So you have a character you're just dying to kill. Maybe he is a real villain and deserves to die. Or, instead, she is a sweet child and everybody cries when she slips away in the middle of the night. Regardless, there's a right place, time and reason to get rid of that character and it HAS to move the story forward.

This is a writing Master Class, with the dual benefits of digging deeply into the psychological reasons for killing a character, and of building a believable story structure around a death.

What you’ll learn:

• Create a believable underlying reason for a character's death
• Create the perfect character to kill
• Determine which character needs to die and why
• Find the perfect time to kill a character. Even in non-fiction, timing is everything.
• Create a believable way for a character to die
• How accurate does a death have to be?
• How to create a believable reaction from other characters and, ultimately, from the reader
• How to make sure the death is a strong part of the story structure
• Determine if killing that character is the "right thing" to do

Who should take this course:

• Writers who understand the basics of Point of View, dialogue, characterization, etc.
• Anyone who wants to write a compelling, believable story.
• Anyone ready to take their writing to the next level

Lesson Plan

Lesson One:

• Why does someone need to die?
• Which character will die and why?
• Archetypes and how their deaths affect other characters

Lesson Two:

• Dealing with structure
• Determining timing
• Creating emotional power

Lesson Three:

• Finding the perfect way to kill a character
• Making a death believable
• The importance of accuracy

Lesson Four:

• Creating a timeline and grid to correctly place the death into perspective
• Pumping up the tension for characters and readers

Every lesson comes with reference material and homework assignments.

Teacher

Sarah (Sally) Hamer is eternally fascinated by people and how they ‘tick’ and works hard to incorporate individual idiosyncrasies to create living, breathing characters in her many works of fiction. She writes in many genres – mystery, science fiction, fantasy, romance, medieval history, non-fiction – and has won awards at both local and national levels, including two Golden Heart finals.

A teacher of beginning and advanced creative fiction writing and screenwriting at Louisiana State University – S for over ten years, she also is a book coach, with many of her students and critique partners becoming successful, award-winning authors.

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Reviews

Why when you kill a character it makes a difference

Rated 5 out of 5

November 16, 2021

This class was everything I didn't know I needed. Sarah teaches you why when you kill a character matters, how to realistically kill and provides lots of resources and input into your planned death and how it impacts each character. If you're even thinking about killing a character, add this class.

Megan Ganesh

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