Legends of Windemere

Death of Boromir

Way back on January 30th, 2103, I wrote a posted entitled ‘Boromir, We Hardley Knew Ye‘.  This was two months after I started blogging so I got no comments and very few likes on it.  It was about killing characters and I wrote it while having only 3 books written under my belt.  I would go on to create a few more death scenes and now I’m on the verge of doing it again.  Or I already did it because this is a scheduled post and I ended up getting more writing time than I expected.  Either way, a character has gone the way of so many others.  I wonder if my opinion on this matter has changed.  Wait while I read the old post:

DUM DA DUM BA DUM DUM LA DE DA

I was all over the place there.  Now I do realize that it isn’t wrong to mention that a character will die in a book.  That’s my choice to announce as long as I don’t give a name or specifics.  After proving that I’m in trouble no matter what I do, I should do whatever I feel is right.  Besides, I’ve declared several times over the years that I’m going to kill characters from time to time.  Not at the rate that some people have wanted, which would mean I’d have an entirely new cast by the fifth book.  Seriously, that’s just bloodthirsty and doesn’t help in creating series long character arcs.

This is becoming a revisit post because I had no idea how people would react to the death of a character.  When I finally did finish off a character, I expected some type of reaction, but not the messages that I made people cry.  Thankfully, there was no rage.  Only sadness, questions about resurrection, and requests for prequels that showcased the deceased.  It is interesting how people react to such a thing, especially when they can get the ear of the author.  Some characters earn cheers while others drive readers to almost beg for a rewrite that returns their favorite to life.  Who would have thought reading could be such a dangerous hobby?

So now I prepare for writing the death scene or focusing on the one that may occur in the next book.  The further I delve into Legends of Windemere, the more I have to start cutting down characters.  I still haven’t decided who out of the Big 7 will make it out of the final battle.  One has already been slated for a death scene while another two are being considered.  I wonder how many people will try to guess or make a wish in their head about who lives and who dies in this series?  Either way, I’m sure to have some people upset.

So what do you think about character deaths?