How to kill a character and not die trying

It’s a question I ask myself often. Those of you who have read any of my stories will agree that you hate me in memory of your favorite character. In my defense, I can only admit that it’s not easy for me to kill off characters I care about, especially when they are well-developed. In most cases, I feel terrible, but I understand that I do it for a good reason: a coherent plot.

How to decide who lives and who dies?

As a general rule, the story itself demands it. Although sometimes I decide to do it to give greater importance to a scene or to evoke a specific emotion in the reader. There are characters who enter the story knowing they have an expiration date. With them, I am especially meticulous. I need them to behave in a certain way and to experience specific situations to create a narrative that doesn't in any way predict their end, making it unexpected but entirely necessary. No, I'm not like George Martin; I never kill indiscriminately without considering who I'm taking out.

The decision, as I mentioned earlier, is difficult to make, but only with those characters who are here to stay and the plot screams for their death. If they are characters who were not planned to die, it creates doubts for me. What if they survive? What if their death is just an illusion? What if...? But no, the plot demands it. And it's a definitive sentence.

Creating Characters with an Expiry Date?

With an expiry date, not a pre-announced death. There are straightforward plots that require a death to kickstart them, as often happens in detective novels. In others, it's necessary for a person close to the protagonist to be killed to trigger a shift in their behavior up to that point.

For me, the most challenging deaths are those that occur to make way for other characters, to allow them to mature, to fulfill their potential... because that means that person must die. And who am I to make a decision like that, even in fiction? You might think it doesn't matter, that they're just constructs of words without real life, but they create genuine moral dilemmas for me.

How are characters chosen to have their lives taken?

When I think about a story and outline the plot, I must carefully consider the number of characters that will appear, their vital needs, who will be the main characters and why, who their attachments are, their enemies, etc. If you're interested in this process, I'll soon write another entry discussing it. Once the quantity and the protagonists of the story are chosen, that's when I configure the rest. No one should be surplus and no one should be lacking. It's a lengthy but necessary process.

Characters with an expiry date will appear one way or another, depending on the type of story I'm going to tell and, above all, the emotions I want to convey. If it's a novel, there's more room to play with the readers, but in a short story, it's much more compressed. In both cases, I only use such characters when they are relevant to the plot. It's not about killing off your neighbor in the first way that comes to mind. Your duty is to plan their death in a deserved manner. And by deserved, I don't mean that they're a jerk and therefore should be done away with, but that they deserve a death befitting their potential and in line with their character. Let's remember the death of Harry Potter's godfather, Sirius Black, as an example of a death that was foolish, unjust, and depressing (both from a literary and cinematic standpoint) for a man of his abilities. It's one of the most inconsistent deaths in the series. I understood J. K. Rowling's reason, but I don't agree with the execution.

Sometimes I regret killing off a character

However, I emphasize that it's necessary, and therefore, the regret gives way to the joy of having achieved my purpose, which is always to create the best story possible. From there, I try not to dwell on it because I know it could lead to doubt.

Do deaths impact those who write them?

Absolutely. In my case, there are two very tough deaths in the first part of "Trÿa, the Legend of the God Zanaán" which I still mourn. It was a difficult decision. Sara and I knew that the boy was a very important character for many readers, who appreciated him as if he were someone close, but it had to be done. It was his redemption, and we knew people would hate us for it. The second death hurt us because as we rewrote some chapters, we realized that the only way for other characters to move forward was to remove him from the picture. A sad reality. Looking back, it was the best decision.

You shouldn't fear making radical decisions with characters (or even with the plot). What you should fear is not being satisfied with the outcome of your story. You must be fully content. That's the best advice I can offer and the guarantee that you've done it right.

Many thanks for joining me once again in this literary moment.

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Trÿa, the Leyend of the God Zanaán

«Sira Ïn is no longer a safe place. Beyond the Crown of Winds, Nara must conceal her identity, exposed to the dangers of Trÿa. While she strives to become the warrior her people need, Tyrhon Zäeh plots to halt her journey, destroy her companions, and prevent her from uncovering the truths hidden behind the legend of the powerful god Zanaán.»

After an initial local release, "Trÿa, the Legend of the God Zanaán" was published for the general public, becoming one of the four finalists for "Best Self-Published Novel" at the Avenida Awards in 2019.

This book is only published in Spanish.*