Let me just say to start, that I fully support the reference to Not Dead, Only Sleeping, because oh, but I haven't been able to read her other one you mentioned - I tried, and I just. Couldn't. ;___; But yes, holy hell, Not Dead is one of the best cases I have ever seen in regards to realistically portraying the effects of death on the loved ones left behind.
The whole paragraph you wrote about when it's an SO's death just. Made me miss the A7X fandom a hell of a lot. Especially two of the writers who have gone into retirement, as it were. They were so good at handling death - even just death of a relationship, a friendship - within fic, because they tracked it. And, um, maybe I'm just relating back to this because of what has happened, but there you go. One of the writers actually built up a whole forty chapter epic, all around the death of one character - which actually happened off-screen, or pre-screen, even - and how everyone affected by him and his passing, even indirectly, were dealing with that. Let's just say I have high standards for death within fic after that. And I don't mean that against you, because you do write death as real (What I was trying to do, mostly, was to carve him a presence in the story even though he died when it started. Yes, you did that, you did that so well, because he was a part of that story just as much as Lyn-Z or, say, Mikey were), but I just don't have a lot of patience for it when it's not now. :/
(A7X actually did a song like that, kind of - two, really. They were dealing more with the anger side of it, I think, especially when it comes to the ones left behind, which is understandable, then and now.)
I'm going to shut up about that. >.<. Blame the tattoo, it's eating my brain.
I get the wanting to bring people back. You just want to see them interact with the characters who meant the most to them, and vice versa. (You could, I dunno, do a prologue-y type from before Pete goes to New York? ...One of these days I will stop telling you how to write this thing, I swear, ignore me.) Although, I think it's good, important, that you're upset over their deaths yourself. A reader won't care about the characters if the writer doesn't. And you care, that was obvious. Maybe because you already knew them - I know that just about ten minutes before the last show they ever played, Cassadee got up the courage to kiss Greta, who smiled like the bright thing she was and told her, "After the show." Holy, God you killed me there ;____; - or because you knew what this would lead to, how it would affect the others.
As a reader, I knew their deaths were for a reason within the story - you didn't just kill them off as an ends to a means, but, to use your word, as a catalyst. There's a big difference.
I honestly don't know if that made any sense. I think the day's catching up with me. But I do, I agree with you whole-heartedly on this subject (An example of a story that works better: the shooting of Barbara Gordon, leaving her in a wheelchair, lead to her creating a new alter ego and a new way of fighting crime. Yes, this, because that death/injury [being] all about the man, as opposed to the person that it actually happened to (what? I really like the way you worded it! I may quote you outside of this, actually...) pisses me the fuck off. It shouldn't be an empty plot device). And I'm going to go read the Wiki and download the song, and thank the Goddess you're on my flist, because you're just simply. Amazing. All the time.
♥♥♥
Cannot wait for this sequel though...like you didn't already know. ;)
no subject
The whole paragraph you wrote about when it's an SO's death just. Made me miss the A7X fandom a hell of a lot. Especially two of the writers who have gone into retirement, as it were. They were so good at handling death - even just death of a relationship, a friendship - within fic, because they tracked it. And, um, maybe I'm just relating back to this because of what has happened, but there you go. One of the writers actually built up a whole forty chapter epic, all around the death of one character - which actually happened off-screen, or pre-screen, even - and how everyone affected by him and his passing, even indirectly, were dealing with that. Let's just say I have high standards for death within fic after that. And I don't mean that against you, because you do write death as real (What I was trying to do, mostly, was to carve him a presence in the story even though he died when it started. Yes, you did that, you did that so well, because he was a part of that story just as much as Lyn-Z or, say, Mikey were), but I just don't have a lot of patience for it when it's not now. :/
(A7X actually did a song like that, kind of - two, really. They were dealing more with the anger side of it, I think, especially when it comes to the ones left behind, which is understandable, then and now.)
I'm going to shut up about that. >.<. Blame the tattoo, it's eating my brain.
I get the wanting to bring people back. You just want to see them interact with the characters who meant the most to them, and vice versa. (You could, I dunno, do a prologue-y type from before Pete goes to New York? ...One of these days I will stop telling you how to write this thing, I swear, ignore me.) Although, I think it's good, important, that you're upset over their deaths yourself. A reader won't care about the characters if the writer doesn't. And you care, that was obvious. Maybe because you already knew them - I know that just about ten minutes before the last show they ever played, Cassadee got up the courage to kiss Greta, who smiled like the bright thing she was and told her, "After the show." Holy, God you killed me there ;____; - or because you knew what this would lead to, how it would affect the others.
As a reader, I knew their deaths were for a reason within the story - you didn't just kill them off as an ends to a means, but, to use your word, as a catalyst. There's a big difference.
I honestly don't know if that made any sense. I think the day's catching up with me. But I do, I agree with you whole-heartedly on this subject (An example of a story that works better: the shooting of Barbara Gordon, leaving her in a wheelchair, lead to her creating a new alter ego and a new way of fighting crime. Yes, this, because that death/injury [being] all about the man, as opposed to the person that it actually happened to (what? I really like the way you worded it! I may quote you outside of this, actually...) pisses me the fuck off. It shouldn't be an empty plot device). And I'm going to go read the Wiki and download the song, and thank the Goddess you're on my flist, because you're just simply. Amazing. All the time.
♥♥♥
Cannot wait for this sequel though...like you didn't already know. ;)