Is Killing the main character ok?

[CarlThatKillsPeople]

Ok so to give you some context im writting about a character near and dear to my heart. He is of my own creation and i love the story ive written about him so far. But my issue is my book is suposed to end with his death...This is whats going to spark the other characters to finaly do something about the world threat but it will also allow one of the characters to lose his faith in his god and really get to know himself. So my question is, will killing off the main character keep the reader from progressing through the rest of the story?

 

[pmmg]

Killing off the MC happens in many tales. But its not common. There is no way to answer your question directly. I'd have to know a lot more about it to know if I would be interested to continue. I can say, I can point to tales where MC dies that continue, and I can point to those that don't. You have to write what you think your story needs. And if that is a death, than give it what it needs.

What I personally would not do, is a Disney....oh, sadness, he died, but wait....he's really still alive. That I dont go for.

 

[CarlThatKillsPeople]

Thanks for the reply. Yea im not doing a silly Disney death that would really upset me if i were to read that. But for a little more context the MC is always around his friends and is curently training a young man he saved. (Who is the real MC)

 

[skip.knox]

It's *a* character. Why is it the *main* character, especially since there will be more books afterward? Is the story (the whole story) really about this character, or is it really about something else?

 

[pmmg]

So...I can point to examples...and even maybe why some succeed. I don't know if yours will have the capability. I would think, if the supporting cast is strong enough, it could.

The death of superman...Justice league went on without him.
The Iliad. Achilles was pretty important, but it kept going.
Dune...actually, I found it hard to read after Paul goes, but it did keep a fan base.
LOTR kept going after the sacrifice of Gandalf....though he did come back.

 

[BJ Swabb]

In my opinion killing off the main character is fine as long as it serves a real purpose and that another character will takes his place. But most times when a MC is killed the book ends that way.

As far as the Disney reference I agree in certain terms on this subject. I say this cause I do not agree that a character should come back from the dead unless there is a real purpose to it. And that is very rare in my book. Now in other hands playing as if the character has died in which really he hasn't as like for example someone being drifted down a raging river and no one could save him, but he survives and later is found that he is not dead, I believe those types of surprise deaths are okay. Especially if it isn't the main character that comes back in that sort of way. But I agree bringing back a character from the dead just because you want to doesn't make it right.

 

[Mad Swede]

I wonder if the character you want to kill really is the main character? It doesn't seem like that since the story goes on over the coming books with other characters. In that case I'd say that the character you want to kill off is the main focus of the first book but is not the main character for the hole story arc. If so then killing the character off is perfectly OK, and similar things have been done in other series.

 

[ABearsGarden]

I don't see why not. If I was a reader, I'd interpret it like an extended side story where we are provided a lengthy background to the true ( ? ) main arc. Of course, that would depend on which order the stories were released in, as well as your audiences preferences.

Personally, I like stories that play into bigger arcs, whether short or long, and provide all this detailed information that otherwise would have to get left unsaid ( if not described less as to not draw the story out ). I'm also someone who simply wants to know every detail of every thing, so I can't quite say, again, how well the audience would receive it.

Overall, like anyone else, I think I'd be fine with it based on how the execution goes. So, I say do your best; good luck.

 

[Finchbearer]

Have you considered beginning the book with the ending, so the reader knows that the main character is destined to die right from the off?

Plenty of books out there where the mc is destined to die, or is already dead. The lovely Bones is a perfect example.

 

[CarlThatKillsPeople]

Actually i wrote the MC's end already i just didnt know where to put it. But in the begining might be a great way to start the book.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Many might claim Ned Stark was the Main Character, and that book went on to make a few dollars.

 

[Prince of Spires]

The first Mistborn trilogie does it as well.

Nothing wrong with killing a character. Just have it mean something and be true to the story. Don't just kill a character for shock value, and don't keep a character alive who should by all acounts be dead.

 

[BearBear]

No, stop it. It's never ok unless you hate your audience and thereby hate yourself or if the point of your book is to piss people off.

Coming from someone who had about 4lbs of tumors removed from me, and that was very uncomfortable, it's time to stop killing main characters because that's even more uncomfortable.

 

[CarlThatKillsPeople]

Oh wow thats the first time ive heard someone have that outlook on this.

 

[Karlin]

Thinking about it, I realize that I once wrote a short story, told in the first person, in which the narrator is killed, and continues narrating. Trigger warning: cannibalism, blood etc.:

... A young fellow tied a rope around my legs, and attached
the other end to a winch. When he was sure that it was attached securely, he grabbed a
small control box, and switched on the winch. He stopped it when my head was a few
inches above the drainage grate that formed the floor of this part of the kitchen.
The young fellow knelt down, grabbed my hair, and pulled my head back. An older
man, who I took to be his boss, knelt as well, and keeping well out of the way of the
spurting blood, drew a long sharp blade across my throat. The spurting subsided once my
heart gave up on beating, but they let me hang there a few minutes longer to drain.
When the flow had slowed down to a slow dripping, the young butcher slit my
abdomen open from groin to sternum, without lowering me from the winch. My guts
spilled out, and he pulled them away, looking for my liver and pancreas, which were
considered delicacies.
Once I was lowered and flayed, the steaks and roasts were easy enough to remove...

 

[Ban]

Many might claim Ned Stark was the Main Character, and that book went on to make a few dollars.

At least a hundred dollars I reckon. Maybe more, but I don't want to speculate.

 

[Ban]

As for the question, I'm a little late but I'd say go for it. Killing characters, including POV's, is a perfectly fine tool for a writer to have in their toolbox. Good way to shake up a story if done well. It reminds me of one of my favourite works, a Canticle for Leibowitz. There however it is played as an ending of sorts for that section of the novel (I ought not spoil more).

 

[BearBear]

Oh wow thats the first time ive heard someone have that outlook on this.

Of course, having 4lbs of tumors removed is very uncomfortable. They had to have draining bags sewn in through my skin for a couple weeks, but that was still less uncomfortable than when an invested main character dies.

 

[Malakota]

Ok so to give you some context im writting about a character near and dear to my heart. He is of my own creation and i love the story ive written about him so far. But my issue is my book is suposed to end with his death...This is whats going to spark the other characters to finaly do something about the world threat but it will also allow one of the characters to lose his faith in his god and really get to know himself. So my question is, will killing off the main character keep the reader from progressing through the rest of the story?

I think that killing the main character is something that has to serve a purpose to the story itself as well as have a descent mark of closure for the reader. I just wrote my first novel and struggled with killing the main character. I had even written a solid ending where he dies. But I felt like the story just was not complete and that the readers would have felt that his death was too unfair for the story that was told. In regards to whether or not it would deter your reads from progressing through the rest of your story, I would have to ask how long before the climax of your story does he die? That can effect a reader from understanding the impact of the death. If it is possible, write the ending out and see who you feel. That may give you a better idea of how it feels to you.

 

[Rexenm]

I would have to ask how long before the climax of your story does he die?

With characters, sometimes they progress differently. It is like a ladder, that leads from the hero, to zero. It is a race sometimes, to break the for wall.