Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A Avoiding "kill it off for DRAMA" trope whilst doing it

Why hello there, old sports. I guess we all know the spiel with this one, but I tell you anyway, using this handy-dandy step-list: You introduce a character who is likable. (optional)Keep him aro...

2 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by Mephistopheles‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T06:56:16Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/29880
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Mephistopheles‭ · 2019-12-08T06:56:16Z (over 4 years ago)
Why hello there, old sports. I guess we all know the spiel with this one, but I tell you anyway, using this handy-dandy step-list:

1. You introduce a character who is likable.
2. (optional)Keep him around for a while
3. Kill him/her off horrifyingly, and have the murderer [bathe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiszaeszl%C3%A1r_affair#Origin_of_the_accusation) [in his/her blood (maybe literally)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory) and organs.
4. ???
5. [Profit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_R._R._Martin)

However, old sports, this trope was used by too many writers and/or too many times for anyone to take it seriously, or don't saw it coming. We all know, that an innocent and powerless character is destined to be brutally murdered, and so, the **readers will be too distanced** to feel sorry because they knew, this would happen.

But I want to kill off characters for the drama.

**So, how to do this trope "right"?**

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-08-23T16:12:58Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: -2