Killing a novel character
I had to post this: I have just killed an important character in the Arpia novels, and his/her death is told as he/she experiences it.
And I have to admit it’s a strange experience. I’ve often experienced emotions with my characters, and have many times written of things I have never felt or gone through myself, but writing one’s experience of death is beyond all that. I even had tears in my eyes at one point.
11 August 2008 at 02:20
[AdminNote for Harry Potter readers: may contain spoilers]
Hmmm… reminds me of what happened to J.K. Rowling when she killed off Potter…
Nevertheless, there’s a high chance that you’ll grow attached to the characters you create, as if they were real people, and it doesn’t only affect the readers or the in-story people, but it might affect you too.
Sad to hear.
11 August 2008 at 08:30
[AdminNote for Harry Potter readers: may contain spoilers]
Pah! She never killed off Potter!
She did kill Dumbly, though, but never told it through his eyes. Same for whatshisname, one of the twins. They both died in a flash, whereas this person doesn’t.
I’ve become attached to the characters over the past… 3 years (wow, the Arpia concept is 5 years old, and the Arpia novels themselves were started 3 years ago), but not to the point of feeling such a loss. I’ll miss the character in question, but it had to happen.
Spoiler: this is a bit like what I hoped would happen in book 7 of Harry Potter, i.e. the death of one of Potter or one of his closest friends…
11 August 2008 at 22:11
dude, don’t worry, it turned out great
now if my death doesn’t feel like that, I’ll be SERIOUSLY miffed
12 August 2008 at 00:54
Just don’t bring him back to life, you hear?
12 August 2008 at 09:42
Fear not, the character is dead as dead can be!
(I’ve even moved on to the next chapter, where some people will learn of the character’s death)
13 August 2008 at 00:19
I hope the character wasn’t TOO important… That’s one thing I despised about the New Jedi Order… Chewbacca died, and he’s a seriously main character. And then Anakin Solo died, and that’s just not cool. If an important character was still alive in the first movie/book, he should be left alive in the sequel, too!
2¨¢
I hate NJO.
14 August 2008 at 00:24
Oh I think I was just close to discover some things I didn’t know since I have not finished all the Harry Potter tomes
14 August 2008 at 08:56
Sorry my good friend. I keep forgetting how new that book is, especially its French translation.
Or are you reading them in English?
14 August 2008 at 11:29
Well I think the last Tome in French was brought out in oct. 2007. I am a bite late… Thanks for the admin note
”[AdminNote for Harry Potter readers: may contain spoilers]”
Well, “assassin”, I hope you feel better about your charachter for now. It would surely be an interesting experience to imagine and write the feelings of a person passing on.
15 August 2008 at 20:49
*raises eyebrows at Peter’s statement* Oh really? Well, I never finished reading the books myself (I found others that were more interesting), so that does come at a surprise to me.
Nevertheless, it’s been too long for me to continue the saga, anyways. If I remember last, it’s been… 5 years since I’ve read The Order of the Phoenix. Yeah, long period.
It’s why I might have made a mistake in my statement. I only distantly recall something about J.K. Rowling when I saw it on a news site one day.
24 August 2008 at 02:27
Ah, I remember reading the last instalment of the Harry Potter Series…
I was at a Bob Dylan Concert as it was coming out… Dylan was crap…
I had to go to bed so I had to read it when I got up at midday! The horror!
‘Twas a good book though…