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Death to a character?

I've got a character that is going to die early in my book. He is only going to make it halfway through the second chapter. It's not going to be a violent death, more like old age. He is going to die due to a genetic disorder. I'm really needing ideas on how much description I need to give to him since he wont be in the story very long. And also ideas on the best way to kill him without saying "he dies" Bam! just like that lol.

Thanks in advance!
 

BWFoster78

Myth Weaver
Be aware that it is almost impossible (which I define as being beyond my ability :) ) to create much emotional impact from such an early death. I'd say just accept that the guy is going to be a plot device used to provide motivation and tension for the other characters.

Other than that, it's hard to provide you with specifics. The answer you're seeking is pretty much unknowable without reading your story. The character needs as much description as the story requires him to have.

Is the death from his POV or someone elses?

I'm guessing you'd get better juice viewing it through someone else's eyes. Make the description of the death personal to that person. Think of something the character loved about the person dying. Focus on that and how that would exist no more.

Hope this helps!

Brian
 

Telcontar

Staff
Moderator
Unless a pervading since of "this guy is doomed" is important to the feel of your story, I'd say that ideally this character should be just as fleshed out as every other character. Their death should come as a shock to the reader, who shouldn't necessarily be able to point out any difference in how they were developed as opposed to other characters.

However, this is not only entirely subjective (which is a given in anything pertaining to creative writing) but also might be wrong for your story: I can't really tell you what will be best. However, without any other information, I'd say that the above approach is likely the strongest.
 

yachtcaptcolby

Minstrel
What's the point of the character's death? If his demise changes your other characters in some ways, it's important to show what he meant to those other characters when he is alive--which might mean spending some time describing him and his back story so your readers understand why his death matters. It's best to do that using your other characters, though, rather than as a straight info dump of some sort.
 

Ayaka Di'rutia

Troubadour
Like yachtbaptcolby said, what is the purpose of the characters death? Second, I would suggest doing his death from another character's POV since the old character won't be around long. And if you're going with an outside POV, describe what is important about the old character in the outside POV; that will make his death more important to the reader relating to the POV from which the death is described.

Hope that made sense :)
 

buyjupiter

Maester
I'm also handling a similar idea, of killing off a minor character fairly early on, and it is serving as a plot point. It is one in a very long chain of events that show how odd things have gotten in the village I'm writing about.

I've handled it by giving him just enough of a personality that you're interested in him, but not so much you think he's a main character. But when he dies, it isn't supposed to do much more than increase the feeling of gloom and foreshadow what's to come later on. I think I put more feeling and emotion into his wife during the funeral than I did into his dying.

The thing I've realized about writing him in is, if I don't care for the direction the story goes in because of him dying, or if it's really another story trying to creep out of this one, I can always cut it.

Though, I think I'd rather cut some of the other strange events in the village than this. I managed to get quite attached to the old guy.

I hope that helps.

-D.
 

Helen

Inkling
I've got a character that is going to die early in my book. He is only going to make it halfway through the second chapter. It's not going to be a violent death, more like old age. He is going to die due to a genetic disorder. I'm really needing ideas on how much description I need to give to him since he wont be in the story very long. And also ideas on the best way to kill him without saying "he dies" Bam! just like that lol.

Thanks in advance!

It's really quite normal for someone to die early in a story - it's symbolic for a number of things.

The amount of description depends on his / her role, not length of time in the story.

Lots of stories start with death - like Gran Torino.
 

Bruce McKnight

Troubadour
One of the things I like about GRRM is how he begins Game of Thrones (spoiler alert). You get enough description to learn about the first three characters introduced. It's not an entire backstory, but there's enough depth and description to make it a bit of surprise when they all die. I felt like, "wow, he just put a few pages of work into these descriptions just so he could kill them." One of the things it did was give you an idea about the world through their descriptions, but I think the real factor was that you knew, right off the bat, that no one was safe. I think that uncertainty is a big part of what makes his stories compelling.
 
It was well-done. Especially since "Guards get the prologue, and die" is an unabashed cliche; it covers so many bases for a story that it gets used left and right. And yet Martin gave it more character richness and sheer oomph than almost anyone's done with it, and after a book or two you realize how much he was guaranteeing. :eek:
 
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