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We want new and experienced authors to become more comfortable in their own skins as writers and poets. To this end, it is our mission to offer activities, education, and connection that further the succes...
Occasionally, characters die (characters die all the time...). Most of the time, these deaths pull at our heartstrings because we feel like we're losing someone close to us, or we feel victorious because the villain is finally gone. Other times, we ask ourselves who that character was because she/he made zero impact on the story and on us, the readers. With that being said, how exactly should death scenes work in stories?
Well, in this education piece, we're going to focus on characters who are meaningful to stories, a character we care about or a character we hate. We're not focusing on that one random character who began the domino effect for a murder mystery. Our focus will be on Sarah who grew with us and who we didn't know was also our sister until the treacherous author wrote her out. Our focus will be on Lisa who we found out is the serial killer of Lincoln Heights. Whatever the case may be, we're going to learn how to write a meaningful death.
According to Writer's Edit, the first thing authors need to do is make the reader care about the character. As mentioned above, those characters are ones we grow with. They make an impact because while most are supporting characters, they're clearly important to the main character, therefore they're important to us.
How does this happen? Well, for meaningful characters, they naturally need a backstory. Depending on who this character is (main, or supporting) you can make the backstory as broad or as general as you like. There needs to be an establishment on who they are.
Where do they come from?
What do they mean to the main character or other character around?
What's their purpose in the story?
Who are they?
As obvious, you'll also want to figure out how this character will go out. It could be a car accident, sickness, or something else. Their death doesn't have to be intricate unless you want it to. Whatever you do, make sure that you know what you're talking about. If your character has cancer, be sure to research and study the different types of cancer so the representation is as real as possible.
Now, just as they may be important, they may also be a villain to the story. Villain's are going to be your hateful characters whose only purpose is to see the MC (main character) fail in life. As the author, your job is to make us hate this character, because while death should never be a happy thing, are we really upset this character is gone? In some instances, yes. I've heard that Snape's death in Harry Potter was quite sad.
What is this villain's purpose?
How have they affected the MC throughout the story?
Do they have a reason for being the way they are?
How does their death change the story?
Now, depending on what genre you write in, plot twists can either make or break your story. One thing to note is avoid shock value. That's if you're writing a meaningful death scene, a realistic death scene. Trying to fit a plot twist in can actually make the writing over-dramatised and cliche which is what you don't want. Death is something a lot of people can relate to and trying to appeal to shock value may cause a lot of people to become offended. It could also make your writing appear unprofessional and like you've not done any research.
It's another story if you write in a genre that works more on plot twists. Maybe a comedy where the humor is more crass and dry, the shock value will work. Or fantasy and sci-fi where predictability will hinder what's happening. So, yes, it does depend on what genre you're writing in, but the gist of the character is the same.
As mentioned, meaningful deaths need to have an emotional impact on both the character and story as a whole. As the author, you need to show how this death has changed the story and the character. We, as readers, are there every step of the way and we expect a lot. If the MC's best friend dies, we expect to see a very sad and inconsolable MC, we expect to see an MC who handles death with laughter. However your MC chooses to deal, it's important to properly show that impact.
If this death doesn't create an emotional impact, then was the character really important? Or was this death just a filler to get the plot moving? If this is the case, do not focus on this character's death because readers will just sit and wonder why there was a whole chapter dedicated to this person at all. But again, it does depend on the genre and premise. Maybe you're writing a crime story that deals with a murder mystery. Then the random death does matter.
Is it confusing? Slightly.
Now, one of the last things you, as the author, need to do is get into the right mindset. Stepping into the shoes of our characters is nothing new to us writers. We do it all the time so that we can get the most out of emotions and how characters may view certain scenes.
This is exactly what's needed to properly write a death scene. Readers need to be able to feel emotions through their phone screens, computer screens, or paper. It's possible that you'll have to include your own experiences in your writing to be able to get the realism needed. It's possible you may have to imagine a terrible scenario and think of how it will affect you. Of course, knock on wood. One thing to note from Writer's Edit is that you need to take care of your mental health if you're going to put yourself in a mindset where you're dealing with sadness and pain. You need to know when to pull yourself out.
There's a lot more to writing meaningful death scenes. It all depends on the impact of said character and the change you want them to make on the story. We hope this has helped spur some inspiration for your next death scene and that we've helped answer some of those questions.
Be sure to check out the websites used to compile this educational piece (Writer's Edit).
