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Q&A Is it a good idea to thwart everything?

When can I go from thwarting, to destroying? For example, say the protagonist was working towards a goal, but towards the end they killed the people they had spent the novel with, as they became s...

1 answer  ·  posted 8y ago by Daniel Cann‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T05:27:29Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/23984
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Daniel Cann‭ · 2019-12-08T05:27:29Z (almost 5 years ago)
When can I go from thwarting, to destroying?

For example, say the protagonist was working towards a goal, but towards the end they killed the people they had spent the novel with, as they became so obsessed with the desire and didn't want to be stopped. The threat was not destroyed, their friends were dead, and they were left to well, be insane.

Would doing something like that be way beyond thwarting the readers hopes, and destroying their enjoyment of the novel? Its pretty obvious that the protagonist would reach their goal from the start, so, I was thinking about destroying it. Is going to that point too far, or would it be more sensible to let them have their goal, but at a price?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2016-07-31T19:48:54Z (over 8 years ago)
Original score: 1