You know that you have a problem when your deaths are cliché.
The death of a character is always a tragedy. If it's prophesied, then it can keep your readers biting their nails raw in anticipation and terror. If it's in the story, then you have a tidal waves of distraught and anguished comments flooding your inbox. If it's in the past, then it can serve to bring characters closer together in their grief, and become an integral point around which a protagonist's character develops. This is a crucial opportunity to exploit your power as a writer.
Instead, too many talented authors are throwing aside this chance to go for:
A) Brutal, bloodthirsty rogue-murders of the parents, as they sacrifice themselves for their son.
B) An irresponsible drunk driver careening into their car as their daughter lies traumatised in the backseat.
Option A is usually followed up by the alpha male having a blinding hatred for all rogues, resulting in his merciless slaughter of other packsand countless rogue wolves (who did nothing wrong themselves). This horrific past thereby excuses his actions, and justifies his reputation of being 'heartless', allowing his Luna to fall in love with him with a clear conscience.
Option B is typically followed by the daughter having an irrational fear of motorbikes, and refusing to get on the bad boy's Harley - as well as life long abstinence.
Of course, don't forget that both children will be assured that they are to blame for the events, seeing as the boy (A) should have fought off a pack of huge wolves despite being five years old, and the girl (B) shouldn't have thrown a tantrum to go out 13 years ago, as it was going out in the first place that had resulted in the fatal crash.
I sound despicably cynical, but who can help it when all one can see is rogue attack after car crash every day? This is one point on which I absolutely put my foot down, and I'm sure others will agree with me. I'm hardly one to be called unfeeling. I, like many others, have had family members and friends who have been attacked, and killed or injured in a road traffic accident. Despite this, I find it increasingly difficult to muster up enough sympathy for characters, when they all have the same past. After all, it's our differences that make us beautiful.
Putting a twist on being mugged can give you the potential to experiment as well as terrifying your audience a little. With suicide rates sky-rocketing as well, one could hardly call that improbable. If you're looking for a darker tone, overdoses, as well as gruelling rape scenes can chill a reader to the bone. If you want an unusual element, then mysterious disappearances at sea (without reappearances) can add drama.
Honour the deaths of your beloved characters. Don't just bury them under a pile of cars. If you value their final moments, and make them memorable - your readers will too.
Recommendations:
Accidentally Kidnapped by HessianKills
The Bad Boy Calls Me Kitten by HessianKills
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One Cliché Too Many
WerewolfDespite what you might think, this isn't going to be a treatise against Wattpad authors. This is meant to be for all those times that authors, trying to share a bit of themselves with the world, think that their bit isn't worth sharing. It's a guide...
