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My writing group leader gave me terrible advice about my fantasy novel
I joined a local writing circle back in March and the leader, a guy named Dave who's apparently published two books, told me to kill off my main character in chapter 3 to "raise the stakes." So I rewrote 40 pages over two weeks and brought it back to the group for feedback. Everyone was silent for like 10 seconds before someone finally said it felt like a cheap trick and totally killed their investment in the story. Now I'm stuck trying to undo all that work and I still don't know if I should trust Dave's advice on anything else. Has anyone else had a mentor or group leader steer you completely wrong on a big plot point?
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olivia_webb3mo ago
Honestly Dave might be onto something, you just need to commit to it. Killing the main character that early can work if the rest of the book shifts to a new protagonist who has a stronger connection to the dead character's goals or legacy. Your writing group probably hated it because they got attached to the first character over those first three chapters, but that's exactly the point - you want readers to feel something when a character dies. If you undo the rewrite, you're basically saying your group knows better than someone who's actually been published twice.
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gibson.oliver3mo ago
Saw some editor on a podcast say the same thing, killing the emotional anchor early forces the story to find a new heartbeat. It's risky but man, when it works it really works. You read any books that pulled that off clean?
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