Should you Kill Every Character?

Who should Die?

Are you killing the Characters?
The Story feels better if the Characters were meant to die.
You are not Killing the Characters.
As a matter of fact, as the Writer, you’re not taking any decisions.
You’re just relating facts.
And these Facts could be an Asteroid destroying the Protagonists home town.
With the Protagonist still inside.
That’s a pretty short story.
But you can make it longer by introducing a lovely mechanism known as After-Life.
Basically, you’re not Killing any Characters.
The Story is.

A Character who should die & will
A Character has committed a Fault.
What is a Fault?
What is considered Malevolent in this World?
What is considered Stark in this World?
What is considered Devious?
If a Character commits a heinous act stakes are high for the Character to be executed.
This works even if your world does not include death penalty.
Vengeance can always be passed upon her.
If there are no vengeful Characters in your Story, there are other ways to make a Character disappear.

A Character who should die & will not
A Character has made a Mistake.
Should the Character have another chance?
What was the Mistake?
What did it cause?
How harsh were the Consequences?
If a Character harms another, however indirectly it may be, this other Character will want to harm them in return.
But, what if this other Character was particularly Stupid.
Or Coward.
Or simply didn’t have the skill to kill another.
It is likely that the 1 who caused harm wouldn’t die.
Unless…
An Accident happened.

Why Kill a Character?
There is Meaning in Death.
Killing a Character, as destroying an Environment, is educational.
Creating meaning in 1 Character’s death give Information.
It may be a 2ndary Character, which dies to indicate a Danger.
- It can be Threat, which wasn’t still identified.
- It can be a Rupture in the Story.
- It can be the introduction of a new Mechanism.
It may be a Parent who dies for the Child.
It may be any Character which dies by sacrificing herself, delivering a Strong message.
Death has to be meaningful.
And Death has to be Proportional.
Often a Main Character’s Death will be Memorable.
It may be Mundane, it is what the Story needs.

Natural Accident
Who should die in a Natural Accident?
What would be this Accident?
- Is it a Catastrophe?
- Which kind of Crisis did it cause?
Who is responsible for it?
- Weren’t they aware of the risks?
- Why couldn’t they act?
- Why didn’t they act?
- What information did they have?
On what Scale does that affect Nature?
- Will it have Localized Consequences?
- Could it cause more deaths?

Death comes from another Character
Was Death Accidental?
- If it is it can be treated like a Natural Catastrophe.
- Or it could be fully imputed to the Responsible.
- Which calls for Retribution.
Accidental Homicide is not a simple case of Death.
- It may be Purely Involuntary.
- Or it may look Purely Involuntary.
- In most cases it will need to be investigated.
- In the same way as Murder by an external element should be investigated.
Revenge is a Chain Case.
- Revenge murder will often call for more death.
- It is particularly appropriate if the Victims have large groups of Relatives.
- It helps develop the diversity of responses for each Character.
It can be a Suicide.
- Remember that even in a Suicide case there can still be a Responsible.
- And this Responsible can be tracked & killed by the Victim’s Relatives.