Developing a character before killing them

[WilliamMJones]

In my WIP I have my characters searching for a very important person. They finally find the person near the end of the novel, and it looks like everything is going to be peachy. Then the person dies in the next chapter. His death is a huge disaster, but doesn't have the impact I had hoped for. Does anyone have any ideas for developing someone as a character so their death has a larger impact within a chapter or two?

[steve]

EM Forster kills characters quickly better than anyone.

Read the first bits of "The Longest Journey" and "Where Angels Fear to Tread" for reference.

[Quill]

Have the characters who are searching for the V.I.P. build that character up a lot. This will serve the dual function of telling the reader lots about the V.I.P. and increase the impact on the other characters of the loss as well as upon the reader.

Your situation reminds me of Francis Ford Coppola's regarding Kurtz in Apocalypse Now.

[Sommer Leigh]

Since your character is only "in" the novel for a chapter or two, you'll have to do an excellent job developing this character as if they are always with the main characters even when they aren't. I don't know if that makes as much sense typed out as it did in my head. What I mean is, even though they are searching for the character throughout the book, you should build the character up as if they were always there. Make sure the need to find the person is dynamic and important to the readers as it is for the characters. Make the finding a relief so that when you take them away and make all the searching for nothing it'll hurt the readers as much as it does the characters. It is hard to give advice without reading, but this is how I would approach it. I would also be very careful not to give away any hints about the upcoming death so that it is totally a shocker out of left field.

Good luck! It is very gutsy to kill characters and sucker punch the readers. Done well it can blow readers away. Done poorly and it can fall completely flat. I just finished a book called FEED by Mira Grant that pulls a gutsy move like this at the end of the book. There's even a very sly hint hidden a few chapters ahead of time that I noticed but refused to believe. It was awesome and just about killed me when it happened.

[dios4vida]

I would stress the importance of this person in the others' emotions. Is it a brother, friend, loved one? If the reader follows along as the other characters rejoice over them being found and lament at their loss, they will feel the death more keenly.

[cheekychook]

Are the characters who are looking for this "important person" emotionally attached to this person? If they are, I would think the reader would be invested in the "important person" because he is someone the characters care about...and even if the reader isn't attached to the "important person" directly would still experience the loss out of sympathy/empathy. Or am I totally misunderstanding your question?

[WilliamMJones]

My characters don't have any real connection with him before he's found. I was trying to keep it simple, so I said they were looking for him. Actually they were looking for a weapon, but the weapon was a person, and when he dies they lose a very powerful advantage. All of his development is done between his discovery, and his death. If it helps he has a sister that they find at the same time.

[cheekychook]

What kind of reaction are you hoping for the reader to have when this person dies? Shock? A sense of emotional loss? Anger? Sympathy?

[WilliamMJones]

Shock and sympathy mostly. He isn't major so the emotional loss probably won't be that much. I want the reader to worry about the effects his death will have on the major problems. How will they survive if their major weapon is gone? Maybe anger that people care more about him as a tool than a person. I think I have an idea....


Yeah! Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I know how to do this.