Now I think of it

[cornerofmadness]

What I probably should have put in my writerly ways, a miniscule cry for help.

In my YA werewolf/seer story, I was supposed to kill off one of the twins, Ben's girlfriend. There was going to be a few drama llamas between Ben and the main male character, Killian, over this since Killian is inextricably linked to the killings and of course, the drama of killing off a minor character.

However, this was supposed to happen way earlier in the series but didn't. It just didn't work out right. I could do it now but honestly, I could practically end this novel in two more chapters. I'm not sure what to do. Do I give her a pass? Maybe she escapes the evil lifeforce vampire. Maybe she never meets her at all.

Or do I kill her and try to cram all that emotion in at the end. Or does that feel gratitious? Do I overinflate almost final chapters and drag out something that could concievably end in 25 pages or less at this point?

Comments

[marynachaotica.livejournal.com]

Well I personally feel killing her off now, and putting all that trauma drama into the ending would be just a bit overdoing it. Perhaps she never meets her at all, but has, instead, *heard* of the being and is grateful for not having to go toe to toe with her/it.?

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

oh she already knows all about Mairin being hte killer but Mairin being fey is pretty stealthy

[marynachaotica.livejournal.com]

A fey vampire?

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

the lianasidhe

[marynachaotica.livejournal.com]

Ah okay.

[scribesds.livejournal.com]

If it didn’t work out earlier, there is no guarantee it would work out now, and it doesn’t sound as if the story really needs it. I’m always a bit wary of ‘dragging out’ a story, because its hard not to make it feel stretched out. As this is also the end of the story, you might be in danger of focusing on the wrong thing, or worse – diluting the ending. Just my opinion, of course.

Are you planning a sequel…? You could use her death to much bigger impact if you are.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

focusing on the wrong thing at the end is definitely a worry

and since it's a YA novel, a sequel is always possible.

thanks

[bob_fish.livejournal.com]

I'm with everyone else - it sounds like your instinct is that killing her now isn't going to be the right thing for the story. While I haven't read the novel, I agree with you that these things can feel a bit gratuitous when they're done to pile on the drama in the eleventh hour. So give her a reprieve for now and maybe she'll be in danger in the sequel!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yeah or I kill her in the rewrites of this one. Dunno yet. She really did need to die

[bay115.livejournal.com]

Going with everyone else that killing her off now won't be a great idea. marynachaotica's idea of the character having heard of the evil lifeforce vampire but not meet her yet could work.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yeah it's a shame. I SHOULD see if I can go kill her earlier when I do the rewrite.

The two characters in question are well acquainted with each other

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

If it's in the last two chapters, it almost sounds gratuitous.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

it would be the last 3 if i add in her death now. I could have her injured and that's the final piece of the puzzle. Killian realizes why it all sounds so familiar.

[hands4healing.livejournal.com]

Injured wouldn't be too bad.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yeah that might be how i do this

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I think injured won't seem as...explosive that close to the end of the story.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yeah but i will not have time to deal with her death. It would be like oh well she's dead and now the villian is too goodbye

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Which is why injured is better? Or are you saying you won't have time to deal with her injury?

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

no this is why injured is better. Dead I have to deal with grieving boyfriend, grieving best friend, grieving identical twin and blaming Killian but there jus isn't enough story left to do anything else but finish off Mairin

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's what I was thinking but my brain wasn't reading it that way.

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how much further you've gone with this than I've read already, because where I'm at, I think it could be a very poignant final assault before M is taken down for good. Perhaps even caught in the act of taking out L, with Killian and Ben witnessing and not being able to save her (or maybe being able to).

It would put a really dark capper on it, though; so far while there have been deaths of people the characters know, they haven't really been any characters we the readers know well.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i have not gotten ANY further than you've seen. I'm up to the point where I can kill off Lenore and have Ben freak or just skip to where Mairin gets her hooks into Killian and end it.

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Then I don't think it would be gratuitous, and could work for you -- but it's really entirely how you want to spin the ending. Upbeat or in tears.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

truthfully i think the end needs to be focused on Taz and Killian which is why I'm thinking this isn't going to work

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

In that case, follow your gut and leave it out.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yeah that's probably what I'm going to do. In fact, it might be able to be spun that Killian gets to see what Mairin is doing in time to save Lenore and this allows Mairin to get one final mental hook into him.

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a good plan.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

oh good

[rahirah]

How important are the consequences of her death to the relationship between the other two characters, or to the character development of either of them? If the answer is "not very" or "none at all" I'd just ditch it.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

honestly if it had happened earlier it would have an impact but at this point, I'm either going to have to deeply rewrite or ditch because there would be just a dragging out of the end and not enough time to explore the emotional impact without having too much extraneous wordage.

[sillymagpie.livejournal.com]

If you didn't kill her earlier, and don't have a really good reason to do it now, I wouldn't kill her in the last 25 pages.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yeah that's what I'm thinking. I DO have a really good reason to kill her but to make it work out how it should, it needed to be much earlier in the story and I'm not sure I can make that work

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Based on what little I know about it, I think you should let the poor girl live.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yeah I think she might get a pass....this time