Writing Will Break Your Heart

As we are writing a great struggle for our main character(s), sometimes there are things we have to write that are going to be hurt them. And if we hurt the main character, the reader hurts too. So, some writers avoid killing off characters, or pushing their story further because of their own love of the characters themselves, which no one in their right mind can blame them.

But to make the story feel real, for the reader, the author has to impact their soul with their story, their pain, their loss. If you can't deliver devastation to the story, how can the story ending seem comforting or happy? How is the reader going to feel relieved at the end of the story, when the plot is solved, when nothing absolutely awful happened? 



Example: The Hobbit. Yes, I know- I have an obsession. One day I'll be able to deal with, but until then, Tolkien is here to stay! So anyways, the novel (and the movie) go on through their adventure, then at the very ending when you have come to love Thorin again for seeing that his greed was costing many lives, and when the nephews of Thorin couldn't get any cuter, they are murdered.
Die.
Just like that.
Besides being vastly unprepared for that ending, I was deeply impacted by their deaths. How could the good guys, the ones who you came to love, the ones who made a difference just die? Because personally that ending feels like the white orc's wish, not the dwarves actually winning in the end. But still, the whole plot remained whole and well, then they die, and the reader feels as though they will never be the same again. 


The readers latch onto strong characters, that are well-written, and stand for some kind of good of humanity (depending on what genre you're writing). The audience you are writing for must connect to the characters you introduce so that their loss, or death may effect how they see things. Because you know that if you hurt your readers, you are doing a good job. 

This is not to say that you must kill everyone you hold dear. In the Lord of the Rings, only ONE person (not counting Gandalf) died over the course of their journey. Boromir died in the first novel, The Fellowship, and then nobody else from their party died. However, some secondary characters who sometimes who reader favorites did die. So, there is a give and take when it comes to death. Don't break your readers entire spirit. 

I always said that if The Walking Dead killed off one of my two favorite characters, Tyreese and Daryl, that I wouldn't watch the show anymore, because I lack to see the point anymore. So now, I don't watch the show anymore. Heartbreaking, but with the loss of Beth, I couldn't take another major death. That's TOO much. So now I'm zombie free. 


Moral of the Story: Don't be afraid to kill someone. Cry, get over it, put all of that emotion into your characters, and the story will blossom. 



If you want to learn more on writing stronger characters, click here to read more.
Can you successfully kill a character? Read here to learn how to.