Heroes Insider Weekly

How to be a Psychopathic Writer - Killing for Progress

How to be a Psychopathic Writer:

Part 2: Killing for Progress by Hawkeye

         Why hello there everybody, as you all know it’s Hawkeye here, aka @MattStuart coming to you with another edition of “How to be a Psychopathic Writer” for the Wattpad Avengers magazine.

         Now stage one was taking away luck from your characters, and dear me since last time I’ve started watching Black Sails. Bit of luck involved in that, let me tell you. My question to you is what if your character is out of luck?

         Once again I’m going to tell you. They either die or get injured in some shape way or form. I like the injury then dying routine personally. But sometimes you have to accommodate for what’s going on. The brilliant thing about writing is that you don’t necessarily have to follow too many rules. They’re all like guidelines—especially in fantasy.

         But the question is, why have your character run out of luck? Why not have anyone save them? The answer is simple. Pop up to the title. In order to progress your story sometimes you need a killing every now and then. In the words of Walter White, “Every life comes with a death sentence.”

         Now your characters are fictional. Start handing out a few death warrants and things in your story will go ballistic. If you do it well, hopefully for the better.

         And don’t just limit handing out deaths to a sub character or lesser character that your main character cares about. Be a risk taker and take off the head of your main character (more on this next time). Now there is one problem however. If your main character is the only character in the book you’ve got a plot behind this will obviously present some issues. Sub plots are a key to this working.

         On the other hand if you have a character that can quiet easily step into fill that hole then by all means kill off your main character. Do not just conjure one straight away out of nowhere. That would be bad for business. However if you have at least introduced them beforehand, then it is generally ok.

         Like I said, before there are no rules per say, however what I am giving you are guidelines. If you break away from the guidelines there’s a bit of a risk. Now the reason why I say introduce the character before the old one dies is foreshadowing. My good friend @AngelaStevens562 has told me about this time and time again, and yes Ange, I’m listening to you. It doesn’t matter how long ago before the death you introduce the character that will take over, as long as they are in a position to take up that lead role.

         Foreshadowing a lot of things is very important, especially a new character coming in to take over a lead role. You need to already have them positioned in some way to be strong enough in order to make it believable to the reader that this guy / girl is the real deal.

         Take for example, Plainstrider Jalor in “The Last Braves” by Matt Stuart. This is going to be a terrible area for spoilers—many degrees of a sad face. Before I go further I should probably mention what a Plainstrider is and how this is relevant. A Plainstrider inside the Taursaran clan / community is basically a trusted bull, that has earned the respect of his War Chieftain and has his own to lead into battle. They often come from the ranks of the Braves, who are known as the scouts and are very efficient in combat.

         I introduce the “new leader” in an earlier chapter, long before he arrives on the main scene in the south with the rest of the Taursaran. He is clearly shown in a position of power with his own men, or bulls as they are called and can easily make the transition to take over command of the other Taursaran. As Taursaran are herd animals, and again I am just using them as an example for any type of group, they need a clear leader.

         The same principles apply with 90% of species I know about. And let me tell you, I don’t know about many.

         Anyway, moving on. Now that you know who your new main character or whatever they are going be is, it’s the perfect time to throw some curveballs at your characters. Introducing a new major player, like I have said in the title can bring new progress to your story.

         I see people all the time and their stories are dragged out with unneeded events and wasted pages simply because they want something there to fill time, while waiting for something to happen. IF you find you’re having this problem, there is no better way to introduce that new exciting character and getting rid of an old one. I myself love doing it, and I need to do it more often, but I find my novels are too fast paced and everything just rolls together nicely. Unfortunately I miss details, thanks once again to my wonderful editor that points them out for me <3

         Throughout this whole article I’ve been mentioning outright killing your character for progress. As much as this goes against my belief, you don’t need to outright kill the character to make things more exciting. Charles Xavier didn’t die when Magneto reflected the bullet that got him in the spine. Made things exciting right?

         So, my fellow writers that I am now giving away my trade secrets to, kill your characters don’t be like J.K Rowling and save it all to the end. That shit is boring and predictable.  Spread deaths throughout your novel and suddenly fear and excitement creep into your reader’s minds. Become unpredictable and as gruesome as possible (more on this next week).

         Other than that, I hope you’ve all learnt something today by reading this. This is Hawkeye AKA, Matt Stuart signing off from another psychotic writing episode. And as always, have a nice day.