Characters You Should Let LIVE

In honor of my post “Killing Your Darling Characters” being one of my most influential Writeblr “hits”. (Am I a “hit”? Funny, it’s more like a viral hit-and-run. Wow, how did I ever get to this point of sleep deprivation and puns.)

Here’s a (brief?) list of characters you should try and let live to the end of the story.

1. The LGBT+ ones. Darling, I’m all about representation. Just don’t place the sole gay character in an early grave, please. Thank U, Next. (Non-cis too!)

2. The PoC ones. Nope. Just. Nope. Don’t go killing off the only characters who are PoC (people of color)! We’re rare enough as is in the fictional realms.

3. The intersectional! The LGBT+, POC, non-cis characters. The fictional graveyard must be a constant party of disgruntled intersectional characters, fam, who all got killed off in chapter two.

4. The parents. I’m guilty of this too because, let’s face it, you’re already juggling enough characters already without having to write up a parent-kid relationship too. There’s just something more fun about having magical teens run around the world unsupervised rather than calling back for curfew at 10 P.M. (No demon-slaying after dark. Not even you, Prophecy kid.)

5. The wise old mentor. What did they ever do but try to be teachers with quirky habits? Writers, stop giving a bad rep to the magical education sector!

6. The dog. The cat. The bird. The PET. Can the poor animal just LIVE? They’re all good bois and gals and NB pals!

7. The love interest. Especially the women. Darling, if your women are all femme fatales who need to sacrifice themselves for the male hero to have something to fight for, then newsflash, give him better ideals to fight for than my dead lover. I’m sure she’s awfully pissed about the whole situation too despite how many times he brings it up for some vengeance quest.

Well, that’s all I can think of now, lovelies. As I mentioned before, I am dreadfully sleep-deprived. Have fun, my creatives!