1. salatarian5*Gen

    salatarian5*Gen New Member

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    Early Shocker

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by salatarian5*Gen, Jul 30, 2009.

    im having trouble deciding which big character to kill, its the main part of the book, but i dont know if i should kill the prince or the king, right now i have it as the king is locked away and prince is dead, but having second thoughts? tell me what you think? please.
    William

    Make the decision to decide
     
  2. RomanticRose

    RomanticRose Active Member

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    Which one has the most clear-cut goals and obstacles? That's the one you need to keep alive.
     
  3. Forkfoot

    Forkfoot Caitlin's ex is a lying, abusive rapist. Contributor

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    Kill that goddamn price. I hate princes.
     
  4. salatarian5*Gen

    salatarian5*Gen New Member

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    lol, im leaning that way Forkfoot. i like your answer, straight and directly to the point.
     
  5. thirdwind

    thirdwind Member Contest Administrator Reviewer Contributor

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    This may not be the answer you want, but this is your story. You should be the one making the decisions, not anyone else.
     
  6. salatarian5*Gen

    salatarian5*Gen New Member

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    true
     
  7. seta

    seta New Member

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    You could kill the court jester. It'd be a tragic comedy.
     
  8. CharlieVer

    CharlieVer Contributor Contributor

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    You could have a comet hit the Earth and kill everyone, but you'd want to wait until the end of your story.

    Seriously, I can't imagine a writer just arbitrarily picking "someone to kill," and the identity of that person being so unimportant that you could just ask strangers who haven't even read your story. What's the purpose of killing someone? Shouldn't your story dictate who? Do you have any idea what happens next?

    PS. For Seta:

    Every time I read your sig line:

    "To be is to do" ~ Socrates
    "To do is to be" ~ Sartre
    "Do be do be do" ~ Frank Sinatra

    I think of one more:

    "Scooby Dooby Dooooo!" ~ Scooby Doo.
     
  9. Forkfoot

    Forkfoot Caitlin's ex is a lying, abusive rapist. Contributor

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    Yeah, but Frank's where Scoob's name comes from.
     
  10. salatarian5*Gen

    salatarian5*Gen New Member

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    one has to die, its the plot of the story and yes, im past it but having second thoughts, thus killing one so early, that character is really overly important to get to know well
     
  11. Gigi_GNR

    Gigi_GNR Guys, come on. WAFFLE-O. Contributor

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    I hate it when writers kill off small characters, the ones on the fringes of the plot, just to get a reaction. That usually happens with a big, highly-anticipated book like Deathly Hallows or Breaking Dawn. I hate it when, just to kill someone in the big series finale, the minor characters get killed. I can kill off my major characters without hesitation if the plot veers that way.
     
  12. Zcreative

    Zcreative New Member

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    Kill the Prince. Probably a spoiled pansy anyways >.>
    :D
     
  13. seta

    seta New Member

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    I plan on killing major characters in my story to emphasize the reality of the situation.

    Consider "Sacrifice" of one of the more recent Star Wars novels - not only a major character, but one of the main characters gets killed, Mara Jade (sorry if that's a spoiler)
     
  14. salatarian5*Gen

    salatarian5*Gen New Member

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    hes a prince, he aint that small...
     
  15. Ansky

    Ansky New Member

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    Well, his job title alone doesn't make him a major character and the fact that he's a prince doesn't automatically mean that anyone reading cares about him. You can write a book where the President of the United States makes a brief appearance and in that case he'd be a minor character even though he's the President. In your story, though, it seems like the prince is a major character.

    As for your question, though, I agree with what someone said above. None of us know the intricacies of your plot, nor do we know the ramifications of the prince or king or neither or both dying within the context of your story. We don't know anything about the characters of the King or Prince or their importance to your story. All we know is that one has the title of King and the other has the title of Prince. You're the one who knows all of that, so you're really the only one qualified to decide which characters, if any, should be killed.
     
  16. salatarian5*Gen

    salatarian5*Gen New Member

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    yeah good point thanks for all the responses...
     
  17. I'd kill the king then because that introduces hopelessness, and then have the prince try to do what the king was for the rest of the book(s)
     
  18. salatarian5*Gen

    salatarian5*Gen New Member

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    for what i have in mind it would make more sense, although that means ill have to do some heavy duty editing and backtracking. i did what to kill the prince, but, the new charater i want to add would change alot, so as i said the king needs to die and not the prince, who btw... is not spoiled, as thought by a previous replier. he will make a good king.
     
  19. thabear637

    thabear637 New Member

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    What about the Prince dies...at the hands of his father?? oooh yea!

    On a serious note..you know the story not us. I wish I could give you some sound advice but without knowing the entire story (and I'm not asking to know it) it's kind of hard to say Kill the prince! or Kill the King!

    If you think it sounds better with the Prince dieing, kill him..if not..
     
  20. afinemess

    afinemess Active Member

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    I thought the same thing!:D

    But I have to say, your asking who should die, and that it what the plot is all about, but how can you have already done so much work without a plot? I'm just confused by this whole thread. haha I think I must be missing something, I'll read through again.

    Good luck, I say kill the prince.
     
  21. Rumpole40k

    Rumpole40k Banned

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    Which ever one would make the reader hate you more.
     
  22. salatarian5*Gen

    salatarian5*Gen New Member

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    not, you read right afinemess, thats why im at a loss, i have a plot but i dont like it, so basically im deleting a bunch of stuff and going in a new direction/plot line
     
  23. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    As has been said, this is YOUR story, YOU need to make the decision. And not at random. You should choose based on which death better advances the story, usually the death that results in more conflict.
     
  24. salatarian5*Gen

    salatarian5*Gen New Member

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    i guess i asked the wrong question, i was looking for just some feedback, but everyone is jumping me for not knowing the story, it was a question, never said i was taking any advice from you all to go on... some said king some said prince... just what i was looking for. next time ill figure out to word my question better
     
  25. thabear637

    thabear637 New Member

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    Relax, no one jumped on you. You just have to realize you give us option A or option B and we dont' know the consequences of either. Why would option A make the story more interesting over option B? Or Vice Versa?

    That's kind of like asking who would win the superbowl but not letting us know who is on the teams.
     

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