Sunday, June 6, 2021

What We're Writing: Strawberried Alive by Jenn McKinlay

 Jenn McKinlay: When struggling with a book within a series, I often think about authors who kill off their main characters just so they can stop writing about them.

I won't name names here because...spoilers. But there are a fair few authors who've thrown their characters to the wolves, out the window, or just backed over them with their car, and I get it. 


There are days when the writing is a real struggle and I'm convinced it's time to just blow up the cupcake bakery and call it a day. 


For you, dear readers, I soldier on. That does not mean I don't flirt with the idea of killing off my characters. And here is the evidence, the first chapter of Strawberried Alive, coming in May 2022, you know, if I ever finish the book and don't decide to blow the series sky high in the meantime.

When things don't go well at the cupcake bakery...

     With a sigh, Mel returned to her kitchen and set to work unboxing all of the packed up cupcakes. She carefully removed the white chocolate initials and set them aside on a sheet of parchment paper, then she scraped off the rejected fondant and most of the underlying buttercream. Using a silicone spatula, she flicked the frosting into a large trash can. She was halfway through when the kitchen door swung open and Olivia Puckett, rival baker and current girlfriend to Mels' employee Marty appeared. Olivia surveyed the cupcake covered table and watched Mel scrape another cupcake clean. Then she laughed. It was a full on belly laugh.

     “What happened? Did you mess up an order?”

     Mel eyed the gob of frosting on the end of her spatula and debated flicking it at Olivia. Tempting. It was so tempting. Mel lowered the spatula into the trash can and shook the frosting loose. She felt she should get props for being so mature, especially given that dumping the frosting in the trash can was not nearly as satisfying as watching a glob of frosting splat her baking rival in the face.

      Olivia was still in her chef coat, having just left her bakery Confections. She was undoubtedly here to pick up Marty since they lived together. Mel tried not to feel resentful about everyone else having a fun Friday night while she was stuck here. It was a struggle.

     “No, I didn’t mess up,” Mel said. “The bride changed her primary color from aqua to teal without telling me until a few moments ago. The wedding is tomorrow.”

     Olivia crossed the kitchen to glance at the vast expanse of cupcakes on the table. She let out a low whistle. “That’s a lot of boo boos to fix. Was the bride Emerson Henry by any chance?” 

     Mel glanced at her in surprise. “How did you know?”

     “She came to Confections about her wedding,” Olivia said. “Aqua cupcakes with their initials in white chocolate on top, am I right?”

     “You’re right.” Mel gestured to the cupcakes.

     “Yeah, we were already booked out,” Olivia said. “Now I feel like I dodged a bullet.” She patted Mel on the back. Olivia didn’t know her own strength, or maybe she did, as the pat almost sent Mel face forward onto the work table. She caught herself just in time. 

    “You definitely did,” Mel said ruefully. They both studied the table, acknowledging the amount of work that was ahead of Mel.

     “I’d offer to stay and help,” Olivia said. “But I don’t want to.”

     That surprised a laugh out of Mel. The door swung open again and Marty appeared. “We’re all locked up out front, boss. Liv and I are taking off if you’re okay with that?”

     “I’m okay,” Mel said. She must not have sounded convincing because Marty hesitated, so she added, “Seriously, I’m good. Go, get out of here.”

     They didn’t need to be told twice. They crossed through the kitchen and out the backdoor, which closed with a click of the lock behind them. Mel glanced around her kitchen, which she usually considered her sanctuary, and tried not to resent it.

     Mel turned to her trusty Kitchen-Aid mixer to whip up a fresh batch of fondant. She used a gelatin and corn syrup based recipe, so it wasn’t difficult, except that fondant could be persnickety so she had to mind it carefully. When the rolling fondant had reached the right consistency, she put it in the cooler to chill while she prepped a new batch of white chocolate buttercream to spread on the cupcakes.

     Mel had a large screen television mounted on the wall of the kitchen, which she used to watch movies while baking late at night. She flicked through the streaming services until she found a classic Bringing Up Baby. She then picked up her phone and texted her husband Joe, letting him know that she’d be home in a couple of hours. She’d already called to tell him she was working late and he said he and the furry babies eagerly awaited her return. She felt a pang of missing her family. Being married was still very new for her and she still couldn’t believe that she was Mrs. Joe DeLaura.

     As Kate Hepburn sashayed across the screen, Mel began to pipe the fresh buttercream on the raspberry filled cupcakes. She supposed she could have baked the cupcakes all over again, but no. The bride, or princess of the tantrum as Mel thought of her, did not deserve that much labor from her. 

     The movie finished and the next one began while Mel worked. It Happened One Night, a classic, with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, was halfway through when she finished. Quickly she packed away the cupcakes in the walk in cooler and cleaned up the kitchen. She checked the bakery one more time to make sure everything was clean, switched off, and put away. 

     She retrieved her handbag from the tiny office, formerly a closet, in the corner of the bakery and headed out the door. It was October in south Scottsdale and the heat of the Arizona summer was fading and the nights were blissfully cool. Mel was giddy that she actually had to pause to put on her lightweight hoodie. The Chamber of Commerce weather that was the pride of Arizona was on its way.

     She zipped up her sweatshirt and ran her fingers through her short blonde hair. She set the alarm on the keypad inside the door and had just closed and locked it, when she heard footsteps in the alley behind her. Mel froze. 

     She glanced up at the apartment above the bakery where Oz lived. The lights were off. Maybe it was him, coming home. He was a young man in his twenties. It wasn’t out of character for him to be out this late. Then again, he was a chef and had to be up when the rooster crowed to bake his signature desserts for the Sun Dial Resort where he now worked, so it wouldn’t make sense for him to be out this late. Oz took his job very seriously. 

     Mel turned away from the keypad and glanced into the dark alley behind her. She tried to make her voice strong when she called out, “Oz? Is that you?”

     In the shadow of the dumpster fifty yards away, she saw a figure dressed all in black. She felt her heart skip a beat or three. Every instinct screamed at her to get out of there. She tried the handle on the door but she’d locked it. She fumbled for her keys not caring if she set off the alarm because then at least the police would be notified.

     “Oz, if you’re playing a prank, it’s not funny,” she cried. Please let it be Oz, please, please, please. 

    There was a sudden boom and the brick beside her arm exploded. The person had shot at her! Mel let out shriek and ducked down behind the railing, as if the skinny wrought iron could protect her from a bullet. From her crouched position, she tried to get the key in the lock but her fingers were shaking too hard.

     Over the frantic pounding of her heart, she heard the footsteps coming closer. She tried to cram the key into the lock but it was upside down. She dropped the keys. The light over the back door illuminated the area, making it easy for the shooter to see her, but it also helped her spot her keys. She snatched them up and tried the lock again. 

     Another bullet whizzed through the air and slammed into the metal door above her head, ripping a hole through it. Mel jerked back and curled up into a ball as if she could repel a bullet if she scrunched up tight enough. 

     The footsteps kept coming and Mel realized this was it. Here on her back stoop with traces of teal food coloring under her fingernails and the smell of buttercream wafting off her skin like perfume, she was about to die. 


Will she die? Won't she? I'm not telling. 


How about it, Readers? How do you feel when an author blows up their series by killing off a beloved character? And, Reds, have you ever killed off a character just to be done with them?


71 comments:

  1. Oh, goodness . . . I was feeling bad for poor Mel with the whole cupcake mess [and mean-spirited Olivia] and the overly-thoughtless bride-to-be, but now I’m so desperately expecting a last-second rescue for Mel [and looking forward to finding out who’s doing the shooting and why] . . . .

    I get that it’s difficult, and that writers ought to be able to do whatever they want with their own characters and their own stories, BUT it is also true that many readers [myself included] do not do well with stories in which the author kills off a beloved character. The last time that happened in a series I was reading, I actually threw the book . . . and I haven’t read one of that author’s books since. I know it allowed the story to go in a new direction, but considering how the story had played out up to that point, killing the character simply felt cruel and unnecessary. If the author really wants to quit writing the series, it feels as if there ought to be a better . . . happier . . . way to do it than to kill the character.

    I’m sure that writers work hard to make their stories [and their characters] important to the reader; once we’re drawn into to telling of the tale and invested in what’s happening, killing off the character is pretty harsh, even if things like that actually do happen in real life . . . this is storybookland and we readers need things to be mostly okay for the characters we care about . . . .

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    1. I agree, Joan. The end has to be justified and we read to escape reality - not get slapped in the face with it.

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    2. Everything you said, Joan!

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  2. Mel! Jenn! What a scene. I hope Mel rescues herself.

    I haven't murdered a main character - yet - although one did slip into death in my last book, but she was 82 and had had a good run. I don't think I'd have the nerve to kill off any of my protagonists.

    When Ann Cleeves killed off someone important, I was stunned - but I kept reading. And when Julie Hyzy ended her White House chef series, she didn't kill off the two protags, but she found a different solution for them.

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    1. I much prefer that characters ride off into the sunset, Edith.

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    2. Are you on the east coast, Jenn, or just up really, really early?

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    3. I will reread many of Ann Cleeves's books, but not that one Edith! And I was thinking of Julie's series only yesterday. Those books were among my favorites, but I understood why she ended them.

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    4. Edith, I love that you mentioned Julie Hyzy's White House Chef series. I loved that one and though I'm still bummed that the series is not ongoing to this day, it was an intriguing way to finish the series.

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    5. Edith, I appreciated that you explained to us why you had to end your Midwife series. I would have hated to see Rose killed.

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    6. Thank you so much, Danielle-momo. I would never kill Rose!

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  3. Yes, I remember that Ann Cleeves murder, was as unreal as it gets. And it couldn't be undone, as much as I wished for it.

    I find this happening more on TV than in books though. I once was confident that major characters would survive because they were stars of the series. Not any more. We are ready to watch S6 of Line of Duty. Don't tell me who gets the ax this time!

    Characters dying of old age doesn't count, Edith.

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    1. TV has become very unreliable! GOT taught me not to get attached.

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    2. Exactly! GOT made me gasp—And it changed my writing life.

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    3. I remember you saying the great thing about stand-alones is that EVERYONE is vulnerable, Hank. I do like the idea of any life being on the line (or anybody being guilty) - it ramps up the suspense!

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  4. I have reached the point in many series where, although I do not wish death upon the main characters, I sincerely wish they would just GO AWAY.

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    1. LOL Jerry, now we're all going to hope you're not talking about OUR poor characters...

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    2. Yes, I have a few of those, too. LOL.

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    3. There are definitely some series where you can tell the author is just tired of it all, and only going through the (presumably profitable) motions.

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  5. The murder in the Ann Cleeves series seemed so totally gratuitous to me,it actually changed how I felt about continuing the series.Which I had been loving

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    1. I think there is an unspoken understanding between writers and readers that must always be respected.

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  6. After that murder in the Ann Cleeves series I didn't read any more of those so I'll never know how well our hero soldiered on. Of course I read and love her other series!

    When C.J. Box killed off Cody Hoyt, a character I really loved, just so he could have a new, female protagonist, I refused to read more. Then it was made into an unwatchable TV series. I'm sticking with Joe though.

    So, authors, kill off whoever you need to. As long as it is not a favorite character!

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    1. It certainly strains the author-reader relationship if the death feels gratuitous.

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  7. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a series I read where the author has killed off the main character (I'm not counting the Sherlock Holmes stories!) so I'm not sure how I would feel.

    There's been a mention of Game of Thrones by Jenn and though I never read the books (tried the first one and hated it) I did love the series. When the Youtube channel Screen Junkies did an "Honest Trailer" for the first four seasons of the show, they started it off with the tagline: "From George R.R. Martin...fiction's most notorious serial killer". I loved that line because it sure does sum up his approach to handling his characters.

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    1. LOL - totally. He really bent my brain with his groundbreaking style - which (after the shock wore off) always seemed appropriate.

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  8. I would hate to see an author kill a beloved character. I don’t think I could continue the series. And if it is to end the series, I would prefer the author to sincerely say why it can’t be continued than to kill a main character.

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  9. Poor Mel...what has she gotten herself mixed up with now?
    I'm at peace with the death of the Ann Cleeves character and also Elizabeth George's character. I much prefer sending characters off to a new life among the living.

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    1. Me, too, but now that I’ve accrued a lot of life and pain in my five decades, I understand that the death of characters is actually the more realistic natural ending but then again, we write fiction for a reason - namely, escapism.

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  10. I don't like it when authors kill off their main characters. I don't even like it when they kill off beloved secondary characters. I super don't like it when a character gets "Little Joe Syndrome" and we have to watch everyone they might partner up with die. There are a lot of other fun books out there that I'm eager to read. I will drop not just the series, but the author if they do that to me and make their series "un-fun."

    On the other hand, if Mel had flipped that icing at Olivia, and the scene had turned into a full-on fondant fight? I would have cherished that moment.

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    1. LOL - frosting fights are ALWAYS a good time...until you have to clean up the mess.

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    2. Oh, Gigi, I love "Little Joe Syndrome!" So prevalent in TV shows of the 50s and 60s. My mother used to say she didn't understand why girls kept showing up at the Ponderosa Ranch - after the first five or six deaths no woman would go within a hundred miles of a Cartwright.

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    3. Ha! Of course, you know we couldn't actually allow characters to get married back then. They might have had sex or done some other normal thing.

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  11. Morse (sob). If the series has to end, at least have the ending make sense and not clearly be "let's just get this over with." And I absolutely hate it when a character gets killed off just so the author can introduce new romantic complications or whatever. I hate that, I say! Just start a new series, for heaven's sake!

    And Jenn, I don't know how Mel's getting out of her situation, but I'm betting you don't kill her off. Pretty please.

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    1. No spoilers but...Mel is very resourceful so we’ll just leave it at that.

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  12. Jenn, Jenn, Jenn,
    No. Scary scene...I hope Mel escapes out of it.

    I know of several authors that killed a main character, and yes I was one of those who wrote a letter to the author crying about this character. The author did satisfy me with their response.

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  13. You are such a genius, Jenn. Truly.

    I don’t want to give too much away, but there is a TV show on right now where that happened, and I was so shocked I literally gasped out loud. The story was kind of predictable until then, and then… The show became riveting. I wish I could tell you more :-)

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    1. Oooooohhhhh! I think I know which one. I’ll have to get on it.

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    2. I know what you're talking about, Hank, and I agree! I wonder if shorter, limited series has meant we don't get SO attached to characters that we get mad if they die? Although if anything had happened to Baby Yoda in The Mandalorian, I think there would have been riots in the streets.

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  14. Jenn, I am confident that you won't kill Mel. I think there may be something awful that she will have to endure, but I trust you. However, I understand an author's temptation to set aside a series that is no longer fun to write. And Gigi, I agree with all you said!.

    I have stopped reading series when a character I love is killed off. I also want a good ending if there is a romance brewing. Pain for pain's sake is not my kind of literature, although my concentration on authors who wrote fiction about the Holocaust at one point in my life, haunts me to this day. Now I want to read satisfying stories and mysteries with characters I trust, with humor and with requited love. My choice.

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    1. 100% The reader really is the final say on what they’ll read and put up with!

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  15. Oh darn it, Jenn. I was hoping it would be the nefarious Olivia who dies. LOL.

    Only instance I recall is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle killing off Sherlock Holmes then bringing him back.

    No recollection of any main character killed off in a series. I would think that if a main character is killed off, then that means the end of a series, right?

    Though I can understand the temptation to kill off a main character. I remember that Agatha Christie did not like her creation Hercule Poirot.

    There was a teen series that I read in high school and I stopped reading the series when they killed off my favorite character. She was not the main character. I felt like that Will Ferrell character in the movie Stranger than Fiction because my favorite character resembled me in so many ways.

    Diana

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    1. Oh, that is a great point, Diana. Reading can be so very personal.

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    2. There is that, Jenn. Thanks!

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  16. If an author feels he or she needs to end a series, I’m okay with that — although if it’s a favorite series it makes me sad. I don’t want the series to end with the main character or any of the secondary characters I’ve come to know and love to be killed. I think the author can come with a more creative ending. I have stopped reading at least two mystery series (not cozies) because one of the main secondary characters was killed off.

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    1. I get very attached to secondary characters, too!

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  17. I know this is tempting for you, Jenn. Don’t do it! Readers will hate you forever! And yes, I’ve been tempted to kill characters. I even got into trouble once for killing sheep!
    Rhys

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  18. LOL - a sheep? I once put a dog in peril (dog napped) and, boy, did I get in trouble!

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  19. Going back to a tijme before you and I were young, E. W. Hornung killed off A. J. Raffles at the end of the first book; later stories merelyignored his death. T. s. Stribling killed off his Doctor Poglioli, but that character was never intended to be part of a long-running series. Donald E. Westlake killed off his policeman character Levine, something that had been planned since the series began. In the first 87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain (Evan Hunter) killed off Steve Carella, but his publisher made him rewrite the ending because Carella was the hero of the series -- something that McBain did not realize; in his mind, the "hero" was the entire 87th Precinct squad. Over the length of the long series, McBain did kill off many regular characters. John d. macDonald was rumored to have killed off Travis McGee in an unpublished novel written year before MacDonld's death (a la Agatha Christie and Poirot), but the rumor turned out to just that -- a rumor. There was also a rumor (also untrue) tht Christie had written a final Mis Marple novel in which she did the old girl in, as she had dne with Hercule.

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    1. As you can tell, I am of the "you can make me type but you cannot make me proofread" philosophy.

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    2. No judgment here, Jerry - especially as there's no way to edit once you hit that Publish button!

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  20. I get pretty hacked off when an author eliminates a character for no real reason. I stopped reading Elizabeth George when that happened. When the death is an integral part of the story I can understand the necessity but I still don't like it. It's just painful! That seems to be happening more in the TV shows I watch than in books these days. I started watching Fear the Walking Dead a couple of seasons ago when they introduced a new character that was so appealing. I'd seen the ads and was intrigued enough to start watching. I adored that character. And now he is no more.

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    1. Pat, other people have mentioned Game of Thrones in earlier comments. I wonder if we're entering a new age of TV storytelling where no character is safe.

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    2. I quit Elizabeth George when she killed off a beloved main character who was in the last stage of pregnancy. Twisted

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  21. If the plot leads to the death as a natural step in the series' evolution, fine. But if the death is obviously convenient to the author, that is another matter entirely.

    A favourite series is really all about the characters, no? The plot is almost incidental. Ergo, the death must fit into the natural arch of the characters' lives.

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  22. Jenn, what a great opening! Mel!! I can't wait to see what happens next and I don't think for a minute that you would kill off Mel. Heaven forbid!

    I have a dreadful time killing off characters I like, although they are MURDER mysteries and it would be really boring if all the victims were nasty people. But there have been books where I've planned death and had to really force myself to go through with it. I don't think, however, that I would ever kill off one of my main recurring characters.

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  23. I read for entertainment and for escape from the “real world.” The last thing I want is for a main character to die or be killed off at the hands of someone else.. There have been enough sudden deaths in my life and in the lives of close friends due to natural causes or suicide. A child I once taught in a religious education class was murdered as an adult. Let the books I read be filled with the people who solve the crimes, or who nurse the sick or injured back to health.

    But Jenn, if you ever want to kill off Olivia, I’m okay with it, as long as she and Marty are no longer a couple. I don’t want Marty to suffer!


    DebRo

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  24. Yes, Deb, you have killed off se very nice people on occasion. We've watched their loved ones mourn. But, I trust you!

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  25. I also stopped reading Elizabeth George when Helen died. I also cried when Kate Shugak's lover, Jack, was murdered, but Jim Chopin is a more than adequate replacement.

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    1. Maureen, a LOT of people were angry at George for killing Helen off, although clearly it part of a long-term plan, as she got two books out of the event.

      The one that STILL cheeses me off to this day was when Karin Slaughter killed off a main character - in the last three pages of the book! At least Elizabeth George had Helen's injury happen at the beginning, and a great deal of the book revolved around the situation.

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  26. I have a hard time when the author kills off one of my favorite secondary characters. I'm not sure how I would handle the death of a main character.

    I have read a couple of series that came to an end and most ended with a feel that the characters are still living their life in their own world. Similar to "Friends" last episode. I'd rather read that Mel got fed up and moved to Bora Bora with no forwarding address.

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    1. Sandy, with my Local Foods series I suspected (but didn't know for sure) wouldn't be renewed after book five. I brought all the regular series characters to the farm for the last scene. If the contract was renewed, great. If it wasn't, yes, they are all continuing their lives. And it wasn't.

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    2. I loved the Local Foods series! . . . and they deserve to live good lives. <3

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    3. Edith, I'm sorry to hear the contract wasn't renewed, but I'm glad you were able to end the series on a good note leaving readers with a good feeling that life goes on. I haven't seen your Local Food series, so I will be looking them up!

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  27. Please don’t. The only time I threw a book across the room was when a favorite author killed off a major character. I still read the series, but it’s so different without that wonderful person.

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  28. All too often, it is obvious the character died because they writer didn't know what to do with them any more. It's frustrating to the reader and certainly made worse by the line "it was necessary to the story." At least admit it, like you did here.

    But don't do it. Whatever you do, don't do it.

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  29. Leave them in a safe place, please. Storytellers like to imagine the "happily ever afters."
    I also dislike cliffhangers at the end of a book. They don't make me eager for the next book, quite the opposite.

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    1. Mary, I gave up on a particular series because of the constant cliffhangers. I don’t miss it and I don’t care any longer what happens to the characters. And I used to look for that author’s books as soon as they became available.

      DebRo

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  30. Although I can understand why a writer would kill off a primary or secondary character, as a reader, I find it can easily destroy the trust between writer/reader. Fiction is supposed to make sense to some degree (unlike the real world!). When Elizabeth George killed off Helen the way she did, I was so outraged that I lost interest in the series. Still haven't gone back to it.

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