How To: Write Mystery/Thriller

killing off characters

A lot of M/T plots revolve around murder, there's always a few deaths here and there (sometimes there's more than a few deaths) but when a major character in the plot dies- you have to do it right.

So let's say one of your leads gets murdered, you need to think about how that death will affect your characters but also the whole of your plot. This is why I stress the importance of planning, you need to know which characters will die and if they are necessary to the plot.

If/when you have a scene where someone dies, the description of that death can go two ways:

-detailed and gory
-emotional

It all depends on which character dies, if it is a character who is close to the protagonist, the death will tend to be more emotional than graphic but of course some M/T books are gory af so knowing how to describe a brutal killing may come in handy.

Some tips for death scenes:

- make them long if the death is important, it makes the reader understand that this is a crucial part of the plot
-emotions are just as interesting as the gory parts (well kinda) and maybe throw in a few curve balls. Maybe your character enjoys watching someone die, add a sneaky plot twist in there
-what's happens with the body afterwards? Plan everything!
-ask yourself if the death is really necessary, if not- why are you doing it?!

I feel like a lot of writers (including myself) kill off their characters far too quickly and if they just thought for a second more they wouldn't have.