophet. Because of this, she knows most of the consequences that will result from any given action (with plenty of gaps, but it's to the point that she's more likely to know about something coming up than to not). She can only see a potential future up to her own death, at most. Sometimes it stops earlier than that.

She knows that the bad guy wins in all scenarios she's forseen except one in which she literally sacrifices herself, transferring her foresight into another character whom she's been setting the stage for for centuries. The question is, does he have the power to restore her after this? It's established that his medical knowledge and abilities are enough to make Asclepius jealous.

The particular scene in question is a VERY long ways away.

[rachelstarr]

Then she escapes and shows up in time to save the day, which is just so much cooler than dying.

This is why I love fiction :).

[WriterInChains]

IMO, if the death hits you this hard you should probably leave it in. If you feel the pain, so will your readers.

My latest WIP is a total overhaul of a story I loved but thought I could never fix. One of the fixes: someone dies. I hate to do it to him, but the story demands it. So, I eat some chocolate & move past it. Last weekend, my writing buddy told me, "You're breaking my heart for both of them." What a rush! My heart broke a little; it's only right that hers should too.

Don't shy away from things that scare/hurt/anger you. Strong emotions are great. Reach out of the book & shake me until I cry & I'll buy everything you ever write (even if it also has an HEA).

Or, you could ignore me. I've only had a couple of shorts pubbed so far; my advice is easy to ignore. :ROFL:

[Varthikes]

When I kill characters, they stay dead.

[Oddsocks]

I think this can be done poorly or done well. Some people propose hard and fast rules like "if they die, leave them dead". But this is fiction, and things in stories are often much more interesting than things in day to day life, and if, in the world of the story, bringing a character back is possible, then I think it's acceptable - so long as you are honest with yourself as a writer as to whether or not it's a cop out.

[glutton]

I actually used a resurrection as a "false lead" in a story. After being defeated, the evil god takes over the body of one of his descendents and returns to life... only to give up conquest at least for the time being, and give peaceful existence a chance. O_o Then another character takes over the role of main villain for the rest of the story...

[Simon Woodhouse]

If you have three POV characters for instance, and two of them believe the third is dead but the reader knows otherwise, I don't mind that sort of thing. But making the reader believe someone is dead and then bringing them back to life, I'm not so keen on.

It's not a matter of disliking the whole resurrection subplot thing in itself, but rather it usually has to come with a lot of weighty explanations and that's what I'm not so keen on.

[AndreaGS]

I think it's fine to un-kill a character if your book is not done, printed, and on the shelves. The readers will never know.

But to resurrect a character after that? Bad author, BAD! It makes me angry to grieve the death of character only to find out that the grieving was unnecessary because, whoa! Look! Still alive!

Dying is a natural part of life. Let it be, unless you have a really, REALLY good reason.

[LeeFlower]

And for the love of Dog, if you're going to kill your characters and bring them back a lot, please at least spread the death around (If I was Harry Kim's next of kin, I'd wait at least three months before giving the poor bastard a funeral, because he's always getting killed/kidnapped/infected/whatever).

[Chasing the Horizon]

Making characters seem dead and then bringing them back (whether through magic or the revelation that they actually weren't dead after all) is a very tricky thing.

The main problem with killing a character and then using magic to bring them back is that you can easily ruin the stakes for the rest of the story. If one person came back from the dead, can't everyone come back? The threat of death loses all meaning. The trick to making this work is to have the means through which the character is brought back be extremely difficult and all but impossible to repeat. I do have a character I resurrect through magic in my fantasy series, but I make it very clear that this is not an answer to death. It takes almost an entire to book to bring her back, another character is killed in the process, and everyone involved suffers some very severe consequences (most of all the character who is resurrected). Once the priestess who enabled the resurrection is killed in the third book, there is no longer a means to even attempt to repeat the process. I don't think this in anyway cheapens death for the remainder of the series, and the glimpse of the afterlife may actually make death more frightening.

As for making a character look dead when they aren't, this more often than not appears as a cheap trick to create drama and lazy writing. You can easily lose the reader's trust with this sort of twist. I think I've avoided that when I make one character look dead when they aren't in the seventh book. First, it is a carefully orchestrated trick by two of the villains, not some misjudgment by the other characters. One villain wants my hero heartbroken so she can get around his magic and the other wants the seemingly dead character as a prisoner. As soon as I possibly can (about 10 pages after she appears to have 'died'), I cut to the 'dead' character's POV, as she wakes up on the villain's ship. My intent is to trick the other characters, not the reader.

Certainly non-permanent death is something you have to be very, very careful with, but I think it can work beautifully if done right.

Oh, and I wouldn't use soap operas as a guide to what's acceptable in novels. The whole 'resurrection' thing on soap operas is a running joke and no-one who watches a lot of soaps actually believes a 'dead' character is going to stay that way forever. (I speak as someone who watches soap operas despite their heinous overuse of character resurrection)

[Azraelsbane]

Let the dead stay dead or you are cheating the reader. They went though the appropriate emotional reaction, but pulling a fast one by bringing them back is a cheap trick to create drama without consequences.

It can be done deftly, but when it's in every other story, and happens to half a dozen characters, I get really peeved!


For the most part, I agree with this. I can't take it when characters die and come back at alarming rates. However, I think if it is used sparingly and comes with great sacrifice, resurrecting a character can work.

For instance, it is very important to thematic and plot lines that one of my main characters commits suicide. Problem is, he's gifted with a level of immortality that makes this impossible. So how do I fix that?

Well, he practically loses his sanity after his daughter goes missing and accidentally causes his wife to miscarry, after which he spends a decade in solitude pleading with God for a way to bring back his brother (his wife's original lover) so that the woman he loves has someone who is able to make her happy. The price ends up being his immortality, but when he returns to society he finds that his daughter is alive, his wife didn't miscarry their second child, and all hell breaks loose when his brother is introduced back into the "family." Also fixed my later suicide problem ;)

Sorry for the rambling; I'm sure none of you care about the plot twists in my series. :tongue