Killing my darlings

Today, I want to talk about cold blooded killings. Unfortunately, the writers of horror have to indulge in, literal, character assassination from time to time, and sometimes that means killing off perfectly nice people for no other reason than that it makes for good reading. As a writer, I admit I don’t like doing this, partly because I tend to grow quite fond of my ‘chaps’, and partly because it seems such a waste. After all the time and effort I put into creating that person, developing their character, their history, their idiosyncrasies, it seems quite perverse to have them fall victim to a vampire/homicidal maniac/tub of potato salad. However, as a reader, I think very differently.

Some horror writers play it safe and make sure the reader knows some characters are untouchable. They may go through some scraps and scrapes, but, at the end of the story they will stroll off into the sunset, a little bit battered and much wiser, but otherwise unharmed. As someone says in the film, Scream, there are rules to horror. A result of these rules is that some characters are more vulnerable than others. I can understand why that kind of plot may be popular, but on the whole, I prefer writers who break the rules.

Stephen King and James Herbert are two notable examples of writers who break the rules of horror. In Pet Sematary, King kills examples of all three untouchable groups: the elderly, the very young and/or anything cute and furry. Herbert does the same in most of his novels. These books don’t make for easy reading because there are no guarantees, but at the same time, a reader keeps turning the pages because they have to know the truth, even if it may not be the truth they wanted. And, knowing all the rules have been thrown out of the window keeps one guessing, not second guessing.

So, I come to my latest dilemma. I have five main characters and that is too many. Three will be quite sufficient. The question is, which two of these flawed but delightful folk should get the chop, or the axe, or maybe the tub of potato salad? Of course, that isn’t a question you can answer, you probably aren’t familiar with these people. However, the feedback from those who have read the first draft, suggests that two particular characters are popular. Hmm. How mean am I feeling?

Note: The title of this post is a paraphrasing of a quote by William Faulkner, or Stephen King, or Dorothy L Sayers, or someone else entirely.

This post was originally published on 21st November, 2007