Can You Write Deaths Right?

[Story_Marc]

Putting this out here today, alongside a new hybrid for my video aesthetic. I hope you find this helpful, especially since I've been enjoying creating these diagnostic systems. I believe it helps simplify and reduce cognitive load when implementing things and judging one's own work.

I've been a bit too busy to reply to people lately, as I have a lot on my plate, but I do read. Some of it I file away to tackle in other videos if I feel it's worth my time.

 

[Hoshino]

Yes-nya.

 

[Bartun]

No, if my characters don't have quick, violent deaths, then they aren't dying

 

[LeilaniOtter]

I was just looking through my horror stories when I saw this post and thought, "Huh. Wow, all my deaths are violent. No one just passes." *^^*

 

[RivCA]

I actually have a major death in one of my stories, and it’s actually a defining moment in the story.

 

[Eldoria]

I don't just write about the death of an individual, but I write about the death of the world, mass death (genocide), moral death, the death of memory, and the death of empathy. Yes, my world is indeed a dark fantasy world. Honestly, I felt suffocated when writing that dark scene. I didn't want to write it, but I had to because it's the story's central conflict, the fuel that shakes the reader's conscience and reflects a human tragedy that can even resonate with dark allegories in real-world history.

 

[RivCA]

Yours looks like an interesting story to check out. However, time being the luxury that it is, I’ll have to put it on the back burner.

 

[lirvothethird]

As I write usually in first person POV, there's never been a real need to write death scenes. The thing is like since it's a different world, there's different rules in terms of death. And then there's their viewpoint of death, like will they struggle to the end, trying to stem their blood or something? So I don't really write them. Therefore I don't know if it's good.

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

Of course I can. I figured out how to write the perfect death scene years ago. I use it at least three times in every book.

Character 1: "Hey, I've got a riddle for you."

Character 2: "Okay, let's hear it."

Character 1: "I speak no more though once I spoke. I move no more though once I walked. I breathe no more, though once I drew air. I’m still as stone, yet everyone knows I was there. What am I?"

Character 2: "I give up. What are you?"

Character 1:

Character 2: "Well? What's the answer?"

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Interesting. Well I have about sixty chapters or so to go to figure out how to hit two of those four with an MC death... and the death that happened back around CH 10 or so was, apparently, a well-done minor character death.
Now how does it modify things if the dead guy sticks around for a few chapters as a ghost that only one other character can interact with (and she keeps threatening to bring him back to life, despite knowing there would be bad consequences)?

 

[Story_Marc]

Interesting. Well I have about sixty chapters or so to go to figure out how to hit two of those four with an MC death... and the death that happened back around CH 10 or so was, apparently, a well-done minor character death.
Now how does it modify things if the dead guy sticks around for a few chapters as a ghost that only one other character can interact with (and she keeps threatening to bring him back to life, despite knowing there would be bad consequences)?

That falls into Transitional Death, which I said I'd explore more in the next video. Or, well... Transitional or Reversible stuff, depending on execution and context.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

That falls into Transitional Death, which I said I'd explore more in the next video. Or, well... Transitional or Reversible stuff, depending on execution and context.

Well, its not reversible. Or ... shouldn't be. But the kid is stupidly powerful and might just break the rules (and the world)...

 

[DireBadger]

Every death, and every author style of writing them, is different... the best thing you can hope for is that your test readers are okay with it.

 

[Story_Marc]

As I write usually in first person POV, there's never been a real need to write death scenes. The thing is like since it's a different world, there's different rules in terms of death. And then there's their viewpoint of death, like will they struggle to the end, trying to stem their blood or something? So I don't really write them. Therefore I don't know if it's good.

The video answers that quite well.

Every death, and every author style of writing them, is different... the best thing you can hope for is that your test readers are okay with it.

That has nothing to do with what I said in the video. It's why I even took the time to break down the different types of deaths.

 

[DireBadger]

*shrug* just trying to figure out what exactly qualifies you to give advice to writers.

 

[JayMark]

Thanks for the video. I enjoyed this take.
I like how you defined narrative death.
I character I really liked who had lots of potential died early in one of my stories and I always felt his absence far too strongly, but it meets your criteria for a strong narrative death.

 

[Story_Marc]

*shrug* just trying to figure out what exactly qualifies you to give advice to writers.

The framework qualifies itself. Either the diagnostic tool works or it doesn't. Either the principles hold up under scrutiny or they don't.

You're welcome to critique the actual substance. Show me where causality, character truth, consequence, or thematic meaning aren't core to effective character deaths that fall under True Death. Point out flaws in the logic. Demonstrate where the framework fails.

But 'what qualifies you?' is an appeal to authority fallacy. Ideas stand on merit, not credentials. If a homeless person can explain why your house is on fire better than a certified architect, you should probably listen to the homeless person.

So, do you have actual critiques of the actual framework, or just more ad hominem?

Thanks for the video. I enjoyed this take.
I like how you defined narrative death.
I character I really liked who had lots of potential died early in one of my stories and I always felt his absence far too strongly, but it meets your criteria for a strong narrative death.

And super glad it could help there since that's part of why I'm starting to do the diagnostics! I'm hoping they can help people bridge the gap and just think more about how they approach things.

 

[DireBadger]

But 'what qualifies you?' is an appeal to authority fallacy. Ideas stand on merit, not credentials. If a homeless person can explain why your house is on fire better than a certified architect, you should probably listen to the homeless person.

So, do you have actual critiques of the actual framework, or just more ad hominem?

Please don't swap around the definition of a logical fallacy in order to make it sound authoritative. That is very rude. I did not use an appeal to authority; I used a request for qualifications, which is NOT a logical fallacy. So, just in case you need that definition outlined, Appeal to Authority (argumentum ad verecundiam) and Argument from Authority (argumentum ab auctoritate) are the same form of discussion argument in which a person produces a claim referencing the opinion of an authority as evidence to support an argument. I requested your qualifications.

It's ironic when you mention ad hominem attacks, since that is exactly what you are doing. My statement was literally (*shrug* just trying to figure out what exactly qualifies you to give advice to writers.) But please, keep throwing out buzz terminology incorrectly. The implication is that you did not pass logic or even basic English courses, or it has been long enough since your education that you did not retain them. Again, this makes your advice suspect.

And BTW- your example was a false equivalency. What on Earth would an architect know about house fires? The homeless person is only a decent authority if they witnessed the fire or were able to make a judgment from a decent description, and their being homeless has absolutely no bearing on anything having to do with a fire.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

*shrug* just trying to figure out what exactly qualifies you to give advice to writers

He's been doing this for at least a year, probably longer, mostly via YouTube videos. I don't agree with all of it but most of it is worth listening to for ideas.

 

[DireBadger]

He's been doing this for at least a year, probably longer, mostly via YouTube videos. I don't agree with all of it but most of it is worth listening to for ideas.

And that would have been a fine answer. But he pulled the 'false logic fallacies' canard in a desperate attempt to humiliate me. That was rude as hell and casts doubts on the logic or reliability of anything he has offered.