Who dies?

[clarentine]

corrinalaw and I were talking, post-Deathly Hallows, about the book and various acquaintances’ reactions to events in it, and I was struck by the single most-asked question I was getting from people who had not read it. They don’t want to know who survives, or if Harry beats Voldemort (or vice versa); they want to know who dies.

Now, I’m as angst-ridden a writer as you might expect to find anywhere. I love stories where I’m not sure if someone’s going to live or die, and the possibility that they might actually die immensely increases my appreciation for the emotions of the story. I think it’s important, as a writer, to ensure that your readers understand that no character in your work is so sacred that their death might not be possible; IMO, reader identification with the characters is stronger if they think the character might cease to exist at any moment.

I suppose it’s possible that the people asking who dies in Deathly Hallows are trying to find out if their favorites are safe. But, you know, I wasn’t being asked if Neville, Ron, or Hermione died; it was just a blanket question, with the clear expectation that I’d list the ones I knew of. (I don’t suppose it’s a spoiler to say that characters died; Rowling has been good about making sure her readers understood there could be deaths.)

And I do not think this question has as much to do with character identification as it does with series identification – by which I mean, a conditioned expectation that there will be another story, together with anticipation of which characters will face what conflict in that next story. Who dies in story ABC affects who is left to cope in story DEF.

Further, I think this may be a weakness – either a bug or a feature, I’m not sure which – of series in general. We expect there will be another story after the current one, and therefore some of the characters will survive. The threat to the characters and the universe as a whole is lessened just by virtue of our awareness that this is a series, and the release of tension is diverted into eager contemplation of who died this time.

Interesting.

So, perhaps, in order to strengthen a reader’s sense of urgency relating to events and characters in a given story, an author needs to be careful not to create an expectation of survival. Would I have been asked that question if Voldemort’s plans might have led to the destruction of life as Harry Potter knew it?

Perhaps not. *g* But it’s certainly something to think about.

Comments

[clarentine]

Oh, do feel free to comment away as you see fit. I might be mulling on the screen, as it were, but other mullers' thoughts are valuable, since they make me defend my position, if only to myself.

and the application for us as writers is tremendous. i don't think a character has to die to make the threat credible. they could lose everything - people they love, possessions, their health. how much can you take away from them? i think when you strip all that down, death might be preferable to the repercussions that you have to live through and face.

This is the essence of what I most like to write and read. Just exactly what is the point at which a given protag will bend, will break? What agonies must he survive to come out the other side, and what shape will he be in when he does? If he does?

I think that, when Sirius went through the veil and I understood at the end of that chapter what had happened, I shut the book and just stared at the wall for a long while. She got me there, but good. I am such a sucker for the underdog. *g*