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I'm thinking very seriously about killing off one of the second generation in my Blythe by Nature story. Not a tertiary character like Carl or Bruce Meredith, or even, to a certain extent, Di or Nan, but a right up there, in-your-face main character. I don't know how people will react to this, though, but part of me thinks that it might be imperative to the story, to theme of keeping Blythe, always, to have this happen.
I think it will probably change the course of my events in Blythe as Always, the WWII sequel. I have planned a big death, there, but don't know if I could have two happen to my little family that I love. It means I will have to rework my outline a great deal, so I'm not quite sure yet. But I keep thinking...
I know we've all killed off various characters in our time, but they tend to be those on the fringes--John Meredith--or those of our own making. Have you guys ever considered have someone in the inner circle die in one of your stories?
Oh, WOW. I think that would be terrific - I mean, not terrific, like yay, somebody's going to die, but terrific as in daring to do something so bold. I think it would be good, shake up the rut LMM fanfic tends to get in, and also very in keeping with the different tone of the Blythe By ... series.
I don't think it ever crossed my mind to kill one of the main original characters in any of my works ... except I did wonder about the possibility of having Anne pass away in Sound of the Sea, but I don't think it ever became more than a faint notion.
I say go for it, if it works for you and for the story! Depending on who it is, I might cry ... but you know I'll always keep reading!
The more I think about it, the more it has to happen, I think. Otherwise this story feels too unmoored, just a series of events.
I also thought about killing Anne at the end of the last Cecilia story, Where the Brook and River Meet, but in the end, it was abhorrent to me. The thing about Anne fanfiction is that Anne has to endure, in my opinion. She is deathless. How could she ever die?
Anne cannot die. She just can't. However, I think that if the story needs one of the Maud's characters to die, then so be it.
I guess that just about the closest I've ever gotten to it was the mention in TTTT of Miller Douglas having died in the early thirties.
The thing is, the story will never be right if someone who is supposed to die doesn't.
You are so right, Adrienne, and the converse is true, too. I was going to have Cam die in Blythe as Always, but that never felt right to me, probably since I have a love story element set up with him (you probably can guess) and I wouldn't break his lady-love's heart for all the world.
"I guess that just about the closest I've ever gotten to it was the mention in TTTT of Miller Douglas having died in the early thirties."
Not only that, but you had Walter come back! Truthfully, you are the only writer who has EVER made his reappearance seem so perfectly germane to the story. A long time ago, there was another author who had him living as like, a drifter in a cemetery in Courcelette, stricken by guilt, and it was pretty good but even that didn't come close.
Well, thank you! I remember that story, it was "The Piper," I think. I think it sort of inspired me to want to do the story my way. That, and I've watched Random Harvest one too many times.
I think it's wonderful when *good* writers take LMM's story and put a twist on it - Walter coming back, someone big dying, etc. It opens up so many possibilities, and shows just how much one can do, while still remaining true to her spirit.
And I'm really glad you're re-thinking killing off Cam - I was afraid he was going to die, and I think that would have broken my heart, as well as his love's!
I'm glad to hear you say that, Elouise! I fear Cam walks a fine line between being loveable and totally repugnant, due to his obvious mental instabilities.
Cam's dying--it felt like someone had to die, and so I chose him for it even before I had started to write his character. The more I got to know him, the more I learned that actually couldn't happen. I was just wanting it to happen because of what happened to Walter in RoI.
In the end, I'm glad that I've decided to go this way with the story. The Blythe children in my story have lived charmed lives--it's always been easy for them to be Blythe by Name and Blythe by Nature since everything has been going swimmingly for them. Now their mettle will be tested, and then refined in Blythe as Always, which I am thinking after this will be a total epistolary novel, consisting of letters between Harry and Sally from 1940 to 1945 or so.
Anyway, just know while you're reading BBNature...SOMEONE HAS BEEN MARKED FOR DEATH!