Stop it! You're Killing Me!
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| Yes, this IS her happy face. |
First off, I’d like to thank Michelle for inviting me to stop by. It makes me a little nervous that someone let her off the leash, but as long as I keep her in sight, she won’t be able to slip around and bite me in the behind. So, with one eye on her as she sniffs around the yard, I’ll begin.
I’ve been thinking about killing people.
More specifically, I’ve been thinking about how frequently we writers kill people in stories.
You’ve probably seen the statistics collected over the decades concerning TV and movie violence. One study estimates that by the time a person is 18 years old, he or she will have viewed 200,000 acts of violence, including 40,000 murders. (And that’s not counting video games.) If that’s the estimate for a teenager, how many grisly deaths will have played across a person’s vision by the time he’s old and gray?
Even those who avoid the graphic, gory stuff often find death to be entertaining. For instance, have you ever read a mystery, even a cozy one, that didn’t involve murder?
Count me among those who don’t like gore. I’m not a fan of shoot-em-ups with crazy-high body counts. I don’t care for stories in which characters pick people off with no more concern than they have for the lint they pick off their clothes. But the fact is, sometimes a novel needs a well-placed death to give it depth and dimension.
Since the Fall, death has been an inescapable fact of life. We all experience the pain of it in our lifetimes, and when it touches us personally, death matters a great deal. Fear of death—our own, or that of loved ones—provides the motive for much of what we do.
Despite our casual attitude about killing on-screen, the death of someone we care about, even a fictional character, packs an emotional wallop.
Some years back, when Michelle was writing her second novel, Undercurrent, I helped a little with critiquing her chapters. When I got to Chapter 28, where Alarik died (and I hope you’ve already read the book so I’m not spoiling anything for you), I was enthralled. It takes guts to kill off a main character—and it was for such a good purpose! The story sang as a result of it. Yes, Alarik died a worthy death.
I was going to say I don’t kill a lot of people in my novels, but I guess that’s not true. In The Story in the Stars, the first in the Gateway to Gannah series, a whole planet dies (though off-screen, so to speak), along with a few miscellaneous others. Including two that the protagonist kills with her bare hands, with the reader a ringside spectator. So yeah, I guess it’s true: I killed a lot of people in that one.
In the second title in the series, though, Words in the Wind, that’s not the case. Wait a minute… I didn’t kill a whole planet, so I definitely did better with that one. But, okay, there were several people who died at my hands.
How about Book #3, Ransom in the Rock? Well… ah…. Let’s move on.
Book 4, The Last Toqeph. Not bloody at all. The only person who died in that one (that I recall, at least) was… um… Michelle’s favorite character. After reading that fateful chapter, she rescinded my longstanding BFF privileges. (I thought that second “F” was supposed to stand for “Forever,” eh?)
So, all right: I kill people. But that last death wasn’t premeditated. In fact, it surprised even me. The story reached a point where there was no getting around it; it simply had to happen. After all, how could I deny the character the right to go out the way he’d chosen from the time he first entered the series?
I’m curious what you readers think. Why does death play such a prominent role in fiction? Do writers (novelists, screenwriters, or all such scribes) kill too many people? In stories, can death sometimes serve a good purpose?
Oh, dear, I lost sight of Michelle. Where’d she go? Michelle? Yoo hoo, Mich— OUCH! Ow, oh, drat it! I knew I shouldn’t have taken my eyes off her. I need that leash. Where’s the leash? Somebody, get this writer chained up before she kills someone!
**spits out bite of heinie and marks another notch in her belt** See what I mean about Yvonne? Snappy little gal. And her novels will hold your attention every bit as much. Here's her latest and greatest . . .
THE LAST TOQUEPH
Will Adam right an ancient wrong and lose his inheritance? Or ignore the truth and lose his integrity?
AND A BIT ABOUT YVONNE:
Yvonne Anderson writes fiction that takes you out of this world.
The Story in the Stars, the first in the Gateway to Gannah series as well as her debut novel, was an ACFW Carol Award finalist in 2012. The adventure continues with Words in the Wind and Ransom in the Rock and concludes with The Last Toqeph, released in October of 2014.
She lives in Western Maryland with her husband of almost forty years and shares the occasional wise word on her personal site, YsWords. She’s been with The Borrowed Book blog for a year or two now and has coordinated Novel Rocket’s Launch Pad Contest for unpublished novelists since the beginning of time. (Or at least, since the contest’s inception.)
Oh, yeah: she also does freelance editing.
WANT TO WIN A PRIZE????
Who wouldn't? Yvonne's graciously asked me to reinstate her F in BFF if she sucks up and offers a free giveaway here on Writer Off the Leash. Never one to turn down a bribe and/or freebie, I said sure. So, simply do one of the following and let me know in the comment section what you did. I'll enter your name in a hat (or more likely a piece of Tupperware) and draw a lucky winner on my Friday vlog. You'll win the book of your choice from Yvonne's collection (and they're all great - I've read every one of them).
Choose one of these:
- Like Yvonne on Facebook
- Tweet this blog entry
- If you've already read one of her books, post a review on Amazon or Goodreads
- Tell one other person about Yvonne Anderson (anyone, even the mailman, but maybe not the dog)
- Visit her personal site: Ys Words (yes, I just broke every rule of blogging by directing you to someone else's blog . . . deal with it)
And anytime you comment on any of my posts this week, I'll toss your name in the Tupperware just because I'm awesome. I mean Yvonne's awesome.
Gotta run. I'm feeling kind of bitey again.