View Full Version : Why would you kill your twin sister?
laurenem6
03-01-2007, 09:11 AM
Okay, I'm working on a supernatural (?) YA that takes place in Heaven. The MC is a teenage girl who has just died in a car crash, which also killed her sister. In the end, it turns out that the twin sister tried to kill the MC/herself. So the question is, if she's the "good twin," why would she do that?
Lyra Jean
03-01-2007, 10:09 AM
Too rid the world of the evil that is her sister.
blacbird
03-01-2007, 02:14 PM
She ate my oreos.
caw
LeeFlower
03-01-2007, 06:43 PM
I have to disagree-- 'evil for the sake of it' belongs in saturday morning cartoons. It creates two-dimensional, boring characters.
Give the character a good reason for doing it, not just 'because she was evil.'
If she set out to kill them both, than you've already established that she was suicidal as well as homicidal. So the question is not why she wanted her sister dead, but why she wanted herself dead. There are plenty of cases where suicidal people try to take others with them-- especially family members.
alleycat
03-01-2007, 06:49 PM
To keep the "evil twin" from harming someone else.
Because she was afraid she too was turning into an evil person because of her sister's influence.
Because the "evil twin" had done something (given her a drug, etc.) that temporarily turned her into someone else.
Because she just learned some surprising revelations that was such a shock that she didn't really know what she was doing.
Want more?
Rolling Thunder
03-01-2007, 06:53 PM
Well, maybe the 'good twin' saw her sister as being more (in that same sense as her), pushing her towards a Cain and Abel type of twist. Maybe you could read the book of Genesis and build on a little of that history; where good is defined in varying levels. (Good to the 10th power is still good but not when compared to the 100th power).
Lyra Jean
03-01-2007, 07:11 PM
They aren't really twins. They are clones and the 'good' twin is the clone.
LloydBrown
03-01-2007, 07:19 PM
Her sister was prettier.
alleycat
03-01-2007, 08:02 PM
Because the "evil twin" is really William Shatner.
;-)
laurenem6
03-01-2007, 08:18 PM
William Shatner... nice.
Just to clarify, the "bad twin' really isn't bad. She's just always been not as good as her sister. And since the bad one is the one that ends up in Heaven, she can't be all that evil.
See why I'm stuck?
josephwise
03-01-2007, 08:25 PM
Even if there were such thing as an "evil" person, i don't think her twin would kill her to save the world from her. She probably wouldn't even be able to see her sister as "evil," even if there was a lot of evidence.
Most teenagers are more interested in self-image, than saving the world. What if twin B had a habit of exposing twin A's faults?
One day, twin A does something seriously embarassing (something harmless but terrifying, like sneezing so hard she wets her pants in public). Fortunately she manages to hide it from her friends . But then twin B shows up and notices. And she jokes about calling Billy and telling him how hilarious it is. And in the heat of the moment, twin A notices twin B didn't fasten her seatbelt, so she drives off the road, not really planning further ahead than that.
giftedrhonda
03-01-2007, 08:25 PM
Hmmm...yeah, I think that's why I've had a hard time with it. If she murdered someone, how can she get into heaven?
It could be an accident.
Or she could just be mentally unstable and not realize it--e.g., she has multiple personality disorder or severe bipolarism or something?
PattiTheWicked
03-01-2007, 08:34 PM
Maybe the good twin isnt' really the good twin after all. They switched places, there was an incident with a pineapple, and things just got out of hand.
TnTexas
03-01-2007, 08:57 PM
The good twin was never really good - just a good actress.
mauricesempine
03-01-2007, 11:56 PM
If they're inseparable, then she had to kill her to keep them together.
Mac
The_Grand_Duchess
03-02-2007, 12:03 AM
Good, bad, she's the one driving :)
I don't know why she would kill her sister but if the one of them IS evil wouldn't she not be in heaven?
Dancre
03-02-2007, 02:12 AM
William Shatner... nice.
Just to clarify, the "bad twin' really isn't bad. She's just always been not as good as her sister. And since the bad one is the one that ends up in Heaven, she can't be all that evil.
See why I'm stuck?
She killed herself b/c of depression. She killed her sister b/c the two were so close, Good twin decided bad twin couldn't live without her. either that or i'd go with the oreos theory. Or you ate my eggo.
kim
oscuridad
03-02-2007, 03:35 AM
She killed the sister because she had an incurable, degenerative and painful condition and she couldn't bear the thought of her twin sister living in endless suffering - which also gives you a great dilemma - how does someone who has murdered and committed suicide (because she couldn't live with the guilt and/or didn't want to live without her sister) end up in heaven? Unless the Big Guy takes a plea bargain...
You could even end up with the murdered twin agreeing to go to HELL with the murderer because she can't be without her sister...
icerose
03-02-2007, 04:13 AM
Temporary insanity. She was posessed so it really wasn't her doing it.
cuteshoes
03-02-2007, 04:49 AM
Have you read TWINS by Caroline B. Cooney?
I'm currently in the middle of it, as I also have a twin story I'm working on (though no one dies).
Anyway, it also has one twin being good and one being evil and someone dying as a result.
Dancre
03-02-2007, 06:09 AM
She killed the sister because she had an incurable, degenerative and painful condition and she couldn't bear the thought of her twin sister living in endless suffering - which also gives you a great dilemma - how does someone who has murdered and committed suicide (because she couldn't live with the guilt and/or didn't want to live without her sister) end up in heaven? Unless the Big Guy takes a plea bargain...
You could even end up with the murdered twin agreeing to go to HELL with the murderer because she can't be without her sister...
I like this one.
kim
Hillgate
03-02-2007, 05:51 PM
Maybe they're not twins at all... Maybe one is a baby stolen by the mother when she lost a twin the first time around. Brings in 'nature vs nurture' issues and also the fact that not many twins are truly identical. Also makes the mother appear rather warped.
smallthunder
03-02-2007, 06:16 PM
... my feeling is that you should consider the degenerative/awful disease scenario. That is, the murder/suicide is meant to avoid the awful fate of a slow and agonizing death from X.
I say this because my twin sister and I are always comparing health notes -- on the assumption that if one of us is diagnosed with something (e.g. migraines, recently), the other one is going to end up with it as well.
Well, just my four cents worth (2 for me, 2 for my twin sister)...
mauricesempine
03-02-2007, 07:09 PM
Twins have that knack of knowing what the other is thinking, right?
Both see a bomb or a grenade in a school, subway, stadium--wherever and BOTH dive on it simultaneously. She only "killed her sister" by not covering the bomb up enough to shield her sister.
Evaine
03-04-2007, 04:20 PM
There was a case in the UK a few years ago about twins who started arson attacks, and ended up being sent to Broadmoor (high security mental hospital/prison). These girls were so close that they had their own private language, and rarely spoke to other people, even in their own family. Sometimes at school they copied each others movements in a wierd, robotic way - and sometimes they tried to kill each other (by drowning, on one occasion).
So it could be that they are so close that they can't live with each other, and they can't live without each other.
Dasence
03-13-2007, 06:55 AM
Or she could just be mentally unstable and not realize it--e.g., she has multiple personality disorder or severe bipolarism or something?
She has multiple personality disorder and a touch of psychosis and there is no twin. So she didn't really kill anyone and that's why she managed to get into heaven.
Personally though, I'd kill her cause she was prettier. And kill myself because even after she was gone, people would still look at me and think 'her sister was sooo much prettier. Such a shame this one couldn't have died and saved us from having to look at her any longer.'
What's that say about me, though? Hehe
Moon Daughter
03-14-2007, 08:56 PM
IMO, this is really a question that only you can answer because you're the one writing the manuscript and has to follow through with the plot, characters, etc.
So, let me get this straight:
Main Character is, for simplicity's sake, A.
A and her sister B just died in a car crash, and are now BOTH in heaven.
At some point it is revealed that B attempted to kill A, and died herself too.
I suppose a large part of this will be: Does your version of Heaven allow murderers in?
There's always the potential that B attempted to kill A, but failed, and the reason they're both dead isn't connected to the murder attempt.
If you're saying "heaven" but what you really mean is "non-specific afterlife" then you can be a lot more flexible with the entry requirements.
What might work, depending on how you want your world to function, is for B to have killed A (or organised her death somehow), but without an understanding of the nature of twins (in your universe), and died herself at the same time through some kind of twin link / psychic backlash / etc.
If you give us a little more detail about the setting, we may be able to help out a bit more.
laurenem6
03-14-2007, 09:14 PM
No, B did not wind up in Heaven, which is why A is trying to find her and can't. A thinks B is still alive on earth when really she is in Hell for killing them. Maybe that's what's confusing everyone.
Ohhhh! NOW I understand! Okay, we can go wild on this then! :D
laurenem6
03-14-2007, 09:38 PM
Okay, sorry I didn't explain it better. It's really not as complicated as it sounds... hee hee.
LOL.
Hmm. First of all, is B particularly stupid? To attempt to murder someone who's in the same car as you could be regarded as a bit... well... dumb.
Perhaps B miscalculated and figured if she ran the car off the road into a tree against the passenger side, only the passenger would be killed, but not being a skilled stunt driver she flipped it and they were both crushed?
Oh! Maybe B had been poisoning A's food, slowly, over time with a cumulative poison. A got sick, and B "kindly" volunteered to drive her to hospital, but A went into spasms in the passenger seat, distracted B, and they got hit by a truck :D
engmajor2005
03-14-2007, 10:28 PM
She was scared to die/go in the afterlife alone.
She just snapped and wasn't thinking; wanted to kill herself, but didn't stop to think she'd be killing her twin as well.
Personally, I think you should ditch the good twin/evil twin angle and just make this a study of the suicidal twin. But that's just me; there's nothing to say that you can't do both.
engmajor2005
03-14-2007, 10:29 PM
BTW, I didn't read all the responses, so forgive me if I'm irrelevant.
Birol
03-14-2007, 10:39 PM
You say B is a clone? Perhaps she was tired of being a copy and wanted to assume her sister's identity, to be the "real" person.
Moon Daughter
03-14-2007, 10:53 PM
Ok, reading it as "A killed B, and B didn't know, so A..." Ahhhhh!!! But I get it now. :-D
Turtle07
04-30-2007, 06:32 AM
Insecurity and/or Jealousy? There's lots of that between sisters. Some r insecure if their parents really love them becuz ur sister always seem better. That's where jealousy comes in. Trust me, I have 2 sisters. Altho I may love them, there are sometimes when I wish they were dead. It's natural to feel that way, but I would never kill my sisters.
laurenem6
04-30-2007, 06:35 AM
Thanks for you input everyone! I finished that story and I ended up using a lot of people's ideas that the "good" sister was into some drugs and bad stuff. She didn't want to be found out, so she killed herself and took the "bad" sister with her so that she wouldn't have to life live alone.
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