1. Leave one of their major goals unfinished. The more enthusiastic/passionate they are about completing the goal and the more constant stress put on their goal, the sadder.
2. Don't have them die of old age after a long, fulfilling life. Many people don't even think of this as sad (note that this can still work if you have enough of the other factors).
3. Give them strong relationships with other characters.
4. Make them fight against whatever is causing their death. Their ultimate loss is sadder if they struggle.
5. Kill them in the middle of their character arc.
6. Don't describe their funeral in detail. Maybe it's just me, but I find that long descriptions of funerals kill the sadness.
7. If possible, try to kill them off in the middle of the story, so readers have time to like them and we'll have time to let the loss settle in.
8. Place surviving characters in a situation where having the deceased person there would help them get out. You can choose whether you will point this fact out or if you want the readers to make the connection themselves.
9. Make them die sacrificing themselves to save someone they love from a danger created by the antagonist.
10. Have their loved one, broken-hearted, tell the team to stop fighting because "it's over."
11. Have their pet come looking for them.
12. Have their loved one perform a popular song at their so it makes the fans cry whenever it's played.
13. Have family or friends witness the death and/or blame themselves.
14. Kill the character in the middle of making a joke, smiling, or expressing joy or happiness.
15. Make the character's death slow and painful but make them unable to call out for help even though they can literally see the other characters nearby.
16. After killing the character, have other characters think the character had betrayed them, so they hate them, remember them as traitors, and never say nice things about them. Give your readers no chance to have group therapy with other characters by making them the only ones who know the truth.
17. Right before their death, show a side of them nobody has seen (someone who is always tough and brave being genuinely scared of dying alone, someone who is always laughing being in tears before dying, etc.).
18. Make them the only person who knows a big important secret that would help other characters in the story.
19. Have them being lied to before dying (thinking they've been betrayed, thinking they weren't loved, thinking they'd lost their loved ones, etc.).
20. Have another beloved character kill them like a close friend to your character, one that absolutely nobody suspects, one that everyone can't help but love, one he was always enthusiastic about things and encourages your character. Then...
a. Reveal the truth only later when it's too late and the character has already escaped.
b. Have a cowardly character know the truth and never tell anyone else.
c. Have another character find out the truth and have them die before revealing it to others.
d. Have the sad character not actually die, but go through something so they'd forget the friend of the deceased character is actually a traitor.
YOU ARE READING
writing 4 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜: WRITING ADVICE TO MAKE YOU A BETTER WRITER
Phi Hư CấuWriting is hard. Being a writer is even harder. But with "Writing 4 Writers," you CAN become a better writer. Every time I sit down to write, I reference this collection of writing advice from a variety of blogs, writers, and YouTubers: Jenna Moreci...
