Killing our heroes
I almost killed a man this morning, deliberately. I am prone to creating mayhem now that I am a full-blown author. At the moment, this tendency surfaces only in my writing.
The ‘how-to-write’ book I am following tells me to kill off characters without hesitation and to make life as miserable as possible for the main character to see how he copes.
Now writing my fifth book, I restrict the killing tendency and use only a little bit of slight brutality when it is unavoidable.
I go with making life miserable for the protagonist. For example, in Snuff O’Brien’s Private War, the main character, Snuff, is confronted by a thug intent on slicing him with a large knife. Even though he has turned against killing since he lost his leg fighting in the Spanish Civil War, Snuff fights back and teaches his attacker a severe lesson. I stopped Snuff from killing him.
He does that later, but that is a different scenario.
I made Snuff’s life more miserable each time I wrote about him. He had to face some bleak moments, such as when I organised the torture and murder of his cousin.
I did a good job because Snuff changed significantly as the book went on.
The outcome of all the misery I heaped on Snuff was in keeping with his character traits.
The strength to win was already there. He needed a prod to make him wake up.
Don’t we all?
His response to his misery was the only element under his control. Once he realised that, then he could make the decision to take command of what was happening.
There was no ‘Superman to the rescue’ or ‘here comes Spiderman’. That doesn’t happen in real life.
The solution was within him. I like that.
It reflects what happens in life.
