writerly ways
Feb. 20th, 2011 04:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadness 10 reason to write every day this link encompasses more than just creative writing. Blogging would count. Way back when as a senior in h.s. part of creative writing class was doing a journal. I didn't see the need for it. I didn't do it. Only F I ever got (though partly because I forgot about it. I had planned on putting some bullshit in there)
And today's topic:
How to kill your characters 101.
Well it would be a 101 if, in fact, I were any good at killing my characters. I’m not talking the bad guys at the end but killing of a character you love. Keikeishi (or however that is spelled) killed off the only character I liked on it. I was thinking, also, on Maes Hughes and others and got to thinking, just how DO you kill off characters that people are rooting for and care about?
I’m lousy at it. I usually end up wussing out. There is no denying the effect on the reader. Done right, you’ll make them cry and get even more invested in your story, hoping to see justice be done. Of course it’s a double edged sword. You could anger the readers and make them quit reading.
So for me, it’s been complete avoidance. How about you guys? How do YOU kill your beloved characters off?
I liked that fanfic wip meme so much I decided to revisit it with my original fiction. Same thing goes, if you want a snippet of it, let me know and I’ll post you up a couple lines. I’m only listing the wip’s that I believe can be done if I just set my mind to it.
Until the Ice Breaks - It’s a YA adventure/mystery set in a universe co-created with evil_little_dog. It’s the harvest festival and Makai and his two friends realize that someone is out to kill Lord Carantoc, Makai’s mentor. This is easily the most political thing I’ve ever written with the ideas of women’s and homosexual’s rights at the heart of the conspiracy. I think I’m like two chapters from done. It’s pathetic that I’m not working on this. This is my first nano.
Splinters of Silver and Cold Iron YA werewolf/Fae story. This is a mystery centering around a new student here from Ireland, Killian, who gets glimpses of the future. He is now in school in Madison WI and manages to become friends with two werewolves, one of whom, Tazia, has a homicide detective father. When the bodies begin to stack up, Killian is the prime suspect and Taz’s father is the investigator. This is my second nano and I AM finishing this for my writers’ group.
Beneath the Torn Sky steampunk murder mystery. Homicide detective, Placid Longstaff’s estranged father is found murdered bringing Placid back into his brother and former lover, Melantha’s lives. I still love this (yet another nano) but it’s barely half done so finishing it will probably wait until the first two are done.
Riding with Strangers - OMG another nano, this was pared down to novella length but now I’m fighting to reexpand it (i.e. someone doesn’t need to die every scene so get with the program here COM). Hikaru is an adolescent dragon getting a graduate degree with a pre-adolescent dragon, Lily (both of whom are technically well over 50 year olds), his fiancée. He ends up the prime suspect in the murder of one of his many lovers and Liam, the homicide detective might just be falling in love with him.
Power to Endure written for a Samhain contest and failed. Novella length, it also needs expanded. Iolyn, head of a legitimate arms dealing family has been stripped of power and framed for murder by his sister. He ends up working undercover on Soteira’s medical supply ship and he falls for the captain who is so very different from him.
Machiavelli Moon technically done but after the Amazon breakthrough contest a few years back I keep saying I’m going to fix this and haven’t. Really it needs to have the entire second half redone, streamlined and otherwise made to not suck. Maddie is a vampire in Deadwood SD, owning a hotel casino. Sulien is her long time friend and head political figure (also vampire) paying a visit, a visit that ends with his personal assistant murdered and Maddie’s werewolf friend, Wicahpi clinging to life.
Red Skies written with evil little dog, trouble on the high seas, angry gods, political conspiracies and cranky teenagers in a fantasy setting. Who could want for more? Oh did I mention there’s a curse?
yearly original fic word count -
14035 / 125000 words. 11% done!
And today's topic:
How to kill your characters 101.
Well it would be a 101 if, in fact, I were any good at killing my characters. I’m not talking the bad guys at the end but killing of a character you love. Keikeishi (or however that is spelled) killed off the only character I liked on it. I was thinking, also, on Maes Hughes and others and got to thinking, just how DO you kill off characters that people are rooting for and care about?
I’m lousy at it. I usually end up wussing out. There is no denying the effect on the reader. Done right, you’ll make them cry and get even more invested in your story, hoping to see justice be done. Of course it’s a double edged sword. You could anger the readers and make them quit reading.
So for me, it’s been complete avoidance. How about you guys? How do YOU kill your beloved characters off?
I liked that fanfic wip meme so much I decided to revisit it with my original fiction. Same thing goes, if you want a snippet of it, let me know and I’ll post you up a couple lines. I’m only listing the wip’s that I believe can be done if I just set my mind to it.
Until the Ice Breaks - It’s a YA adventure/mystery set in a universe co-created with evil_little_dog. It’s the harvest festival and Makai and his two friends realize that someone is out to kill Lord Carantoc, Makai’s mentor. This is easily the most political thing I’ve ever written with the ideas of women’s and homosexual’s rights at the heart of the conspiracy. I think I’m like two chapters from done. It’s pathetic that I’m not working on this. This is my first nano.
Splinters of Silver and Cold Iron YA werewolf/Fae story. This is a mystery centering around a new student here from Ireland, Killian, who gets glimpses of the future. He is now in school in Madison WI and manages to become friends with two werewolves, one of whom, Tazia, has a homicide detective father. When the bodies begin to stack up, Killian is the prime suspect and Taz’s father is the investigator. This is my second nano and I AM finishing this for my writers’ group.
Beneath the Torn Sky steampunk murder mystery. Homicide detective, Placid Longstaff’s estranged father is found murdered bringing Placid back into his brother and former lover, Melantha’s lives. I still love this (yet another nano) but it’s barely half done so finishing it will probably wait until the first two are done.
Riding with Strangers - OMG another nano, this was pared down to novella length but now I’m fighting to reexpand it (i.e. someone doesn’t need to die every scene so get with the program here COM). Hikaru is an adolescent dragon getting a graduate degree with a pre-adolescent dragon, Lily (both of whom are technically well over 50 year olds), his fiancée. He ends up the prime suspect in the murder of one of his many lovers and Liam, the homicide detective might just be falling in love with him.
Power to Endure written for a Samhain contest and failed. Novella length, it also needs expanded. Iolyn, head of a legitimate arms dealing family has been stripped of power and framed for murder by his sister. He ends up working undercover on Soteira’s medical supply ship and he falls for the captain who is so very different from him.
Machiavelli Moon technically done but after the Amazon breakthrough contest a few years back I keep saying I’m going to fix this and haven’t. Really it needs to have the entire second half redone, streamlined and otherwise made to not suck. Maddie is a vampire in Deadwood SD, owning a hotel casino. Sulien is her long time friend and head political figure (also vampire) paying a visit, a visit that ends with his personal assistant murdered and Maddie’s werewolf friend, Wicahpi clinging to life.
Red Skies written with evil little dog, trouble on the high seas, angry gods, political conspiracies and cranky teenagers in a fantasy setting. Who could want for more? Oh did I mention there’s a curse?
yearly original fic word count -
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