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You shouldn't kill a good bad guy.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2024 10:42 am
by OpanaPointer
I wrote a snippet about two wizards having a battle outside a walled town. It was "Mandragora" vs. "Lizana". Mandy invokes a tornado which is rampaging around the area while the bataille sauvage gets a little crazy. The two wizards are settling in for a long fight when the twister, randomly wandering, comes up behind Lizana and sucks him up into the sky.

Now, at that point I had to decide if that was a fatal incident for Lizana. Do you writers ever kill off a good bad guy?

Re: You shouldn't kill a good bad guy.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2024 1:45 pm
by B. Camp
My stories usually involve characters that are either clearly good or clearly bad. I do admit that some of my characters live by a fairly inflexible moral code that has them commit acts that others might view as cold hearted (revenge killing, inflicting pain to accomplish a greater good, etc.). I don't kill them off but I'm not reluctant to have them suffer due to their choices. That's a long answer way to say "not usually" but I wouldn't hesitate if it improves the story. :)

Re: You shouldn't kill a good bad guy.

Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2024 2:33 pm
by OpanaPointer
It's sometimes better to provide enough information, in your opinion, than to skimp on pixels and perhaps induce confusion.

Re: You shouldn't kill a good bad guy.

Posted: Fri Apr 12, 2024 9:56 pm
by laurawoods
Why not? Writers often kill off well-liked villains to raise stakes, develop characters, or surprise readers. build now gg

Re: You shouldn't kill a good bad guy.

Posted: Thu May 23, 2024 5:56 am
by EmmaAlva
Absolutely, writers do kill off good bad guys, and it can be a very effective storytelling tool. Deciding whether or not to kill off a villain like Lizana in your story can depend on several factors related to your overall narrative goals and character development tiny fishing