Main character dying in the middle of a story.

I think you can do anything you want with your story. I guess the antagonist becomes the protagonist. SO you need a new antagonist.

Can be done, and has been done, but personally I've hated all the stories I've come across that have killed off the protag and moved me to another character.

I'm assuming this isn't a romance? 'Cause nothing sours the HEA like killing off one of the lovers.

I like it, I was planning on doing it for a WIP, except a supporting character then turns into the main character. But it could definitely work. It's your story.

This happens in Wuthering Heights -- the female lead dies -- so yes, it can work.

Sort of similar thing happens in No Country For Old Men. I think it worked, but Cormac McCarthy is a genius.

It can be done.

But if I, as a reader, get attached to the protagonist and want to watch him succeed or fail, I will be very disappointed if he dies in the middle of the novel and the rest is about someone else. Unless you have me rooting for both of them and from the start I know one of them will not make the journey, then I might be ok with it.

It can work if done correctly. I have a story where the MC doesn't die, but he becomes completely unable to be a main character. We're talking something close to a vegetative state, but magic induced. His brother takes over the narrative.

Like other people are saying, dying is the end of a character's story. If the audience was attached to, or rooting for that character, then they're left with finding a new "favorite". Some people won't want to move on and find another character to get attached to, so they'll stop reading. It would be ok if done right. Take the story itself into consideration, as well as a the audience. The decision is up to you

Risky.

I think it would work as long as the second POV (that will take over eventually) is introduced ahead of time so the switch isn't too incredibly jarring.

So.... none of you have read Game of Thrones?

mirandashell said:

So.... none of you have read Game of Thrones?

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ASoIaF never had a SINGLE protagonist. So although characters are killed, none of them were the MC. Also, GRRM switched between characters a lot, so there were always other protagonists.

I don't know so much. In the first book, Ned Stark was the protagonist. Yes there were other characters but the main focus was Stark. Which it was why is was a shock when he got his head chopped off.

I would most likely put the book down at that point. Or perhaps throw it across the room (unless it was an e-book, in which case I would do the virtual equivalent of deleting it from my library).

The movie Psycho killed what you thought was protagonist part way through, though she was then replaced with her sister. It worked, but this was Hitchcock.

And with Ned Stark, he was killed pretty close to the end of the book, not the middle.

Well now you're just being picky. The point still stands.

LOL, the concensus appears to be, "Only do it if you're a genius."

Zannan said:

There's two main characters, in my story. In the middle one main character, the protagonist dies.
The other main character the antagonist causes her death.
I can easily continue the story using the same plot following the antagonist. The protagonist dying emphasizes the plot.
Would it be okay if I killed the protagonist in the middle of the story?

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I think it can work, and quite well (in fact I like your scenario a lot!)

I suspect the way to make it work is to let us get at least somewhat invested in the antagonist as "the hero of his own story" so we don't feel robbed and anchorless when the protag dies.

I don't know, that very much depends on my mood and reasons to read the story. I could only stomach it if I was reading for the concept, surprises, and without emotion. If I actually got invested in the character, then I'd put the book down, even if the twist made a ton of sense. I'd just feel empty and without will to continue on.

Once! said:

Risky.

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This. Particularly if it's your first novel. Done well, it can work but it's a pretty iffy thing. I recall reading a debut novel, a thriller, and the author killed off her protag half way through and introduced another one. I didn't get invested in the second one at all and couldn't have cared less what happened to them. As this first novel was such a disappointment, I haven't read any of her others.

I was going to reply in detail, but find I have little to add to those who already described the risks. Yes, you can do whatever you want--it's your story. But the odds of carrying it off successfully (by which I mean not losing your readers with your protagonist's death) are slim.

Hell yeah, totally do it!

This is one of those cases in which writing schools and classic writing manuals would say *elderly witch voice*: "Nah nah nah nah, must NEVER do that!"

But in doing it, you move your story one step closer to originality and away from a generic story.

However, you have to do it well and be a bit careful about it, because done wrongly it will end in a catastrophy (and then the elderly witch would be right, and we don't want that)!

1. The middle of the story is a very good point to do that, because it might be like you have two stories after all, there will be balance and equilibrium!

2. Make sure the story stays interesting and relevant.

3. The antagonist needs to be introduced early on so by the time he takes over alone, the reader knows him well already and cares about him - but I'm sure you got that point down.

4. Don't leave a "gap" in tension or meaning, the reader should be pulled along immedeatly from that killing scene on.

That's what I can think off the top of my head - I'm sure you could even brake these rules, but that would require five more posts of explanation, ha ha!

Hope this helps.

I think it can be done.

What I'm doing is having two MCs, two sisters coming to America from Ireland in the 1860s. One of them eventually dies, and so her sister is left to continue the narration and story. I've introduced their POVs really early on in my story, so hopefully it won't be too big of a shock. We shall see though.

As others have said, it can be done. (Spoiler Alert for popular YA series!) I believe the MC in Divergent is killed off. So you might want to see how that author did it.

And then of course in the masterpiece that is Les Miserables, pretty much everyone is killed off, including Jean, who was the MC. Epoine also has quite a bit of scenes devoted to her same with Fontine, and we all know what happens to them.

Of course it can be done. Ken Follett killed off Tom Builder in the middle of The Pillars of the Earth.