What If Your Protagonist Dies?!

So the story I am currently working on involves an antiheroine who may very well die at the end of her story. If I am writing this in First-Person from her perspective, how would I go about writing that? If she were to die, she would go down fighting...maybe in a battle where she possibly sacrifices herself or shields her best comrade...craziest scenario is she'd be captured and executed for her crimes either by a firing squad, hanging, or lethal injection. One has to remember she is an antiheroine...consider her a dark hero, a freedom fighter for what she believes in, some of the stuff she does may seem a bit intense so if her opponent's were to capture her (she is a dangerous criminal with a huge bounty on her head....not right away, but she builds a notorious reputation throughout the story).

When reaching the climax of her story, she will be at full strength in mind and body. However, I think by the end her physical strength will diminish quite a bit. Not eating well, suffering from bouts of depression, etc. Her story will be a bit sad. I know readers will connect to her and sympathize for her situation.

If I were to write her 'final' scene and she were to die (and I am not 100% sure how she goes down), what happens after she blacks out? Does the story end there? Or would someone else...maybe if she sacrifices herself to protect her best comrade from being killed, maybe he picks up the story for a final chapter...I don't want to say it's an epilogue if I go that route. But I would think it would be rather odd for a story to end when my antiheroine's final moments of life go by and she gradually loses consciousness and feels a great deal of pain.

I haven't read too many stories where the actually protagonist of the story dies at the end of it. If anyone could recommend any examples I could read that would be greatly appreciated as well! I have a gut feeling that when I get to the end of her story, my antiheroine may not make it. Any thoughts about this topic or what I've talked about here would be more than welcome! Thank you in advance.

 

You mentioned it was first person, and that might be your saving grace: there have been a few studies done that say brain activity continues for at least a few minutes after death. According to those, patients experience something similar to deep sleep, and that means at a bare minimum you could have a page or two of life reflection, similar to if your protag was slipping off to bed. She could reminisce about her accomplishments, give herself and her life a final rating, and then fade out, either with regret or satisfaction--your call! I think that could be a powerful ending: how are you going to judge your life as you're dying?

 

Sorrows of Young Werther has that - the narrator, Werther, commits suicide. I've forgotten how it's done now but the story definitely goes on after his death.

Also, if death is imminent, you don't necessarily need to write it out. I Am Legend (the book) has the MC wait for his own execution.

I've never read Lovely Bones, but the first person narrator is dead at the start of the story, so that could be another perspective too. What if it's your protag's ghost telling the story?

 

Hmm...so if her heart stops beating, her brain may continue a few minutes afterwards? That would be a very interesting way to go about the final moments of her life. A page or two reflection of her life. Even though she lived a dark life, she lived it as best she could. She lived her life to make her family proud. The way I see her ultimately dying is either in a brutal battle or a death by lethal injection. She is a crime boss and she felled many people at her hands and by her hired soldiers. I think her enemies would want her to die a slow and painful death and I think that is what will happen to her in the way of lethal injection. Or the brutal battle option...over the course of the story her strength gradually declines once it peaks at the climax. She continues to get more stressed out, has a hard time sleeping, anxiety/panic attacks, doesn't eat as much, and other things...even her young heart has some problems (she's around her early to mid 30's). Her physical strength in this final battle is not good...she is very damaged and a bit slow by everything that's going on towards the end. Her body is still very strong but nowhere near where she wants it to be inside her head. The way I envision this, my audience will sympathize with her situation...sad to see how she fell. Now if she fought to her death, how would her opponent land the finishing blow? Would be a tough thing to imagine for a character I love very much, but I believe this is how her story will ultimately end one way or the other.

 

So one of the biggest misconceptions about death scenes is it's the scene itself that people care about. So they wreck their mind thinking of this perfect send off for their character. This moment where, if this was a movie, the chorus would swell. Tears will flow. The audience will pray and then when that hero stands triumphant they will cheer, only to have the hero fall again, this time forever in the ultimate sacrifice.

This is, as I said, is a misconception.

While it is important that characters are given a proper send off, no one wants to see a cheap death. The truth of the matter is, focusing too much on a death scene more often than not, has the opposite effect. Anytime a writer focuses too much on a single moment, they can run into this problem. Regardless of what the moment is; a forbidden kiss, that big battle, or that second where all hell breaks loose; if the writer focuses too much on it, then they will run into the major problem of no one caring. This is because they're depending too heavily on the scene itself to carry the story and felt that if they just navigate the story there, then the scene will do all the work.

So if you want to write an effective... well anything moment... then you have to start at the beginning. The entire story needs to be treated just as much care as the big moment. In death scenes, people have to either care about the character who died, the one left behind or both in order for them to be effective.

And the best way to make people like characters? Well, making characters actually good people. And this is established throughout the entire story as opposed to in one single moment. Even anti heroes have a level of likability to them. Characters who are flat out jerks and maybe only make up for it at the end, just don't cut it.

 

I mean, I have a main narrator in one of my stories get shot in the head while she's saving her daughter from an assassination attempt. She doesn't get any time to think about how her life turned out, her last bit of narration is about how she sees someone holding their hand inside their jacket weirdly, sweating and walking almost robotically towards her daughter, at which point her parental instincts and training both kick in and she tackles the would-be-assailant, grabs their head and goes to snap their neck, feels something cold brush past her ear and then I just have the text stop mid sentence. There's a few blank pages and then the narration switches to her husbands POV immediately after she gets shot and the story continues.

Granted I have multiple narrators so that makes it less weird to switch perspectives.

 

There are first person stories with narrator death. Your work is an artform. You make stylistic choices. It doesn’t have to conform to biological death processes or considerations of how it would be recorded etc.

 

My antiheroine is not a jerk. As a hero, of course, she's on the darker side of things but she has a heart and is very human. Readers...my audience...will care very much for her with her story and her journey. Now, if she were to die at the end of the story...which will definitely be a very big moment, I will make sure her entire story is as great as the finale. The way I envision her dying is her fighting someone who betrayed her or someone very important from the other side...she will be fairly weak and tired (definitely stressed out) but still able to fight to do some damage. I don't feel a sword or bullet through her heart will be what happens. I think she may collapse from all the damage she's taken. Lots of weight on her shoulders after the climax of the story. Obviously, the end of her story will be a very big moment but I am not going to blow it up so much that it outweighs the rest of the entire story.

 

Do you write in First-Person or Third-Person may I ask? I don't think my antiheroine will die from a bullet though her head. Nothing instant. Her opponents would want her to suffer some. Maybe a sword through the heart or she may collapse from exhaustion and die that way. I thought about her being pinned down to a table and lethal injection but I don't feel very honest or good about that option. My antiheroine does commit a lot of crimes and she kills many people by herself and at the people working for her. Her punishment will be cruel so that's why lethal injection is an option. Firing squad would be another but I don't like the instant death for my particular character.

But as you say in your story, POV switches from your main narrator to her husband. I suppose if my antiheroine dies, the POV will switch to her righthand man for the final chapter of the book (won't be an epilogue). The comrade she trusts the most. Obviously, he will be very sad by seeing her fall and pass away in front of his own eyes, but I think that would be the best character to conclude the story if not by my antiheroine herself. Once she dies, I don't want the story to be over quite yet. She sacrifices herself to try and save him because she loves him as a friend, a brother (not romantic...just really strong buddies).

 

Correct. I have a feel for how to best put a wrap on my antiheroine's story. If she ultimately dies, I feel in my gut how to conclude it. May be a bit untraditional but it feels right to me.

 

I feel best way to conclude my antiheroine's story if she dies is to have her righthand man...her best friend/comrade...take over the story to narrate and conclude it. I consider him the 2nd most important character in the story. I don't feel my antiheroine as a ghost would work out right. Entry in a journal is another option. Third person epilogue..hmm....I kinda of want to stay away from an epilogue. My antiheroine will not have a happily ever after, but she saves her righthand man's life in the end so maybe in a way there is a little happily ever after for him that he survives.

 

I read a book that did this a while back. I can’t remember the name of it—kind of a police procedural but with a supernatural element to it. In that case, I thought it worked fine, though other approaches would certainly have worked also.

 

perhaps someone can eulogize them in the epilogue, maybe that way another narrator "completes" their story, and the character as a whole?

maybe, for example, if the character's death saved the world, another character can tell the reader that the character left behind a legacy, while also giving a more objective account of the character's death

 

In Prospero Burns, the first two parts are told in third person, then for the last part it switches to first person as the MC tells of the Battle for Prospero in first person. You could have the POV switch from the MC to another POV to tell of her death through their eyes. Just my two cents...

 

Read A Practical Guide to Evil.

Cat, the MC is a Villian, and people are already betting she'll die by the end of the story. just might give you the inspiration you need.

Bonus: APGTE is the single best piece of fiction i've ever read, bar none.

 

Death is simply a reality of life. It therefore may be best when accepted as a possibility. I've revised my screenplay so much over the years and at one point contemplated the protagonist not being alive at the end. My final decision was to take this unique character and throw a last-minute spin in there. One which does not maybe put him within the best light. Though that same very illumination also makes him more believable and hopefully relatable as well. I think it just depends on what you prefer as the writer and what you're trying to get across.