How quickly can you kill an important character?

Go with it.

Sudden death can be very effective.

Do it. I love shocks.

MrNumbahOne said:

But for one death I have planned, it is very sudden (but not at all random). The calculating villain sneaks close, shoots, and doesn't miss. One moment, the key character is chatting away and after a few sentences, he's lying in a pool of blood with a large hole in his face. No last words or anything. But it feels so... anticlimactic and unfufilling. Like there isn't any time to soak it in. But then again, the cruel fates people are left with is sort of common.

So what would you say?

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I think you can do it very suddenly, if that's what the story needs. A death like that can be pretty shocking to the reader, and all the more real because of that.

Sounds good to me. That's how a lot of deaths happen anyway -- one second the person is fine, and in the next one they're dead. I myself am a fan of effective villains, so go for it bud

Btw I had a similar death happen in my story. Dude is fine, takes a sip of wine, starts convulsing, throws up and dies within two lines.

MrNumbahOne said:

So what would you say?

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"I am a leaf on the breeze."

SianaBlackwood said:

"I am a leaf on the breeze."

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Wind. I am a leaf on the wind.

I think it depends how *sudden* you mean. From what it sounds like, we're going to be following the villain's POV as they set up the killing of this important character and that's fine. But if we're in someone elses POV as the villain is supposedly doing their thing and then BOOM person is dead, that would be very anticlimactic and unfullfilling.

Now if you are refering to the death itself (shot in the face, instant, as opposed to shot in the chest, enough time for touching last words, etc) then I don't think it matters as long as there is set up to it. Like, I'd rather the villain sneak up and get the shot off than give a lengthy monologue first.

I read a book that did this last summer. The series chronicled a family line where every one of the descendants of the original main character, up until now, had a major role, and like the previous book, there were two protagonist viewpoint characters.

Then one of them gets offed before the first quarter of the book is done. His death sets a whole new subplot in motion, while the other main character is thrown into greater focus.

Short version: it has worked before, so I say go for it.

If it serves a narrative purpose and makes sense in the context of the story you're trying to tell, then go for it.

What I do not like is when writers just crank up the random body count to be edgy or shocking or to prove that they can.

Yeah, just throwing in an extra "Go for it!" I love it. I think what you described sounds great.

Roxxsmom said:

If it serves a narrative purpose and makes sense in the context of the story you're trying to tell, then go for it.

What I do not like is when writers just crank up the random body count to be edgy or shocking or to prove that they can.

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That. I agree with what Roxx said. As a reader I'm usually gut wrenched when an important character dies--if there was time enough for an emotional connection to be made--but life can be cruel, and I know sometimes things like that can make a story more real. And, of course, adds to the dislike of the villain. Having a villain who acts, rather than threatens and bluffs, is always effective.

Do it. The World According to Garp is one of my favorite books ever written--BECAUSE it has some shocking moments of brutality (just watched the movie for the first time last night... Robin Williams is great... and the story just gets to me.)

I remember a particular novel of Agatha Christie's in which all of the primary characters died.

Shakespeare was also fond of killing off central members of his cast.

Kill 'em, kill 'em all!

Ahem.
If you want nice and quick, go for it. In one of my projects I take down a character with a shot to the throat. Quick, messy, no final words.

I say go for the carnage. Kill him, kill him good. Describe the blood jetting into the air, the stain of brains upon the tablecloth made of the finest Irish linen, the screams of absolute horror and...

...I just wrote your book for you. I WANT CREDIT!


Seriously, if it advances the story and compels the MC(s) to embark on his/her/their course of action, do it. Just don't get too gratuitous about it. Let the reader imagine some of it.

Go for it. If it's needed, then it can work. I have a tendency to foreshadow what's coming, but I try not to be obvious about it. But yeah... if it serves the story, give it a try. You can always have beta readers let you know if something isn't working about it once you've got it written.

Obligatory George R. R. Martin comment.

Also, something something Red Wedding.

Whenever it would be most inconvenient to the other main characters...

Or maybe that's just me.

Screw the other characters - kill him - now!

Evan Henry said:

Whenever it would be most inconvenient to the other main characters...

Or maybe that's just me.

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It depends on the effect you want to have on the reader. If you want to shock them with the suddenness of it, then miss out building it up by letting the reader know about the villain on his way to shoot the guy. Maybe concentrate on the reactions of the other characters. They'll be in the same position as the reader, shocked as it happens with no warning - just like in real life.

Or you can foreshadow that someone's gonna get it, maybe show the villain in the way to do it, but not let the reader know which of the characters is going to be shot. Like Stephen King does in The Stand, where the reader knows there's a bomb in a house several of the lead characters have gathered in. Will it explode? Who will be killed? So there's both the tension of the build up, but still the shock of who is actually killed (and hey, Stephen King, still not forgiven. )

The worst (best?) kind of deaths are those ones when the characters think they're in the clear and BAM!

No big goodbye. No last minute saving throw, just dead.

Agreed. There is no answer to this question.

You kill characters whenever you feel it's the right time to do so in whatever your story is.

The sudden death of a character is acceptable to me, if and only if the emotional response from those around is conveyed. An old man dying in the hospital surrounded by friends and family would naturally have an accepting but remorseful reaction from his loved ones. A fit and healthy hero savagely taken in the middle of their life would get a much more raw and visceral reaction from the people who care for him/her.

If the hero is killed savagely, and the people around went "Well gosh darn it, that such is a bummer, huh?" then it would not only throw me out of the story, but also result in the book being thrown against the wall.

If the character has to die - he dies.

Characters can die in a thousand and one ways and in an equally large number of situations and circumstances.