Friday, September 19, 2008

Death By Keyboard

Recently at Romance Divas we were discussing how many of us kill off people in our books and of those of us who do, how many people die per book. (In my current WIP, I'm probably going to top out at 5 dead, by such means as beheading and loss of blood.)

The results were rather interesting. "Bloodbath" - meaning 12 or more people - was the most popular answer. Apparently, Divas like to snuff characters right and left.

Do you kill people off in your books? If so, how many? And what's your preferred method of de-lifeing them?

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:39 AM

    That answer is yes...sometimes anyway. When it does happen it's not terribly many though, one or two, as it depends on the story. As for preferred method, again this varies.

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  2. I sort of kill people off...in that I'm writing about ghosts...so they're pretty much already dead! LOL!!

    However, at a recent paranormal event I attended, I offered the naming rights to a character in my third book. This woman paid $175 for it in the charity auction. She sent me the story, which is a carefully crafted out explanation of how her evil mother-in-law needs to die, complete with falling down the stairs and the multiple fractures and pains she wants her to experience on the way down. I said to her, "You haven't thought this through, have you?" LOL!!

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  3. I am obviously WAY too nice. I've never killed anyone in a story--but I have thought of having someone die of natural causes. Does that count?

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  4. I've only killed one person. I really need to up my game!

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  5. I've killed people off in every one of my books. How many depends on the situation. In my second book, I killed thousands. Usually it's under a dozen. So far in my WIP, I've only killed three, but I'm only halfway through and I haven't decided who else needs to die. :evil laugh: Thinking about it now, I guess I'm a bloodthirsty little thing, aren't I? ;o)

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  6. I am not a killer. I've only lost one minor character, and he was a war casualty.
    On the other hand, my characters have been deeply affected by people in their past who have passed away. I seem to have affinity for widows and children who've lost their parents.

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  7. I'd love to kill off chatacters. I can't really, but if I could it would be death by cat licks.

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