I don't know how to go about my character finding out his best friend's been murdered. I already have the aftermath of him finding out in my head. I just can't figure out how he actually learns about his death.
Do you mean besides seeing it on the news or hearing about it from another friend? Or even Facebook? Lately that seems to be where I hear about anyone I know dying.
I have thought about him hearing it over the news but I'm not sure that's really how I want to do it.
Most ordinary ways of finding out are -Through a close source, like a brother or sister, or even the mom. If they are close friends they would call him or inform him they got a call from the morgue -Through news channels like the TV, or radio, especially if its that surprising or shocking -Or he is called in as a suspect of his friends murder, ooo
If he's his best friend he could try calling him and call around when he can't contact him, or try to go to his mate's house to find the police are swarming the place.
How about while waiting at the train station/bus stop he overhears a couple talking about a murder... a 'did you hear about' conversation where you can't help but listen in, and then slowly realise they're talking about his best friend.
Have him find the body. Swings by his buddy's place with a six pack and a bucket of wings and finds his friend dead in his living room.
It really depends on the tone. I presume you want a big, impactful moment where it really hits him? None of this confusing the guys dangling corpse for the light switch? Assuming that's the case then actually I think you're looking at the wrong thing. It doesn't matter how he finds out. What matters is setting up the contrast in the scene. If he's sitting drinking and pondering eating his gun then getting a call to say his friend got murdered doesn't get a big whipcrack emotional hit. What you want is to set him up doing something fun and normal and happy; a nice scene when he's unwinding and recharging and taking a break from the case (or whatever). And then you snap it back the other way and it's news on the TV or phone call or whatever and it hits him like a ton of bricks. The contrast is where you'll get the reaction from. Just when we let our guard down and feel safe and normal with the character that's when you drop the news and it won't matter how. There's a bunch of choices; he can get a voicemail of the guy getting dissolve in acid or whatever; he can be waiting for his friend and he's late and slowly he figures out some little clue and realizes that his friend isn't coming; finds a finger and figures out there's another victim then runs the prints and sees it's his buddy; the choices are literally endless. But make it fucked up; watercooler full of body parts or something. You want the hardest possible hit you can get so make it something that'll genuinely make your MC want to throw up.
Haha, well I'm not usually one for writing gore but I did try and make it gory. Or, as gory as I could think to make it. Lol. His friend was practically hacked to pieces with a butcher knife and was found with the word 'CHEATER' carved in his chest and there's blood just everywhere like the whole living room is just coated in it.
Oh, in which case then the MC and his buds are coming over for Monday night football. He's wearing his Pat's jersey, they've got a case of beer, they're talking about how awesome it'll be to just have a guys night in finally and blow off some steam and down a few brews and damn this friend of theirs throws the best fucking parties and it's been forever since his wife was out of town. The MC has his foam dome on, he's ready for 10CCs of guy time and he opens the living room door to just fucking carnage. Like there's an arm still clinging to the other side of the door handle and there's bone marrow pooling on the carpet. There's not even a fucking torso left. There's just the dude's face sitting on top of a freshly delivered dominoes pizza.
Then, plot twist, this is the untold Aaron Hernandez story... As a Brit who's into the NFL it's hard to tell if I'm doing a good job of presenting my sports things appropriately both to the actual yanks and to the non-sport people. I wanted to say Steelers (because this year Big Ben is going to pound Mr Brady's behind so hard that Ben'll end up with another sexual assault charge) but it's been a while since they made the news over here and, well, Steelers are one of those teams where Brits know the name but maybe not what sport they play, you know?
My character and his best friend are both college students who are really close. I was actually playing with the idea of him getting a call from the police station because another friend of his was brought in for questioning.
Context of the story's events might make it easier to decide, and it may depend on what the characters are like. If your MC travels a lot, I bet he'd get a call from a mutual friend or roommate of the dead individual. Or in a small town, you'd quickly see the police, the police tape, and police cars and stuff. And word of mouth would spread fast, too. In a bigger city, the death would blend in a bit more, so maybe the MC's landlord/landlady would say something if they were roommates.
Your character, during a drunken spree one night, discharges a handgun into the air from the upstairs balcony of the apartments in which he lives. The following morning, while nursing a hangover, he notices a commotion on the grounds. He goes down to investigate. Someone has been shot during the night. There's a crowd of people hovering around a dead body laying on the ground. As your character approaches, he recognizes the body as his friend. There's a bullet wound on the top of his head.
