Kevin's Watch

J.K. Rowling just apologized "again" for killing a character - my cheeky KW email which will just be for here - KW.

Dear J.K. Rowling

Please, please stop apologizing for killing characters. I know some of your readers were affected by the deaths of "favorite" characters. But isn't that the point? The point of a death of a relevant character in a story is to have an emotional impact. Beyond that though it should have some sort of connection to the rest of the story. The other characters feel something from that death and it has some degree of weight on their choices and/or feelings. If nothing else the death of a character gives the story in its own right another level of depth. Meaning - wow! the effects of this battle/war/confrontation have had some real effects! There is really some deep consequences for actions/inactions!

Thank you for your time,

Sam

Just my two cents. - Anyone else thoughts?

We who are SRD fans are likely more accustomed to an author killing off important characters (sometimes even making the event anticlimactic) than are the fans of the somewhat lighter works of JKR.

Asian cinema have major characters die at the end.
I like it, it's refreshing but usually fails with Western audiences (or so I've read)
Does Asian literature go the same way as the movies?

Shakespeare certainly killed off a lot of his main characters.

Yeah, I'm generally in favour of it, at least in the sense that it creates that sense of impact / meaningfulness Samrw mentions.

I'll never forget getting to the end of WGW for the first time...

--A

If you, as a fan, invest yourself in a character, and that character ends up dead, you are left without any hook to care about the story. Investment lost, you decline to invest again. That is, anyway, how I see that side of the argument.

So it must be done carefully. Even GRRM hasn't killed off Jon Snow or Daenerys - everyone else, but not them. Emotional investment is maintained via these core characters despite all the other character deaths.

This is why core characters, when they do die, die at the end. It's over for the fan whether the story continues or not.

Yeah but GRR Martin killed off Ned Stark and I totally didnt see that coming. I hated it but the hook wasnt just the great character Ned was it was the world and the entire character fabric.

I cant say I handled Neds killing that well .. I was quite devastated.. but it didnt stop me reading on. I found. Artin brutal but I love the unpredictable and unexpected nature of that approach .. and tbh I like not knowing whats around the corner. Its more realistic, gritty .. more substantive.