From Death to Life

I've avoided working on my book the past couple weeks. Yesterday, I realized the reason I was avoiding it was not because I was blocked (I knew what I wanted to write next). It was because one of my characters was about to experience a death. It was a death I've planned since the beginning of the trilogy, but I didn't want this character's story to end. Just like I don't want a lot of real life stories to end. I've experienced a lot of small deaths lately: death of dreams, de

ath of friendships, death of hopes for the future. I couldn't handle another death! Even if it was fictional. This was a very powerful moment of art mirroring life. It was a very powerful moment of my character becoming a real friend that I am going to have to say goodbye to. I. Just. Can't. Say. Goodbye. Yet.

😔

I shared my real-life, fictional experience with a friend. She asked, "Why can't you just not include the death?" But just like real life, the death has to happen to make way for something else. Without the death, the trajectory of the plot can't continue. There is great life on the other side of the death, but the death must happen first. Just. Like. Real. Life.

Photo by Trent Erwin