Welcome, my guest, Yves Fey, as she takes about killing your favorite characters.
Killing Your Darlings
Killing your darlings is a
phrase you see used to recommend you kill off your favorite bits of prose. The idea is that if they are too precious,
too treasured, it will show and distract from your story rather than adding to
it, or that they may be doted on by you for good reason, but add nothing. For darlings of this nature, I can only hope
you don’t have to slay them because they are perfectly attuned both to their
place in your story and to your style.
One would not want Raymond Chandler to remove the tarantula from the
piece of angel food cake.
I’m talking about killing
even more precious darlings, your favorite characters. I’m talking about it for a couple of
reasons. First because I’ll be killing
off a character I like quite a bit in my next book, and because it’s rather
painful, I’m looking at the map of the moment for my series, and wondering if I
need do it again. Need in my case
because my series is quite dark, and if I guard my loved ones too closely, it
is likely to lose reality for the reader.
I have about five books planned in all, with possibilities to branch out
beyond that. The number is small enough
that I may only have to sacrifice the one darling. But if I were writing a longer series, I
believe something dire would have to happen to someone of import.
The second reason plays into
and off of the first, as I’m about two thirds of the way through Elizabeth
George’s latest mystery, Just One Evil
Act, and things are looking very dire indeed for a couple of favorites, and
if she carries through with the darkest possibilities, the repercussions will
ripple outward to yet more beloved characters.
And, because she has been ruthless in the past, I know these darlings
are not safe. Perhaps they will not
die. Perhaps they will not be
ruined. But perhaps they will, and I’m
filled with dread and fascination about where she will take the story. The emotional risk is far more riveting than
any car chase or barroom brawl could be.
In one of my all-time
favorite historical series, The Lymond Chronicles, Dorothy Dunnett was also
absolute ruthless in killing off favorite characters. I was often devastated at the loss, but I
admired and respected her as a writer for doing it because it gave the books
more emotional power. Blake’s 7, a very
dark British Sci Fi TV series leaps from dramatic space opera to superb and
stunning tragedy in its last episode as the darlings fall dead. I think about amazing show too, though I know
I don’t want a tragic outcome for my series.
If you are writing genre
romance, or writing a cozy, you won’t want a tragic or unhappy outcome. You probably won’t want to kill off a
sympathetic character. Your reader wants
to remain safe from emotional bruising.
But even a small step into the darker realms of those or related genres,
romantic suspense, say, or any mystery series beyond the light classic, should
lead the writer to question if killing off a darling might give greater power
and reality to their book.
FLOATS THE DARK SHADOW is a
literary mystery set in the dynamic and decadent world of Belle Époque
Paris. Aspiring artist Theodora Faraday
and Detective Michel Devaux clash in their search for a mysterious killer who
has already claimed too many children.
Classic detection and occult revelation lead Michel and Theo through the
dark underbelly of Paris. Following the
maze of clues they discover the murderer believes he is the reincarnation of
the most evil serial killer in the history of France—Gilles de Rais. Whether deranged mind or demonic passion
incite him, the killer must be found before he strikes again.
Floats the Dark Shadow is
Yves Fey's first historical mystery, set in the dynamic and decadent world of
Belle Époque Paris. It won several 2013 Indie awards--a Silver IPPY in
the Best Mystery category, a Finalist Award in the ForeWord Book of the Year
Awards in mystery, and it was one of four Finalists in both History and Mystery
in the Next Generation Indie Awards.
It’s
available in hardback, paperback, Kindle, and now as an audio book.
Previously
Yves wrote four historical romances set in the Italian Renaissance, Medieval
England, and Elizabethan England. She will soon be republishing these under her
own name of Gayle Feyrer.
Author’s Biography:
Yves has an MFA in Creative Writing from the
University of Oregon, and a BA in Pictorial Arts from UCLA. She has read,
written, and created art from childhood. A chocolate connoisseur, she's won
prizes for her desserts. Her current fascination is creating perfumes. She's
traveled to many countries in Europe and lived for two years in Indonesia. She
currently lives in the San Francisco area with her husband Richard and three
cats, Marlowe the Investigator, and the Flying Bronte Sisters.