@Ninja Named Bob Protagonist: Actually, you wanted me believe that it was inconceivable because you can't accept that it's unachievable for you, even though you've always known that. It's really very simple: You turned my mind against me, and I believed you. I truly feel sorry for you, because I believe in you, and now you will cry because I am the first person to ever show kindness to you. But I must also make the ultimate sacrifice because that is how my vampire boyfriend, who always warned me about you but I did not believe him but he could never imagine anyone like me ever being replaceable even though I've never believed in myself, and thus I must almost die so my vampire boyfriend will say, "No! I WILL NOT LET HER GO!" and then expand his powers such that I am brought back to life as a vampire too, and then you will surely meet your ultimate fate as death because I will kill you and then my gay best friend will say, "Yaaaasss queen," and I will become the average-looking queen... TWENTY-FOUR PAGES LATER Protagonist: ... and I will have a son, and I will name him after my vampire boyfriend, who will by then be my vampire husband. But you will come back from the dead as a powerful spirit, which my non-binary-other-best-friend will pick up by discovering that she is no longer afraid of her powers. And they will cast a massive spell that makes the ultimate sacrifice for me and my vampire son and vampire husband, who are also witches, but I will become known as Snow Droplet as my best friend dies and their powers transfer to me and everyone is surprised. See, you... TWENTY-FOUR PAGES LATER Protagonist: ...vampire son's best friend, who is a teen werewolf, will strap me into the sling, and he will pull his shirt off and I will run my hands across his bulging chest-ceps and biceps and triceps, which makes me blush red like the Communist Manifesto. And he will put his you-know into my you-know...
I'm going to make a character who constantly talks about his backstory, hopes, dreams and aspirations just to raise the tension, then never kill him for infinite tension.
I thought it was "Edgy brooding, edgy brooding, *REVENGE!,* more edgy brooding because we think it's cool, randomly lashing out at random other people as though it were revenge," AKA. the "modern Batman cycle"
Character: *mentions backstory, their ambitions and dreams but is not the protagonist* Story: your free trial of living is over; now you are going to be a plot device
B0cket I love SAO even though it’s super cheesy in that way. I mean what was his face from the second episode who died even though Kirito could have easily given him a health pack or whatever and then he proceeded to give a 2 minute monologue. 😂
Because we all know the only literal way to demonstrate a soldier has someone to wait for him or her is to show a realistic photo of either a family member or the whole family. Child's drawings, engagement rings, and family letters may seem like things to consider, but they're too hard to come up with so let's just throw all those away. 😀
@@virovac885 May seem random to some but this video made me wanna recommend Atomic Shrimp, Sci Man Dan, Professor Dave and maybe-more-if-youw-want, cause they cover $camms and i dont want people to fal for ‚em.
Extra points if you "foreshadow" a character's death by having them reveal their backstory and/or feelings for someone right before they die! Edit: there be spoilers for literally everything (mostly Jojo's) in these replies.
especially if they were about to retire, and show their family picture, bonus points if they're a soldier bonus bonus points if it's a male character bonus bonus bonus points if it's a wide-eyed, optimistic, younger man
Or if they start talking about their future extensively out of a sudden. Damn, Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans seems to love turning Characters into Death Flag Collectors. Like, seriously, the first death of a named character was actually pretty shocking, but at the second one you kinda saw where this is going, and by the third it just gets frustrating. The series isn't bad at handling Character Deaths, it's just that it telehraphs it a bit much.
But how will my audience understand that my story is mature and for adults unless I start killing indiscriminately and as graphically as possible despite the fun premise? ...Nuance? Advanced themes? ...Oooooooooh! You mean cussing and banging and stuff.
I'm planning on writing horror based on true historical events and the majority of deaths that happen in it will provide social commentary. For example, a character may die because he overdosed on a new synthetic drug, or because of police brutality, or maybe they committed suicide because society doesn't accept them for who they really are. Or maybe they died because someone gave them an overdose of a date rape drug.
Yeah, I feel like most of the Cosmic Horrors that Kirby fights end up completely destroyed. King Dedede and Meta Knight are his friends now, but they were never all that sinister. Now, villains in Steven Universe, on the other hand.... =P
@@highadmiraljt5853 No no, you see, they decided to stop being evil after thousands of years of genocide because.... because, uh.... uhhhhhhhhhhh............... muffin button?
But the hairstyle of death is a traditional anime death foreshadowing! ...Besides, everyone knows that the only more deadly occupation than being a mentor is being the protagonist's biological parent.
You forgot one of the unbeatable methods of resurrecting a character: have them reborn through the introduction of a different character that’s near-identical to them in every way! If you need a cheap excuse as to why they’re so eerily similar to the one that just died, just say they’re a twin or part of the deceased’s family whilst assuring the audience they’re totally not a carbon-copy replacement for the departed character, so forget about the fact they’re constantly asking why you bothered killing the original in the first place if they were just going to be replaced by the same character, but with one letter changed in their name!
*or have that one specific letter being silent* *or even better...have all the other letters of the name be silent EXCEPT that very one...that's in the middle of the name that includes on of those weird accent marks than no one outside the country of origin has any idea how to pronounce*
Or you know, you can go straight into crazy-ville by introducing a character that seems like they would be that resurrected character or a identical twin of them, but in reality, they were just obsessively jealous of that dead character when they were alive and intentionally got plastic surgery and changed their name to be exactly like them. This can be done well if you use their jealousy as a toxic character motivation, but hey. Unrelated spoiler video: ua-cam.com/video/lNe9gKVAZ24/v-deo.html
That reminds me of a British comedy called 'Allo 'Allo, where the main character is a pub/tavern owner during the German occupation of France in the second world war and fakes his death, only to return to the same tavern as the long lost twin of himself.. Granted it isn't exactly the scenario you described but it still makes me chuckle because all the characters not in the loop on this switcheroo are utterly tricked by it.. Kind of showcases how dumb this method of pseudo-resurrection is lmao
One of my favorite examples of a death scene subverting expectations is in Hamlet. Shakespeare, of course, is legendary for mortally wounded characters giving long speeches just before they die, and Polonius was one of the most long-winded characters in any of his plays. And then when Polonius got stabbed, his entire death speech was, "Oh, I am slain!"
Unironically, I actually love major character deaths out of nowhere as a jarring toneshift. Stories where it seems like death is off the table, then someone *actually dies* and everything changes? That feels powerful. 99% of resurrections are shit though.
Yeah, this can work fine, so long as resurrections aren't a thing (or at least are once in a millenia rare). Else you just get into the "why not just use a Phoenix Down?" argument. So I guess you still need to establish at some point in the story that in that world, deaths for realsies are actually a thing.
@Talkin’ Timb Well, that's the other thing, if you are going to bring somebody back from the dead, you sure as hell better make sure they come back changed (and probably not for the better). There's no way dying wouldn't have some influence on your character. That's the other silly resurrection trope, when characters come back from the dead and they are exactly the same as they were before, usually with a silly handwave excuse like they are too pure too change or something. Once again, unless Phoenix Downs are common in a world, so dying all the time and coming back is a common occurrence (in which case it's often a bit pointless writing deaths into your story anyway, unless the whole point of the story is the Phoenix Downs stop being a thing and people struggle to adapt), a character absolutely needs to change in some way if they are coming back from the dead.
So imma offer a hot take here: DBZ style resurrections are fine if you want to introduce the possibility of a character losing a fight without having to (permanently) kill off said character. Sometimes you just wanna write a dumb action flick where excessively buff guys punch eachother.
Sparrrorow that or Satan got really tired of how he started every conversation with “so by the way, I am writing a book. What to know what it’s about?”
@@jetskioutofwater2913 English is hard. sometimes it puts second "t" in present continues, sometimes it doesn't, and then it throws unnecessary letters everywhere. kurwa mać.
honestly i want a story where the narrator is extremely angry and just has the antagonist and protagonist die immediately, 5 pages in, and the rest of the 200 page book is the narrator taking out his anger and spite on the reader.
I kinda want to make a d&d campaign where the villain/BBEG turns out to be the DM, so the final battle is the players literally fighting God as the universe turns against them
@@chumbucket3475 that kinda happens in this game I played where the main antagonist is basically the god of the game’s universe but is willing to die to see the game come to an end
I mean you get XP for each character kill. Some writers like to farm them by creating stories that are absolutely full of chod character death, though a few key character deaths will get you more XP in the long run.
Comic relief: [signature goofy catchphrase, but spoken slowly and painfully] Ah yes, sadness, now activate emotion liquid so I may have large amounts of monetary gain
Anyone else sick of the *big thing happens* and everyone in the story is like "Oh no they're dead! Oh nooooo! This is so sad.." a few seconds or minutes pass and "Wait no they're alive!"
@@moonriverbaby4108 ikr when Abbachio died I was like "oh he's fine, Gold Experience will fix that" and I still think its weird that it couldn't for some reason
@@samvanderstaak7296 Maybe too much time has passed since Abbacchio got punched. I find it funny people talk about how "Stands cant revive people" as if we didn't watch Jotaro revive Joseph at the end of Part 3. Honestly, with how OP and Gold Experience and GER are, Giorno could possibly revive all his dead friends.
Let's not forget the most important factor regarding a character's death: the fact that they're a strawman of someone the author hates with the passion of a thousand suns. Because nothing's a guaranteed shoe-in for a better social life than having a character that's totally not a caricature of a real-life person killed off in the most brutal way possible. Bonus points if there weren't any character deaths in the first place.
Looking at Jurassic World with that poor woman tossed around from one dinosaur to the next before she was finally eaten along with a pteranadon by the mosasaurus.
JenamDrag0n but that wasn’t a caricature of anyone? Also eh it’s far from the most brutal death. Look at the death of Eddie Carr in JP:TLW if you want brutal. Also if you’re looking for a caricature of a real person in JP, look at the palaeontologist on the side of the InGen hunters who gets eaten by the rex at the waterfall. He’s called Robert Burke and is a caricature of Robert T. Bakker, a rival to Jack Horner who was the paleontological advisor to the JP films.
Hahaha, funnily enough, I actually used to do that in my stories when I was younger. Though it wasn't for hatred of the guy or anything. I just liked to laugh at him sometimes because... yes. Think of it as one of those weird "bullyish" friendships where one friend's favorite hobby is to joke and get some few laughs at the other one from time to time.
You forgot the bad guy type of resurrection: Make them unwilling puppets of evil who must fight the main character. Bonus points for giving them full consciousness but no control of their body.
Friendly Space Dragon this one doesn’t really happen that often. It’s one of those cliches that are so cliche that it is often a real surprise to see them nowadays. Like the bad guy who just really wants to kill because he is evil and not because of some tragic backstory that is supposed to justify why he burned down all those kitten orphanages.
The actual fun way to resurrect a dead character is to make them come back actually undead and have the nuances of their necrotic condition become a part of the story. For example, if they come back a vampire, you have to make your moves at night, or plan a spot for them to catch up with you while keeping the blood addiction in check.
do you know what i love more than anything though and plan for my protagonist? To kill her as some pathetic and miserable dog (not good example... killing cute animals go on screen because we need tears) off screen and then another protagonist find her body? Maybe not even find her body?
That's always been an important aspect of resurrection in writing. Characters who come back to life are often completely changed by that experience, oftentimes not even resembling human anymore. Just look at Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, or Beric Dondarion from Game of Thrones. Both have died in their respective stories, and emerged completely different individuals as a result, often much darker, brooding and more ruthless than they were before.
Really depends on the limitations vampires have in your story. In twilight they sparkle in the sun. In buffy the vampire slayer, they burn in the sun, and don't have a soul.
TV tropes calls 4:26 a "death of the hypotenuse" which technically refers to the characters as "sides" rather than "angles," but it's pretty much the same concept. =^p
You forgot to point out how all writers should needless dwell on character deaths in every edgy fiction. The only thing a writer needs to do is simply copy-past the 7 stages of grief to pad the run time, even when the audience knows that character is going to be resurrected or secretly alive! That's always a necessary story ark!
I'm worried that might give the character characterization, so make sure the grieving is as shallow and drawn out as possible to counteract any possible unintended characterization.
Danganronpa: "I don't know why you find it so strange that less than a third of the characters survive the game. We make it pretty clear that most of them are going to be dead by the end."
"oh and also all but one (we cant keep intresting comedic relief characters so lets just make the surviving one a fucking dumbass) of the survivors have the same post-arc personality lol"
@@lordanubis1458 Or an annoying/dumb/immature character (Hagakure (Dreadman)/Souda (shark-mechanic)/Yumeno(magician)). Also: that boring guy may be boring, but actually does give a shit, investigates the murder and actually solves the trial mystery... while other characters sometimes feels like they do not have to actually solve shit.
@Gabriel 2020 Edit, because people keep on arguing with me about this: The original comment I replied to said that the fact that characters die in the show is edgy. Stop thinking I'm calling the show's deaths realistic. I only mean that the fact that characters die is realistic, not the way they die. Now, here's my actual comment: It's never edgy, it's sad and somewhat-realistic most of the time.
@@chrisdawson1776 "Shit, we ruined Luke and the lore of the franchise, what else can we do now to fix it?" "Ruin Palpatine and Anakin too?" "Great idea, that will do it!"
The best kind of twist 😂 it is still lame writing, but this can be used anywhere. Would prefer it if there were signs of it all being a dream of something while Harry, in his schizophrenia, crashed into the wall at that one platform
Steins;Gate 0 when they tried baiting a Mayuri death at the end of one of the episodes, but the next episode revealed that the bullet grazed her head. Steins;Gate 0 honestly follows too much of the bad writing advice from these videos.
or they can just join the main cast if you are writing something like jojo. Almost always the main cast start as minor antagonists to the mc but they become great friends later on.
If the readers every make a theory that one of your characters die you must instead make a different character die just so you can feel superior to them.
This is why I plan on just horrifically injuring my heroes. If they can be bedridden for the rest of the story, they can’t easily advise the hero when he’s far enough away, but they can still try to resolve their subplots, and also be all better for the sequel!
TROJ, what is that movie you speak of. I remember there only being two movies in the final trilo- I mean, short series. Yup. It was a bit of a jump, I don't remember Luke dying at all in the TFA, and it was a little strange having some baddies back with no explanation, but hey at least there wasn't any major universe shattering plot points.
"The proper way to thin out their cast faster than you can say [I'm not referencing that game]" Just watch Danganronpa. They're really good at killing off characters.... *hastily.*
@nameless one if you're talking about the normal v3 ending, then you are actually wrong. There are 3 survivors in the 'good ending' wich is shown in the epilogue, while in the bad ending where you vote for someone you're presumably the only survivor even though we never saw that. The closest thing to a killing game with no survivors is the student council killing game where even though there's one survivor, they die like a month later so everyone who participated in the killing game is dead.
Sometimes you killed a character that have outlived its usefulness, but it turns out it may have been useful for that cool scene you just thought off. But don't fear! You can just replace it with a look alike that have none of the audience's investment and character interaction (though that can be solved by retconning them into the plot. Fans will love it.). See, it's great because it adds more characters to your already bloated story, which means more diversity.
Hero: sniff, my love is gone! All I have left are her shoes that conveniently washed ashore.... Hero's Love: Hero! Sorry for being late. Some idiot stole my shoes, and why are you holding them?
Scott Mantooth well those red shows were really stylish and I thought she wouldn’t need them anymore. And look at how well they complete my bikini armor outfit.
I feel like this is the closest that J.P. has EVER DANCED to actually discussing those internet culture wars that he likes to avoid so much. Well played J.P., well played good sir. Also, what about diminishing casts of ensemble characters, be it in reality show stories or flat out death games like Danganronpa?
In stories where everyone is eliminated one-by-one, you should absolutely take one or two "main" characters out fairly early on. This will increase the stakes and establish the game's ruthlessness.
NB That’s an interesting idea. So take out that one jerk character that everyone knows will survive longer because jerks make good drama, early on? Boy what a twist that would be.
Danganronpa is actually a great case study in "how to aggressively kill your characters and (mostly) not screw it up". Arguably its most effective tactic is giving screen/page time and development to all the characters throughout the story. This uses the audience's growing investment in the remaining characters to make up for the diminishing shock factor, thereby allowing later deaths hurt just as much as the early ones.
@Elalae La That can certainly help by adding a last minute cherry on the cake, but It's very difficult to rush audience investment in what is essentially an emotionally charged info-dump. The best deaths in the series were typically those that made us care about the characters long before we realised that they weren't going to survive the game.
Do it like that game everybody talked about in june: Kill everyone except the main villain and the protagonist, without giving the former a real redemption plot because that require effort. The more unlikable the villain the better this technique will work... But seriously, most of the time an expected and logical plot is the best option by far. Trying to subvert expectations is rarely a good idea.
Game of Thrones only started doing it poorly after season 5 and The Walking was pretty smart about it at first too, but it started fucking it up sooner.
@@Wveth the walking dead has spared more characters than the comics did. A few characters who did in the show but not the comics only did because the actors wanted out.
I have this character in my books who dies literally every book and is explained to be so genius that he has a cult of people that are so obsessed with him that if you were to enter said cult that everyone would look like him and try their best to act like him... So no one not even the cult members know who the real one is except for the actual guy himself and so whenever he dies they protagonists lose more and more sanity and straight up begin to believe that the antagonist is actually a God and that they've been fighting an immortal man the entire time to the point where the Main Character's lover commits suicide from fear of them actually challenging a God... The first guy that died was the original
“Highly recommend murdering off a female love interest in a way so brutal that it will cost me as revenue to describe” this is the moment when the vid sent my sides to shadow realms
With the fridge reference it seems more like he's referencing an old Green Lantern comic from the late 90s where they killed off Kyle Rayner's girlfriend and then shoved her in a fridge for him to discover. It's an infamous moment in comics history, even non-GL-fans know of it.
Top Priority: if it's the serries finale, don't forget to add so much Character Death and Plot Twists to the last few episode that it invalidates all the character developments that has happened in the past 5+ seasons
Always subvert expectations....especially if the audience is expecting the story to be good, or make sense, or follow the rules of the universe previously established by better writers.
@@FraserSouris No one knew Luke died. Rose's sister wasn't even given a name. What exactly was her death's effect on Rose? Or would she have taken all of those actions even if her sister was still alive?
@@leandersearle5094 Everybody saw that Luke died after trolling the entire FO to give hope to the resistence. As for Rose's sister, we didn't need her to be fleshed out more. Rose already had a character journey to be on.
My favorite is when the love interest finally starts being an active force in the story, only for her to get kidnapped and killed off, but then the DLC brings her back in a stupid and overly complicated way that requires a pointless sacrifice of the main character! I may or may not have been greatly disappointed by the ending of KH3.
also, killing characters by getting a hole punched into their torso. effective the first time but when multiple characters die this way the audience just thinks you have a donut fetish
+5 nerd points awarded for the Goblins 2 reference. Disclaimer: Nerd points are not redeemable for any good or service that is real, digital, or imagined.
Eventually most new stories probably will only have characters from one particular demographic because that's pretty much the only way to actually avoid backlash from some blue checks on twitter with any certainty, but they'll probably still find a way to complain. Hell just look at how many Netflix shows just straight up only focus on a particular demographic.
@@wraithwyvern528 There are plenty of books and movies by minority authors that do not have this issue - and plenty of books and movies with all-white casts that still contain racist elements. Literary segregation is a band-aid over the real problem; and that will only be solved by some deep societal soul-searching and the willingness to abandon ways of thinking that reinforce inequity. That's a much harder ask that "well let's just never write about it", but it is the only way we'll uproot the toxic mindset that leads to tokenizing.
@@AstralMarmot Although literary diversity is a good thing in theory, in practice it can backfire. Simple example: Harry Potter is a series about an all white cast of british kids. Not a single drop of diversity, unless you count gingers. Does this mean JK Rowling is racist? No, it does not. JK Rowling lives a life surrounded by all white people, so she doesn't know how to write diverse characters WITHOUT relying on cliches (aka racism). She wisely chose to write what she knew, and keep her nose out of things she didn't know. In fact, she wrote quite a bit about class and wealth divisions in a constructive way. She is in no way at fault for not having room in her book (or her personal life) for studying each of the five LGBTQ genders, all 5 skin colors (black/yellow/red/brown/white), and all 300+ disenfranchised ethnicities that colonial Britain oppressed throughout history. Sensitivity towards minority issues is not a matter of "soul searching as a society", it is a matter of absurd levels of the study and pandering of groups that are, by definition, too rare to find in your average day to day life. I say it's enough to be generically kind to everybody. That way, I don't have to bother with understanding much less noticing racial and ethnic divisions. That's what TRUE equity looks like. Anyone who asks for more than that isn't after EQUITY. Keeping track of multigenerational greivances ends up causing more problems than it solves. Just look at the middle east. THAT'S where the "equality" movement is headed, which is ironic as that place is the exact OPPOSITE of equal.
I think you forgot the comic book version of resurrection, where they didn’t really die at all and it was all part of some overly complex plan or some unbelievably lucky circumstance they had no way of knowing would occur.
Yes, but heroes tend to come back unscathed (though may suffer the occasional bout of amnesia) and villains horribly disfigured and even more insane. Syndrome is not dead, just thrown into the future by a power vortex created by his zero-point energy boots encountering the spinning blades of the jet. He was, however, horribly mutilated and is now convinced that Jack-Jack really is his son. We also encounter the man behind the power who funded the high power lawyers that were able to sue someone for saving a life in an attempted suicide as well as gave the then Buddy Pines the startup capitol to make his fortune.
Before you kill the character make sure he has reached or about to reach an important goal. Like for example the character just got married or the character its about get his freedom.
homie was talking about eating pizza, going back to school in italy, and meeting his friend again after he beats the boss of an organization until he got impaled on an iron-bar fence
Pmmm as great as it is has nearly singlehandedly warped the public perception on tropes in magical girls Which does make watching sailor moon an interesting experience as everything is played straight and earnestly
@@june9914 It's kind of crazy when you think about it. Imagine if School Days had become so popular that it became the standard for every harem anime since lmfao
4:35 Actually no. For this particular piece of brilliant writing advice, you probably want a female protagonist, who loses her loved on in the begininng, because we all know that nothing motivates and liberates a woman more than losing her man. All of your Sarah Connor's and Brides out there
You know this character who you just found out was still alive from the last time he ‘died’? Well he’s actually dead now, so abruptly that it’ll make you question whether he’s really gone. Oh you see this character who had the most development and was arguably a better protagonist than the protagonist? Well we’re gonna kill him too-SIKE! We’re gonna kill this dog that just became relevant to the plot and that you just grew attached to! Oh, and we’ll give this side character a backstory and character depth right before they die so now you feel sad! Also, see this fan favourite character who got nerfed this part but you still love? Well we’re gonna kill him-SIKE! We transferred blood from the vampire who was gonna kill him cause Joestars can’t die unless it’s convenient to the narrative!
It's sad to see them fall from being such great developers in the early days to being abusing their own workers only slightly less than they abuse the characters in their games. And caring about their audience even less than either.
@@canaisyoung3601 I didn't mention killing. Usually, gay people are there to add "representation" or hindered the plot in some way like being the sassy gay friend who pushes the usually female lead to be confident or to be a shoulder to cry on.
I think the only good gay character ive seen, was someone from Fallout New Vegas i think. He's gay but his life or character didnt revolve about being gay. I would never know he was gay if i didnt ask him.
I mean, that's functionally identical to an instant resurrection; while it's different diagetically, from a writing standpoint, the character is functionally dead until they aren't any more. They aren't part of the plot until the resurrection/reveal and all the other characters in the story act as though they're dead. It gets you out of having to explain how and why the pearly gates have a revolving door installed, but naratively it comes to the same thing. (That's unless you have the characters acknowledge in-universe that, for a certain class of person, a fall from a great height is just a minor inconvenience.)
Continuity: (exists) Time Travel: Allow me introduce myself. Hey, J.P. should do an episode on time travel to help authors construct the PERFECT time travel plot.😁
Normal JP: The number one rule about time travel stories: ignore all the implications except the ones you think will make good drama points, but even then only follow them through on the one or two drama points you have in mind. "Good guy JP": Well..... actually, he has a point there. Time travel can be so complicated that it quickly becomes impossible to follow all possible ramifications through. But, do try to keep the rules for time travel in your universe consistent. Nothing breaks the illusion faster than inconsistent application of the rules.
Step 1: always make sure your time travel rules are consistent... Just like the Terminator series! Terminator movies _always_ stay consistent with how _their_ time travel works and how it affects the future!
I honestly actively avoid books that look like they’re going to kill off characters randomly. Pointless and badly written character deaths are the only thing that have really made me rage-quit a book, not out of sadness for the death but out of eye-rolling frustration and aggression. I really wish that people wouldn’t kill off a character unless it’s strictly plot-necessary or narratively makes sense. And for the love of all that is good please don’t follow the advice of those “kill your darlings” posts because I honestly don’t know any real-life reader (as in not user Bakugosnipples69 who assures you they will read your book if you include it) who would actively enjoy reading or engaging with a plot that includes some of that advice
The trick is to kill them off in a way they could never return. Then pull them back from the dead anyways because making things make sense is never a good way to go about storytelling
I like your attitude. Though, personally I have a fondness for resurrecting characters via highly esoteric exploits and loopholes in the metaphysical mechanics of the setting. Especially if this was all part of some convoluted plan all along.
JP: "And then they just come back with no explanation! Like I just did!" Me, who didn't notice the background change at first, furiously rewinding to find it: "Where is it?!"
6:36 *and then in a very faint horse whisper say..."the treasure is in the...." before suddenly gasping and expiring in a puff of green smoke followed by the fresh scent of pine cones and honey roasted squirrels*
_"Zelda is your..."_ Ain't it fun when the audience fills in words you didn't expect, like *"sister,"* and the official media never explains what he was going to say? X^p
The best way to maximize your kill count is to write a random name then add "is killed" after said name. Rinse and repeat. Or if you're lazy just say everyone died
My favorite story of all time uses the "everyone died" ending, and it's the most touching and moving story ever. "Once there was an ugly barnacle. He was so ugly that everyone died. The end."
To get serius for a moment, I've helped a few people with some writing advice and what not, and something I always try ot emphasize is "is whatever it is you're doing with this characters death worth not being able to tell stories with them anymore?" When you kill a character they can no longer serve as the center of any events, interact and bounce off other characters, etc. They're only gonna' interact with the story through flashbacks and other characters interpretations of them. It's really worth considering if you, A. Have no more stories to tell with them, or B. their death truly serves the plot and other characters development. If either of those turn out to NOT be the case it's very tempting to want to hit the reset button and revive them, which is its whole own can of worms. Basically death has an affect on your story, and more specifically how you handle death. It's something you should think carefully about.
I remember when me and my Dad were watching Star Trek DS9, when Michael Eddington was first introduced as a side character, we were both like "oh, he's total going to die this episode". But then he didn't! Every time he appeared, he were like "OK, this time he's dead" but he still remained alive!
Watched a "Star Trek: The Next Generation" last night where the bridge crew consisted of series regulars, plus one black guy we'd never seen before, confronting yet another omnipotent alien. This alien was curious about the phenomenon of death; guess whom he killed? Go ahead, guess.
Plot twist: that weird hand monster is actually the hand of the author the entire time and just wants to mess with everyone while thinning out his large cast. Still loving it.
You forgot the most important/best killing off a character trope! You don't! You set up a character death scene, where something happens where a character should die, like a sacrifice scenario, but then at the last moment they are saved or even better yet they just survived it. How did they survive, you ask? Who cares! We should just be glad they are alive, its even better when you do it multiple times, the audience is always surprised when the a character lives instead of dies, how could they possible predict it? Will not killing off your character horribly impact your story, of course not, it doesn't remove any dramatic tension or feelings you had for the character in any way, especially upon rewatch/reread. Thus the best way to handle death is to pretend he doesn't exist, your audience will thank you later.
Rule 1: if there is no corpse, the character is actually not dead
Rule 2: if there is a corpse, the character may not be dead for some reason
this is true
What if they’re torn into pieces?
I mean you aren’t wrong
True
A certain flamboyant bubble man and his autistic future telling friend would STRONGLY disagree.
But I suppose his Nazi friend would lol
*mentor dies*
Main character: "Oh no!"
Main character: "Anyway"
Logan Sheat Not in Trunks case he felt that pain even years after.
Luke Skywalker: "So anyway, I started blasting."
@Ninja Named Bob the power of friendship
@Ninja Named Bob Protagonist: Actually, you wanted me believe that it was inconceivable because you can't accept that it's unachievable for you, even though you've always known that. It's really very simple: You turned my mind against me, and I believed you. I truly feel sorry for you, because I believe in you, and now you will cry because I am the first person to ever show kindness to you. But I must also make the ultimate sacrifice because that is how my vampire boyfriend, who always warned me about you but I did not believe him but he could never imagine anyone like me ever being replaceable even though I've never believed in myself, and thus I must almost die so my vampire boyfriend will say, "No! I WILL NOT LET HER GO!" and then expand his powers such that I am brought back to life as a vampire too, and then you will surely meet your ultimate fate as death because I will kill you and then my gay best friend will say, "Yaaaasss queen," and I will become the average-looking queen...
TWENTY-FOUR PAGES LATER
Protagonist: ... and I will have a son, and I will name him after my vampire boyfriend, who will by then be my vampire husband. But you will come back from the dead as a powerful spirit, which my non-binary-other-best-friend will pick up by discovering that she is no longer afraid of her powers. And they will cast a massive spell that makes the ultimate sacrifice for me and my vampire son and vampire husband, who are also witches, but I will become known as Snow Droplet as my best friend dies and their powers transfer to me and everyone is surprised. See, you...
TWENTY-FOUR PAGES LATER
Protagonist: ...vampire son's best friend, who is a teen werewolf, will strap me into the sling, and he will pull his shirt off and I will run my hands across his bulging chest-ceps and biceps and triceps, which makes me blush red like the Communist Manifesto. And he will put his you-know into my you-know...
Main character: “Oh, my family’s dead and everyone is out to murder me? Oh, boo boo! Anyways...”
I'm going to make a character who constantly talks about his backstory, hopes, dreams and aspirations just to raise the tension, then never kill him for infinite tension.
"Yeah, I got a wife. I'm excited to see her again."
*an entire stories worth of pain later*
"WHY WONT I DIEEE????"
Make sure to add a cop buddy who is 5 days away from retirement.
@@FatherTime89 *1 minute away from retirement.*
@@501ststormtrooper9 Well he retired, his family is fine. What now?
Don't forget to have other characters comment on his young age.
Ah yes, the five stages of character grief:
Edgey brooding
Edgey brooding
Edgey brooding
Edgey brooding
and Revenge.
No the real first step is having the dead character did in the grieving characters arms.
You spelled edgy wrong four times consecutively
I thought it was "Edgy brooding, edgy brooding, *REVENGE!,* more edgy brooding because we think it's cool, randomly lashing out at random other people as though it were revenge," AKA. the "modern Batman cycle"
@@toganium4175 It was early my dude and I copied and pasted. My bad.
I thought the final one was going to be "Suddenly turning into a wise and calm person", but then I realised this is 90% of action movies
Character: *mentions backstory, their ambitions and dreams but is not the protagonist*
Story: your free trial of living is over; now you are going to be a plot device
Even SAO is stupid
I think that's what Yahtzee Croshaw criticized about the TOMB RAIDER reboot: everyone else dies off for Lara's character development.
Guido Mista: Laughs
Why hello there danganronpa story structure!
B0cket I love SAO even though it’s super cheesy in that way. I mean what was his face from the second episode who died even though Kirito could have easily given him a health pack or whatever and then he proceeded to give a 2 minute monologue. 😂
The mentor usually dies at the end of the second act.
Then comes back as a ghost
*thinks of Mia from Ace Attorney *
@@ch3rry.velvet why was I just watching a video where Mia and Edgeworth discuss sans undertale.
*glances at Hamilton.*
Hmmm.....
Dr shaym
Soldier: Hold family picture
Author : "SO YOU CHOSEN DEATH"
No that is expected, subvert the trope instead.
I'm gonna retire tomorrow. Here's a picture with me and my loving family. Just one last patrol/job/battle.......
@@Michael-fd1gx nah if he survives his family dies and then he has to avenge them.
Because we all know the only literal way to demonstrate a soldier has someone to wait for him or her is to show a realistic photo of either a family member or the whole family. Child's drawings, engagement rings, and family letters may seem like things to consider, but they're too hard to come up with so let's just throw all those away. 😀
Lieutenant Hughes! Sorry I mean brigadier general
Sometimes I genuinely wonder how many terrible books this poor man had to suffer through to be able to give us this wisdom.
Books, comics, TV, movies, video games, this crap is all over every storytelling medium!
@@louisduarte8763 sadly-- yep! I've seen more bad movies than I've read bad books. But both are filling the storytelling medium
Nah just anime
@@DoomBowser64 there are lots of good anime out there though, horror and zombies is where the garbage truly is.
And isekai
Villain: *Kills very experienced and powerful mentor*
Also Villain: *loses to inexperienced protagonists because he’s angry*
That sucks.
Force Awakens much?
And the inexperienced protag somehow surpass the mentor with one training arc
Despite the fact anger actually makes you fight worse usually
@@virovac885 May seem random to some but this video made me wanna recommend Atomic Shrimp, Sci Man Dan, Professor Dave and maybe-more-if-youw-want,
cause they cover $camms and i dont want people to fal for ‚em.
Extra points if you "foreshadow" a character's death by having them reveal their backstory and/or feelings for someone right before they die!
Edit: there be spoilers for literally everything (mostly Jojo's) in these replies.
especially if they were about to retire, and show their family picture,
bonus points if they're a soldier
bonus bonus points if it's a male character
bonus bonus bonus points if it's a wide-eyed, optimistic, younger man
I did that by making the character have a feeling like someone is going to die and then kill them
Cyanic
Double points if it’s a cop rather than soldier
Or if they start talking about their future extensively out of a sudden.
Damn, Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans seems to love turning Characters into Death Flag Collectors. Like, seriously, the first death of a named character was actually pretty shocking, but at the second one you kinda saw where this is going, and by the third it just gets frustrating.
The series isn't bad at handling Character Deaths, it's just that it telehraphs it a bit much.
@@realhumanbean7915 I got double points then
But how will my audience understand that my story is mature and for adults unless I start killing indiscriminately and as graphically as possible despite the fun premise?
...Nuance? Advanced themes?
...Oooooooooh! You mean cussing and banging and stuff.
Blood!! MORE BLOOD MORE SEX SCENES AND MORE SWEAR WORDS!!
Also make sure your characters start every sentence with "fucking".
I'm planning on writing horror based on true historical events and the majority of deaths that happen in it will provide social commentary. For example, a character may die because he overdosed on a new synthetic drug, or because of police brutality, or maybe they committed suicide because society doesn't accept them for who they really are. Or maybe they died because someone gave them an overdose of a date rape drug.
Bro you watch Fairy Tail, I don’t feel like you’re allowed to comment on this video.
Hello, I see you everywhere : D
(Everywhere except my vids but I won't tell you that)
@@popopop984 watching it doesn't mean liking it. Even liking it doesn't mean you can't make fun of it.
"If the story doesn't end with the redeemed villain dying that makes everything awkward."
All Kirby villains:
I don't remember 0² being redeemed. In fact, I remember that "dark star" _exploding._
Yeah, I feel like most of the Cosmic Horrors that Kirby fights end up completely destroyed. King Dedede and Meta Knight are his friends now, but they were never all that sinister.
Now, villains in Steven Universe, on the other hand.... =P
@@Semudara
Hitler crystals get redeemed bcs Steven doesn’t discriminate.
Such a good reason to redeem these characters/s
@@highadmiraljt5853 No no, you see, they decided to stop being evil after thousands of years of genocide because.... because, uh.... uhhhhhhhhhhh............... muffin button?
@@semudara9723 lol
Let's not forget that dead mother in the backstory should have the "dead mother" hairdo. (look Fullmetal Alchemist)
And Castlevania (the series)
Or literally any anime where the mother dies
People with that hair style just die. No exceptions. Get a haircut like that and it’s pretty much certain tragedy will befall you.
But the hairstyle of death is a traditional anime death foreshadowing! ...Besides, everyone knows that the only more deadly occupation than being a mentor is being the protagonist's biological parent.
The loose side poneytail.
You forgot one of the unbeatable methods of resurrecting a character: have them reborn through the introduction of a different character that’s near-identical to them in every way! If you need a cheap excuse as to why they’re so eerily similar to the one that just died, just say they’re a twin or part of the deceased’s family whilst assuring the audience they’re totally not a carbon-copy replacement for the departed character, so forget about the fact they’re constantly asking why you bothered killing the original in the first place if they were just going to be replaced by the same character, but with one letter changed in their name!
*or have that one specific letter being silent*
*or even better...have all the other letters of the name be silent EXCEPT that very one...that's in the middle of the name that includes on of those weird accent marks than no one outside the country of origin has any idea how to pronounce*
Or you know, you can go straight into crazy-ville by introducing a character that seems like they would be that resurrected character or a identical twin of them, but in reality, they were just obsessively jealous of that dead character when they were alive and intentionally got plastic surgery and changed their name to be exactly like them. This can be done well if you use their jealousy as a toxic character motivation, but hey.
Unrelated spoiler video: ua-cam.com/video/lNe9gKVAZ24/v-deo.html
That reminds me of a British comedy called 'Allo 'Allo, where the main character is a pub/tavern owner during the German occupation of France in the second world war and fakes his death, only to return to the same tavern as the long lost twin of himself.. Granted it isn't exactly the scenario you described but it still makes me chuckle because all the characters not in the loop on this switcheroo are utterly tricked by it.. Kind of showcases how dumb this method of pseudo-resurrection is lmao
Like what BlazBlue did.
_Avdol entered the chat_
One of my favorite examples of a death scene subverting expectations is in Hamlet. Shakespeare, of course, is legendary for mortally wounded characters giving long speeches just before they die, and Polonius was one of the most long-winded characters in any of his plays. And then when Polonius got stabbed, his entire death speech was, "Oh, I am slain!"
Shack spear has a lot more satire and medacomintary than anyone realises.
I played the part of Polonius once and overacted the shit out of that death scene. It was fun.
@@s.e.111films3 i wanna see that. o.O
This could explain why Caesar was stabbed 21 times...
@@s.e.111films3 I did the same in my Honor's English.
Unironically, I actually love major character deaths out of nowhere as a jarring toneshift. Stories where it seems like death is off the table, then someone *actually dies* and everything changes? That feels powerful.
99% of resurrections are shit though.
Yeah, this can work fine, so long as resurrections aren't a thing (or at least are once in a millenia rare). Else you just get into the "why not just use a Phoenix Down?" argument. So I guess you still need to establish at some point in the story that in that world, deaths for realsies are actually a thing.
@Talkin’ Timb Well, that's the other thing, if you are going to bring somebody back from the dead, you sure as hell better make sure they come back changed (and probably not for the better). There's no way dying wouldn't have some influence on your character.
That's the other silly resurrection trope, when characters come back from the dead and they are exactly the same as they were before, usually with a silly handwave excuse like they are too pure too change or something. Once again, unless Phoenix Downs are common in a world, so dying all the time and coming back is a common occurrence (in which case it's often a bit pointless writing deaths into your story anyway, unless the whole point of the story is the Phoenix Downs stop being a thing and people struggle to adapt), a character absolutely needs to change in some way if they are coming back from the dead.
when done well it works
So imma offer a hot take here: DBZ style resurrections are fine if you want to introduce the possibility of a character losing a fight without having to (permanently) kill off said character. Sometimes you just wanna write a dumb action flick where excessively buff guys punch eachother.
Protip: A good writer will know to milk deaths like the ghost of Christmas past.
Let's be real, JP was kicked out of Hell cause everyone there were jelous of his amazing writting skills.
Sparrrorow that or Satan got really tired of how he started every conversation with “so by the way, I am writing a book. What to know what it’s about?”
Because Heaven wanted his stories
@@juanarocha8629 of course not! Even god itself is jelous of JP writing skills!
so amazing he could even spell 'jealous' and 'writing' correctly
@@jetskioutofwater2913 English is hard. sometimes it puts second "t" in present continues, sometimes it doesn't, and then it throws unnecessary letters everywhere. kurwa mać.
honestly i want a story where the narrator is extremely angry and just has the antagonist and protagonist die immediately, 5 pages in, and the rest of the 200 page book is the narrator taking out his anger and spite on the reader.
That sounds like something I would write.
I'd like to read that
Fun concept, but extremely hard to keep it interesting troughout 200 pages
I kinda want to make a d&d campaign where the villain/BBEG turns out to be the DM, so the final battle is the players literally fighting God as the universe turns against them
@@chumbucket3475 that kinda happens in this game I played where the main antagonist is basically the god of the game’s universe but is willing to die to see the game come to an end
The more characters you eliminate, the stronger a writer you become.
I mean you get XP for each character kill. Some writers like to farm them by creating stories that are absolutely full of chod character death, though a few key character deaths will get you more XP in the long run.
The plot to Jet Li's The One.
Your LOVE increased.
The bible: STRONKS
What kind of three-eyed sword logic bullshit 🤔🤔
And when Comic Relief dies, make sure his last words are: "Z-z-zap-pers..."
*l a u g h t r a c k*
*Seinfeld theme starts playing*
More like
"M E A T"
😢😢😢😢
Comic relief: [signature goofy catchphrase, but spoken slowly and painfully]
Ah yes, sadness, now activate emotion liquid so I may have large amounts of monetary gain
@@adielrabino5931 dont do this to me
Honestly the obsession with killing off beloved characters in recent years has made me not care about characters anymore.
Same, like do we really need deaths in every story? Try coming up with new ways to absolutely emotionally shatter the audience lol
@@savvystudios7950 What, mindbreak the characters Berserk style?
@@inr9751 this
@@savvystudios7950 I only killed 2 important characters in the main story, but each character has a backstory that involves death.
That is so true, I’ve grown numb to the “dead/abusive parents” trope, lmfao.
Anyone else sick of the *big thing happens* and everyone in the story is like "Oh no they're dead! Oh nooooo! This is so sad.." a few seconds or minutes pass and "Wait no they're alive!"
Depends on how it's done. With JJBA, I kind of stop talking the plot seriously because Araki pulls out of BS.
@@moonriverbaby4108 ikr when Abbachio died I was like "oh he's fine, Gold Experience will fix that" and I still think its weird that it couldn't for some reason
Chewbacca's dead, be sad for 3 seconds before we say he isnt!
@@MuttFitness that will go down as a historically terrible bit of writing.
@@samvanderstaak7296 Maybe too much time has passed since Abbacchio got punched. I find it funny people talk about how "Stands cant revive people" as if we didn't watch Jotaro revive Joseph at the end of Part 3. Honestly, with how OP and Gold Experience and GER are, Giorno could possibly revive all his dead friends.
Let's not forget the most important factor regarding a character's death: the fact that they're a strawman of someone the author hates with the passion of a thousand suns. Because nothing's a guaranteed shoe-in for a better social life than having a character that's totally not a caricature of a real-life person killed off in the most brutal way possible. Bonus points if there weren't any character deaths in the first place.
Looking at Jurassic World with that poor woman tossed around from one dinosaur to the next before she was finally eaten along with a pteranadon by the mosasaurus.
JenamDrag0n but that wasn’t a caricature of anyone? Also eh it’s far from the most brutal death. Look at the death of Eddie Carr in JP:TLW if you want brutal. Also if you’re looking for a caricature of a real person in JP, look at the palaeontologist on the side of the InGen hunters who gets eaten by the rex at the waterfall. He’s called Robert Burke and is a caricature of Robert T. Bakker, a rival to Jack Horner who was the paleontological advisor to the JP films.
@@SunlitSonata14272 That was the first thing that came to my mind when watching this video.
Wait, this kind of thing actually happens in storytelling?
Hahaha, funnily enough, I actually used to do that in my stories when I was younger. Though it wasn't for hatred of the guy or anything. I just liked to laugh at him sometimes because... yes. Think of it as one of those weird "bullyish" friendships where one friend's favorite hobby is to joke and get some few laughs at the other one from time to time.
Character: "After this adventure, I'm going to start going to school and eat a bunch of italian pizza!"
Author: "So you've chosen...death"
I feel like this is a specific reference to a Japanese manga.
Too soon
I want to die in battle an Honorable death, walks up in hospital with a live long injury
*In the court of the Crimson King plays*
I hate how awfully specific this is and it's one of the deaths I don't want to happen
You forgot the bad guy type of resurrection: Make them unwilling puppets of evil who must fight the main character. Bonus points for giving them full consciousness but no control of their body.
Friendly Space Dragon this one doesn’t really happen that often.
It’s one of those cliches that are so cliche that it is often a real surprise to see them nowadays.
Like the bad guy who just really wants to kill because he is evil and not because of some tragic backstory that is supposed to justify why he burned down all those kitten orphanages.
Taki yeet puppet but alive is common, but not puppet and dead
This is literally Zato=1 from guilty gear and Gael from dark souls
Super man
**Cough** Transformers G1 S3 'Dark Awakening' **Cough**
"...in a rare fit of continuity."
It will pass.
Called it.
The actual fun way to resurrect a dead character is to make them come back actually undead and have the nuances of their necrotic condition become a part of the story. For example, if they come back a vampire, you have to make your moves at night, or plan a spot for them to catch up with you while keeping the blood addiction in check.
Or like Bruno's decaying body in Jojo!
American gods did it
do you know what i love more than anything though and plan for my protagonist?
To kill her as some pathetic and miserable dog (not good example... killing cute animals go on screen because we need tears) off screen and then another protagonist find her body? Maybe not even find her body?
That's always been an important aspect of resurrection in writing. Characters who come back to life are often completely changed by that experience, oftentimes not even resembling human anymore. Just look at Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, or Beric Dondarion from Game of Thrones. Both have died in their respective stories, and emerged completely different individuals as a result, often much darker, brooding and more ruthless than they were before.
Really depends on the limitations vampires have in your story. In twilight they sparkle in the sun. In buffy the vampire slayer, they burn in the sun, and don't have a soul.
I've never heard anyone refer to a person in a love triangle as an "angle" but boy am I going to start using it!
Well duh, I mean they *are* acute
@@TheMamaluigi300 That was an obtuse joke
TV tropes calls 4:26 a "death of the hypotenuse" which technically refers to the characters as "sides" rather than "angles," but it's pretty much the same concept. =^p
rhombus
Why J.P. was brought bac: His stories were so awful that they kicked him out of hell.
They realized letting JP in meant admitting the entire cast of his video sponsor skits. 😂
He was going to get A/C installed down there, so he had to be sent back here.
Terrible dying advice
Hi, I'm new here. Who is JP lol
@@nenzothefirst4712 The guy making the videos.
Author: *creates fan fav character*
Fans: " We love him "
Author: *kills fan favorite character and only brings him back in dream scenes*
Fans: ;-;
andrew hussie in a nutshell
A Stand user?
And this is NOT a Jojo reference.... but that was.
Jiraiya, is that you?
Nehemia
sometimes fan favorites have to die but it should be done well and at an appropriate time... usually to set up a big bad.
you know what I actually hate? When a character who deserves to die doesn't die.
Yeees, I was watching this show, a character that I really liked died and stay dead, but the goddamn villain resurrected
Samee
@Elalae La what story is this from?
@Elalae La what series are you talking about?
@Elalae La it's okay
You forgot to point out how all writers should needless dwell on character deaths in every edgy fiction.
The only thing a writer needs to do is simply copy-past the 7 stages of grief to pad the run time, even when the audience knows that character is going to be resurrected or secretly alive! That's always a necessary story ark!
Bonus point if said character was never really that important in the story.
I'm worried that might give the character characterization, so make sure the grieving is as shallow and drawn out as possible to counteract any possible unintended characterization.
@@kingsleycy3450 The best characters are the ones who never contributed anything meaningful except dying for someone else's arch
Danganronpa: "I don't know why you find it so strange that less than a third of the characters survive the game. We make it pretty clear that most of them are going to be dead by the end."
"oh and also all but one (we cant keep intresting comedic relief characters so lets just make the surviving one a fucking dumbass) of the survivors have the same post-arc personality lol"
Because you make them so likable it’s not fair!
@@benduford3746 Monokuma: Life isn't fair! now put on the maid dress!
Except the boring guy, he always survives somehow...
@@lordanubis1458 Or an annoying/dumb/immature character (Hagakure (Dreadman)/Souda (shark-mechanic)/Yumeno(magician)). Also: that boring guy may be boring, but actually does give a shit, investigates the murder and actually solves the trial mystery... while other characters sometimes feels like they do not have to actually solve shit.
A friend of the main character: Is about to die.
Their backstory comes up: They feel a rush of strength.
This is JoJo: They still die
I mean that only happened to kakyoin and zepelli no? And even in zepelli’s case he was reminiscing over the fact he accepts his fate
June Oh you poor poor soul. Just because Araki changed it a bit doesn’t mean that characters don’t still die
@june and naranica
Gabriel 2020 it’s not edgy characters just actually die in realistic ways in jojo
@Gabriel 2020
Edit, because people keep on arguing with me about this: The original comment I replied to said that the fact that characters die in the show is edgy. Stop thinking I'm calling the show's deaths realistic. I only mean that the fact that characters die is realistic, not the way they die. Now, here's my actual comment:
It's never edgy, it's sad and somewhat-realistic most of the time.
someone needs to write a book purely based off of following this advice
Honestly, it would be awesome IMO. Cringy as hell, but I would probably be laughing my ass off.
Written by *terrible writing advice* . That would be a shitshow, but still a show nonetheless.
Unfortunately I'm sure many are
@@stefanwalicord COUGH COUGH 50 SHADES OF GRAY COUGH COUGH
There's alredy a film trilogy about that, it's called "star wars sequels trilogy"
I feel the "was never really dead to begin with" means of bringing back a character should be at least mentioned. Looking at you Rise of Skywalker.
To be fair, the rise of sky walker was a direct reaction and an attempt to appeal to those who... disliked the Last Jedi.
@@maallos334mi8 and it make people who hate and love The last Jedi hate The rise of Skywalker together
@@maallos334mi8 You can’t fix bad writing with even worse writing.
@@chrisdawson1776 "Shit, we ruined Luke and the lore of the franchise, what else can we do now to fix it?"
"Ruin Palpatine and Anakin too?"
"Great idea, that will do it!"
Fun Fact: That storyline is literally just half of Dark Empire from the EU.
What if the last line of Harry Potter was “and then Harry woke up in his cabinet under the stairs”
The whole series retroactively becomes a tragedy.
Terrible terrible terrible
ahh the most dissappointing cliche
The best kind of twist 😂 it is still lame writing, but this can be used anywhere.
Would prefer it if there were signs of it all being a dream of something while Harry, in his schizophrenia, crashed into the wall at that one platform
I'm making a book where at the end the protagonist finds out she's been in a coma and half the book didn't actually happen
“The bullet only grazed his forehead because he was looking up!”
Code Geass.
Steins;Gate 0 when they tried baiting a Mayuri death at the end of one of the episodes, but the next episode revealed that the bullet grazed her head. Steins;Gate 0 honestly follows too much of the bad writing advice from these videos.
@@comicsans1689 wait, when does that happen? I've only played the visual novel so maybe it's an anime only thing or a route I didn't get?
so its my fallout character
*MUHAMED AVDOL!*
The redermed villain doesn't necessarily have to die, he can become the edgy anti hero in the next arcs.
That's literally Negan in TWD comics
I don’t just like your thinking, I LOVE your thinking
Vegeta and Shadow the hedgehog be like:
Loki from Marvel and Crowley from Supernatural be like:
or they can just join the main cast if you are writing something like jojo. Almost always the main cast start as minor antagonists to the mc but they become great friends later on.
Do it just for the sake of
SUBVERTING EXPECTATIONS!!
Oh, yeah, that’s true, I wasn’t expecting that.
Except killing Luke Skywalker (the mentor) wasn't a subversion, just a cliche.
Rian Johnson: *Heavy breathing*
If the readers every make a theory that one of your characters die you must instead make a different character die just so you can feel superior to them.
Subverting the audience's expectation of actually getting to experience a well-written story
Terrible writing advice: The only show you watch for the ads.
Cough internet historian cough
It's a genius move, really. To make your ads engaging by giving them a story.
Nostalgia Critic says hi.
I actually dont like his ads. Im just not a fan of long sketches in videos
@@arte0021 Err but his videos are one big sketch to begin with?
This is why I plan on just horrifically injuring my heroes. If they can be bedridden for the rest of the story, they can’t easily advise the hero when he’s far enough away, but they can still try to resolve their subplots, and also be all better for the sequel!
That… is actually a good way to do it without making their sacrifices meaningless.
JJ Abrams: *WRITE THAT DOWN, WRITE THAT DOWN.*
Stop JJ or else the Star Wars we know is doomed!
@@pyeitme508 Sorry but he already wrote the trilogy. He's done now... hopefully.
@Talkin’ Timb I actually like the force awakens and the last jedi is bad but not as bad as people say and TROS is the bad movie in the trilogy
TROJ, what is that movie you speak of. I remember there only being two movies in the final trilo- I mean, short series. Yup. It was a bit of a jump, I don't remember Luke dying at all in the TFA, and it was a little strange having some baddies back with no explanation, but hey at least there wasn't any major universe shattering plot points.
@Mikhail G Phantom Menace is great.
"The proper way to thin out their cast faster than you can say [I'm not referencing that game]"
Just watch Danganronpa. They're really good at killing off characters.... *hastily.*
and homestuck
Demon Slayer is good at killing off potential characters!
Thrills! Chills! Kills!
*A BODY HAS BEEN DISCOVERED*
@nameless one if you're talking about the normal v3 ending, then you are actually wrong. There are 3 survivors in the 'good ending' wich is shown in the epilogue, while in the bad ending where you vote for someone you're presumably the only survivor even though we never saw that. The closest thing to a killing game with no survivors is the student council killing game where even though there's one survivor, they die like a month later so everyone who participated in the killing game is dead.
I love how he weaves in genuinely good advice in these satire videos, that's how you know he's a good writing
George R.R. Martin: *Let me show you how it's done.*
Andrew Hussie: step aside, kid
"Danganronpa": Hold my pink koolaid.
Akame ga kill: *EVERYONE DIES. THE END"
Devilman Crybaby sends his regards.
@@donslipo Im supposed to laugh, why is my eyes leaking?
Sometimes you killed a character that have outlived its usefulness, but it turns out it may have been useful for that cool scene you just thought off.
But don't fear! You can just replace it with a look alike that have none of the audience's investment and character interaction (though that can be solved by retconning them into the plot. Fans will love it.).
See, it's great because it adds more characters to your already bloated story, which means more diversity.
*Primary Uber Antagonist to expendable temp henchmen: You idiot...you've just killed off the comic relief's stunt double....ZAPPERS!!!*
...this is EXACTLY why i despise the later parts of homestuck. They did EXACTLY that.
N from Death Note lmao
Introducing the evil clones in Chapter 12 and then never to be mentioned again, will definitely fly with the readers
Aw Sabo. Yes how to take one of the few actual deaths in the series handled well and just make it all but meaningless.
Terrible writing advice: killing off character’s
Akame ga kill: Yes
and homestuck
And danganronpa
And Gantz...Oh wait Gantz was shit
Dam straight!
Fire Punch Manga too!
Hero: sniff, my love is gone! All I have left are her shoes that conveniently washed ashore....
Hero's Love: Hero! Sorry for being late. Some idiot stole my shoes, and why are you holding them?
*more awkward if the Hero is WEARING them when she walks up*
Scott Mantooth well those red shows were really stylish and I thought she wouldn’t need them anymore. And look at how well they complete my bikini armor outfit.
@@frankwest5388 *besides, i feel sooo pretty wearing them*
I feel like this is the closest that J.P. has EVER DANCED to actually discussing those internet culture wars that he likes to avoid so much. Well played J.P., well played good sir.
Also, what about diminishing casts of ensemble characters, be it in reality show stories or flat out death games like Danganronpa?
In stories where everyone is eliminated one-by-one, you should absolutely take one or two "main" characters out fairly early on. This will increase the stakes and establish the game's ruthlessness.
NB That’s an interesting idea. So take out that one jerk character that everyone knows will survive longer because jerks make good drama, early on?
Boy what a twist that would be.
Danganronpa is actually a great case study in "how to aggressively kill your characters and (mostly) not screw it up".
Arguably its most effective tactic is giving screen/page time and development to all the characters throughout the story.
This uses the audience's growing investment in the remaining characters to make up for the diminishing shock factor, thereby allowing later deaths hurt just as much as the early ones.
@Elalae La That can certainly help by adding a last minute cherry on the cake, but It's very difficult to rush audience investment in what is essentially an emotionally charged info-dump.
The best deaths in the series were typically those that made us care about the characters long before we realised that they weren't going to survive the game.
Do it like that game everybody talked about in june: Kill everyone except the main villain and the protagonist, without giving the former a real redemption plot because that require effort. The more unlikable the villain the better this technique will work...
But seriously, most of the time an expected and logical plot is the best option by far. Trying to subvert expectations is rarely a good idea.
"Nothing beats the rush of shocking your audience with a sudden character death."
Avdol:
his death is one of the deaths that's handled rather poorly in jojo
Aerith: "Hold my Phoenix Down"
6:36 Also consider having the dying characters last words cut off just as they're about to reveal an important plot detail
Rename this to "How to write for 'The Walking Dead' & 'Game of Thrones'"
I swear those 2 alone have numbed me to character deaths in fiction entirely
wait till you read homestuck
Game of Thrones only started doing it poorly after season 5 and The Walking was pretty smart about it at first too, but it started fucking it up sooner.
@@Wveth Game of Thrones kills characters right in the first chapter, just like the video suggested!
@@Wveth the walking dead has spared more characters than the comics did. A few characters who did in the show but not the comics only did because the actors wanted out.
Wait till you hear about Warrior Cats
I have this character in my books who dies literally every book and is explained to be so genius that he has a cult of people that are so obsessed with him that if you were to enter said cult that everyone would look like him and try their best to act like him... So no one not even the cult members know who the real one is except for the actual guy himself and so whenever he dies they protagonists lose more and more sanity and straight up begin to believe that the antagonist is actually a God and that they've been fighting an immortal man the entire time to the point where the Main Character's lover commits suicide from fear of them actually challenging a God... The first guy that died was the original
“Highly recommend murdering off a female love interest in a way so brutal that it will cost me as revenue to describe”
this is the moment when the vid sent my sides to shadow realms
Puple realm.
Wonder if he was refering to that Berserk book about Gundairs back story.
@@patrickflying17 to be fair thats like the 3rd worst fate berserk gives people 2nd being slower and 1st being guts
@@patrickflying17 I was thinking about that time in Re:zero when Rem got kinda forced to play twister
With the fridge reference it seems more like he's referencing an old Green Lantern comic from the late 90s where they killed off Kyle Rayner's girlfriend and then shoved her in a fridge for him to discover. It's an infamous moment in comics history, even non-GL-fans know of it.
Top Priority: if it's the serries finale, don't forget to add so much Character Death and Plot Twists to the last few episode that it invalidates all the character developments that has happened in the past 5+ seasons
Just have a giant monster erupt out of the ground killing every single main character.
*Cough cough* Game of Thrones *Cough cough cough*
@@mckaylamarille8630 Here's some water. It'll help.
@@gustavferreira627 Thanks.
@@mckaylamarille8630 You're welcome.
Never kill the hero.
ReZero: Yes but actually no.
Or, magnus chase
danganronpa: well yes, but actually no
Jojo: oh please
Me: *HERES A LITTLE LESSON IN TRICKERY, THIS IS GOING DOWN IN HISTORY!*
Red Dead Redemption games: *maniacly laughing* you serios?
Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm more interested in the sponser war now.
The terrible writing advice expanded universe (trademark) is quite the show.
I'm not sure JP will mind that the section that earns him money is the part people want to watch. It will enable him to demand more.
All according to JP's plan
yeah the sponsor war stuff at the end is nearly always good. some videos it is just as good as the main video, other times it is better.
Always subvert expectations....especially if the audience is expecting the story to be good, or make sense, or follow the rules of the universe previously established by better writers.
You heard that, Rian?
PanaMoment
get over it
@@odiadordeisrael In his case, he actually used it to further the story and characters. That's what the whole point is
@@FraserSouris No one knew Luke died. Rose's sister wasn't even given a name. What exactly was her death's effect on Rose? Or would she have taken all of those actions even if her sister was still alive?
@@leandersearle5094 Everybody saw that Luke died after trolling the entire FO to give hope to the resistence.
As for Rose's sister, we didn't need her to be fleshed out more. Rose already had a character journey to be on.
My favorite is when the love interest finally starts being an active force in the story, only for her to get kidnapped and killed off, but then the DLC brings her back in a stupid and overly complicated way that requires a pointless sacrifice of the main character!
I may or may not have been greatly disappointed by the ending of KH3.
Didn't we already see Kairi alive and Sora fading in vanilla KH3's ending?
This may be a dumb question but what the _fuck_ is the DLC???
@@kit-katsforlife7436 downloadable content
I thought you were talking about "Awakening" until I saw love interest...
Reader: I like this character
Writer: *About that.....*
two words: Andrew Hussie
*Araki killed my cherry boi*
conny:
average danganronpa related thing ever
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners be like: It's killin' time!
Bonus points: Have a fan favorite character die. That fan favorite character is taking too much time away from your awesome main character!
Camila cuevas: WRITE THAT DOWN- *WRITE THAT DOWN!!*
Daisy and Waluigi sorta have the same treatment.
Rwby be like
Arctic Fox RIP Torchwick
Gojo
also, killing characters by getting a hole punched into their torso. effective the first time but when multiple characters die this way the audience just thinks you have a donut fetish
RIP Kakyoin
He born on The Nationals Donuts Day.
We talking One Piece or Demon Slayer?
People who watched Mugen Train be like:
JoJo
+5 nerd points awarded for the Goblins 2 reference.
Disclaimer: Nerd points are not redeemable for any good or service that is real, digital, or imagined.
I accept nerd points for mmorpg items.
@@rockyfalldownstairs
*REPEAT*
Disclaimer: Nerd points are not redeemable for any good or service that is real, digital, or imagined.
Do you mean trolls 2?
TheAtheistPaladin You want gold trimmed rune armor for 50 nerd points?
@@theatheistpaladin No no, I'm pretty sure nerd points can be redeemed for plot bricks and character bricks.
As one of the aforementioned minority audience members, it's really the lack of thought that counts.
*more than enough reason to never volunteer or be very reluctant or wary for anything that requires wearing a red shirt*
Astral marmots are underrepresented in mentor death scenes imho
Eventually most new stories probably will only have characters from one particular demographic because that's pretty much the only way to actually avoid backlash from some blue checks on twitter with any certainty, but they'll probably still find a way to complain. Hell just look at how many Netflix shows just straight up only focus on a particular demographic.
@@wraithwyvern528 There are plenty of books and movies by minority authors that do not have this issue - and plenty of books and movies with all-white casts that still contain racist elements. Literary segregation is a band-aid over the real problem; and that will only be solved by some deep societal soul-searching and the willingness to abandon ways of thinking that reinforce inequity. That's a much harder ask that "well let's just never write about it", but it is the only way we'll uproot the toxic mindset that leads to tokenizing.
@@AstralMarmot Although literary diversity is a good thing in theory, in practice it can backfire. Simple example: Harry Potter is a series about an all white cast of british kids. Not a single drop of diversity, unless you count gingers. Does this mean JK Rowling is racist? No, it does not. JK Rowling lives a life surrounded by all white people, so she doesn't know how to write diverse characters WITHOUT relying on cliches (aka racism). She wisely chose to write what she knew, and keep her nose out of things she didn't know.
In fact, she wrote quite a bit about class and wealth divisions in a constructive way. She is in no way at fault for not having room in her book (or her personal life) for studying each of the five LGBTQ genders, all 5 skin colors (black/yellow/red/brown/white), and all 300+ disenfranchised ethnicities that colonial Britain oppressed throughout history. Sensitivity towards minority issues is not a matter of "soul searching as a society", it is a matter of absurd levels of the study and pandering of groups that are, by definition, too rare to find in your average day to day life.
I say it's enough to be generically kind to everybody. That way, I don't have to bother with understanding much less noticing racial and ethnic divisions. That's what TRUE equity looks like. Anyone who asks for more than that isn't after EQUITY. Keeping track of multigenerational greivances ends up causing more problems than it solves. Just look at the middle east. THAT'S where the "equality" movement is headed, which is ironic as that place is the exact OPPOSITE of equal.
My man used the power of his own plot holes to cheat death.
I think you forgot the comic book version of resurrection, where they didn’t really die at all and it was all part of some overly complex plan or some unbelievably lucky circumstance they had no way of knowing would occur.
Or in fantasy novels. "they aren't dead because magic!"
@@CarrotConsumer they're always like "pfft you thought I DIED? I'm too magical and crafty to die"
Yes, but heroes tend to come back unscathed (though may suffer the occasional bout of amnesia) and villains horribly disfigured and even more insane. Syndrome is not dead, just thrown into the future by a power vortex created by his zero-point energy boots encountering the spinning blades of the jet. He was, however, horribly mutilated and is now convinced that Jack-Jack really is his son. We also encounter the man behind the power who funded the high power lawyers that were able to sue someone for saving a life in an attempted suicide as well as gave the then Buddy Pines the startup capitol to make his fortune.
That is literally what happens in a story im working on they didn't flipping die, they were just badly injured and survived
Reminds me of a part from the Robot Chicken DC comics special.
"Green Arrow? Didn't you die horribly?"
"Yes, but I found this magic amulet!"
When I got to the token character:
“So that’s how terrible horror movies are made”
It Chapter 2
I have mad respect for Infinity Train creators to actually have the balls to kill off unexpected characters and have their deaths have impact
Before you kill the character make sure he has reached or about to reach an important goal. Like for example the character just got married or the character its about get his freedom.
He was only one day away from retirement
@@Iron_Gov that fall into the about to get his freedom category. 😆
finlayjohnston9 so he’s got early retirement.
Hot Shots' Dead Meat comes to mind........
homie was talking about eating pizza, going back to school in italy, and meeting his friend again after he beats the boss of an organization until he got impaled on an iron-bar fence
*Every modern Magical Girl Anime With a Twist has left the chat*
Homura (PMMM): (resets timeline again)
Pmmm as great as it is has nearly singlehandedly warped the public perception on tropes in magical girls
Which does make watching sailor moon an interesting experience as everything is played straight and earnestly
Sleepless domain
@@june9914 It's kind of crazy when you think about it. Imagine if School Days had become so popular that it became the standard for every harem anime since lmfao
Precure doesn’t do that.
“They’re eating sir Redshirt. And then they’re going to eat me. Oh my goooooood!” lol
I love how there's a narrative to the terrible advice now
There are more narrative in TWA than in some published novels
@@tuskinekinase true.
Or is there?
All according to plan!
Bet you anything there's a worldanvil or some other fanwiki up detailing all of the deep TWA lore in the works
You forgot the moment when the killed villain get resurrected, and stronger.
Gill from Street Fighter Three
Palpatine in disney star wars
I mean every JRPG final boss, and some anime villains.
Frieza in Dragon ball Z, twice
@@csona4030
Palpatine in all Star Wars, even before Disney he got brought back with what’s basically the Death Star on a star destroyer.
4:35 Actually no. For this particular piece of brilliant writing advice, you probably want a female protagonist, who loses her loved on in the begininng, because we all know that nothing motivates and liberates a woman more than losing her man. All of your Sarah Connor's and Brides out there
Ah yes, the Determined Widow. A wonderful trope
we should all take inspiration from JoJo's bizarre adventures, where the author killed two main characters with a dude named vanilla ice cream
You ever just kill the minority character twice.
RIP fire shaman
RIP sand dog
RIP cherry boy
;-;7
@@emblemblade9245 you misspelled milf Hunter
You know this character who you just found out was still alive from the last time he ‘died’? Well he’s actually dead now, so abruptly that it’ll make you question whether he’s really gone. Oh you see this character who had the most development and was arguably a better protagonist than the protagonist? Well we’re gonna kill him too-SIKE! We’re gonna kill this dog that just became relevant to the plot and that you just grew attached to! Oh, and we’ll give this side character a backstory and character depth right before they die so now you feel sad! Also, see this fan favourite character who got nerfed this part but you still love? Well we’re gonna kill him-SIKE! We transferred blood from the vampire who was gonna kill him cause Joestars can’t die unless it’s convenient to the narrative!
@@shirendjorgee9320 part 6
part 6
part 6
part 6
part 6
part 6
part 6
part 6
part 6
part 6
part 6
part 6
part 6
"Killing off characters'
Take notes, Naughty Dog.
loafhero they used to be, Damos’s death in Jak 3 really hit me, especially since he died so close to realizing that Jak was his long lost son
It's sad to see them fall from being such great developers in the early days to being abusing their own workers only slightly less than they abuse the characters in their games. And caring about their audience even less than either.
You watch terrible writing advice as well?
Changer
"70 hour work weeks? getting treated like shit by superiors? pshaaaw, my virtual papa got MURDERED. you don't know true pain"
In their case, they actually used it to further the story and characters while avoiding the pitfalls in the video. That's what the whole point is
Gay Character: Exists.
Author: Tis but a plot device!
*Tis
@@skilerketchum6633 I didn't even notice that at first lol.
Most writers today are trying not to kill off gays...unless they want Twitter to eat them alive.
@@canaisyoung3601 I didn't mention killing. Usually, gay people are there to add "representation" or hindered the plot in some way like being the sassy gay friend who pushes the usually female lead to be confident or to be a shoulder to cry on.
I think the only good gay character ive seen, was someone from Fallout New Vegas i think. He's gay but his life or character didnt revolve about being gay. I would never know he was gay if i didnt ask him.
You're forgetting the reveal that they were alive the entire time
*cough cough* Avdol *cough cough*
And.......Big Boss
XENOBLADE CHRONICLES SPOILERS
ngl I was pretty happy when it turned out fiora was alive all along
@@finjaquetemumnomeaqui4838 "the bullet grazed me"
I mean, that's functionally identical to an instant resurrection; while it's different diagetically, from a writing standpoint, the character is functionally dead until they aren't any more. They aren't part of the plot until the resurrection/reveal and all the other characters in the story act as though they're dead. It gets you out of having to explain how and why the pearly gates have a revolving door installed, but naratively it comes to the same thing.
(That's unless you have the characters acknowledge in-universe that, for a certain class of person, a fall from a great height is just a minor inconvenience.)
Continuity: (exists)
Time Travel: Allow me introduce myself.
Hey, J.P. should do an episode on time travel to help authors construct the PERFECT time travel plot.😁
...considering the _real_ JP actually has published time travel stories before, I would say he's uniquely qualified to do that. That's a good idea.
@@LendriMujina I'm from the future. No, but he'll do it anyways.
Normal JP: The number one rule about time travel stories: ignore all the implications except the ones you think will make good drama points, but even then only follow them through on the one or two drama points you have in mind. "Good guy JP": Well..... actually, he has a point there. Time travel can be so complicated that it quickly becomes impossible to follow all possible ramifications through. But, do try to keep the rules for time travel in your universe consistent. Nothing breaks the illusion faster than inconsistent application of the rules.
Travis Smith Pffft, the only illusion we need is the depth of our character development
Step 1: always make sure your time travel rules are consistent... Just like the Terminator series! Terminator movies _always_ stay consistent with how _their_ time travel works and how it affects the future!
I honestly actively avoid books that look like they’re going to kill off characters randomly. Pointless and badly written character deaths are the only thing that have really made me rage-quit a book, not out of sadness for the death but out of eye-rolling frustration and aggression. I really wish that people wouldn’t kill off a character unless it’s strictly plot-necessary or narratively makes sense.
And for the love of all that is good please don’t follow the advice of those “kill your darlings” posts because I honestly don’t know any real-life reader (as in not user Bakugosnipples69 who assures you they will read your book if you include it) who would actively enjoy reading or engaging with a plot that includes some of that advice
The trick is to kill them off in a way they could never return. Then pull them back from the dead anyways because making things make sense is never a good way to go about storytelling
They had us in the first half
I like your attitude.
Though, personally I have a fondness for resurrecting characters via highly esoteric exploits and loopholes in the metaphysical mechanics of the setting. Especially if this was all part of some convoluted plan all along.
Mentor: The exposition dumped him
I'm dead!
*time to update the 'ole resume' again*
Funny thing, I can't bring myself to kill any of my characters cause I'm attached to all of then :“)
Nice, where do you post stories? 😇
Same here.
aw
Good, thank you
Honestly haha!
JP: "And then they just come back with no explanation! Like I just did!"
Me, who didn't notice the background change at first, furiously rewinding to find it: "Where is it?!"
*looks down and sees a red shirt*
I’ll see y’all on the other side
Same see you
Damn. Guess I'm dieing then.
....do sweatshirts count?
N + O * 1000
for page revenue
*definitely one of the lesser known disadvantages of being color blind and wearing 3d glasses in a movie theater*
The "small backwater church in Minnesota is the only true religion" bit made me laugh out loud XD
What church is he referring to
Dang the Catholic's be really put out by that. "You mean we've been eating these crackers and drinking this wine for nothing?"
6:36 *and then in a very faint horse whisper say..."the treasure is in the...." before suddenly gasping and expiring in a puff of green smoke followed by the fresh scent of pine cones and honey roasted squirrels*
I skim read that as "horny roasted squirrels". 😨
_"Zelda is your..."_
Ain't it fun when the audience fills in words you didn't expect, like *"sister,"* and the official media never explains what he was going to say? X^p
Never has anything made me more confident as a writer as looking at the death pyramid and realizing how much i throw it out the window
The best way to maximize your kill count is to write a random name then add "is killed" after said name. Rinse and repeat. Or if you're lazy just say everyone died
your comment was so cool Andrew Hussie used it
My favorite story of all time uses the "everyone died" ending, and it's the most touching and moving story ever.
"Once there was an ugly barnacle. He was so ugly that everyone died. The end."
Chainsaw man memories...
Surely not, a youtuber who realises their videos without putting them up for premier 14 hours earlier? Unimaginable!
To get serius for a moment, I've helped a few people with some writing advice and what not, and something I always try ot emphasize is "is whatever it is you're doing with this characters death worth not being able to tell stories with them anymore?"
When you kill a character they can no longer serve as the center of any events, interact and bounce off other characters, etc. They're only gonna' interact with the story through flashbacks and other characters interpretations of them. It's really worth considering if you, A. Have no more stories to tell with them, or B. their death truly serves the plot and other characters development. If either of those turn out to NOT be the case it's very tempting to want to hit the reset button and revive them, which is its whole own can of worms. Basically death has an affect on your story, and more specifically how you handle death. It's something you should think carefully about.
"If one character can be revived then death is pointless" is my philosophy
Minority character: *exists*
Author: *your free trial of living has expired*
I remember when me and my Dad were watching Star Trek DS9, when Michael Eddington was first introduced as a side character, we were both like "oh, he's total going to die this episode". But then he didn't! Every time he appeared, he were like "OK, this time he's dead" but he still remained alive!
Watched a "Star Trek: The Next Generation" last night where the bridge crew consisted of series regulars, plus one black guy we'd never seen before, confronting yet another omnipotent alien. This alien was curious about the phenomenon of death; guess whom he killed? Go ahead, guess.
Wesely Crusher.
No wait, that what they should have done.
Bet it was the British Shakespearean actor, right?
Jordi LaForge?
And? What's the problem? The black guy wasn't gunned down in Chicago?
Tielner - no, he's the token DISABLED REPRESENTATION character. He needs to live
Did you forget the fakeout, which only builds the emotion of a character dead, but isn't really dead?
Plot twist: that weird hand monster is actually the hand of the author the entire time and just wants to mess with everyone while thinning out his large cast.
Still loving it.
You forgot the most important/best killing off a character trope! You don't! You set up a character death scene, where something happens where a character should die, like a sacrifice scenario, but then at the last moment they are saved or even better yet they just survived it. How did they survive, you ask? Who cares! We should just be glad they are alive, its even better when you do it multiple times, the audience is always surprised when the a character lives instead of dies, how could they possible predict it? Will not killing off your character horribly impact your story, of course not, it doesn't remove any dramatic tension or feelings you had for the character in any way, especially upon rewatch/reread. Thus the best way to handle death is to pretend he doesn't exist, your audience will thank you later.
Love this series, I myself am new at writing and enjoying your take on this. Reminds me of the 100 things not to do as a Evil Overlord.
It's now FAR more than 100.
My favorite death flag is when they take out an old photo of their loved ones and tell some they're going back to them.
No you're not.