Guest Post & Giveaway with author Gabriel Madison [NOW CLOSED]

The Killing Off Of Main Characters

by Gabriel Madison

First I would like to thank Carolyn for giving me an opportunity to share something I’ve been thinking about for the past few months.

I used to be a huge fan of the TV show One Tree Hill. I loved the show because of the story about two brothers, living in the same small town, going to the same high school, but having absolutely nothing to do with each other on account of their domineering father. The story of Nathan and Lucas pulled me into the fascinating story about belonging, and true family. I have to also admit, the story of Lucas and Peyton became very interesting to me as well.

Anyway, last season made it obvious that a main character from the show was going to be killed off. I hated it because it was my favorite character. Every week became harder and harder to watch because I knew they were going to kill of this character. The last episode finally came, and not only did the writers not kill of this character, but they gave them a happy ending.

I went to the online chat rooms and message boards and read how people felt about the ending. The thing I kept seeing is how people felt the writer took the easy way out. How the writer didn’t have the courage to kill off a main character.

I personally feel the writer showed they had courage and creativity by not killing off a main character. Maybe ten years ago, killing off a main character in movies, TV shows and books would be shocking and provocative. But now, it seems killing off a main character is a trendy thing to do. I’ve seen countless movies and TV shows, and read many books where a main character is killed off. It’s no longer taboo, but almost expected. It feels like if writers don’t have anything else to talk about, or no creative way to take a story, they kill someone off. I personally feel this has become a crutch that writers use to try and show they are edgy or unpredictable, when actually killing off a main character has become very predictable.

I read a book a few months ago (not going to say the name of the book, but trust me, EVERYONE has heard of it) and the entire time I was reading the book, I knew a few main characters were going to be killed off. When I got to the end, the writer took a turn I didn’t see coming… nothing happened. A lot of people have criticized the writer for taking this direction, and honestly when I first finished the book, I thought that was a lot of build up for nothing to happen. No fighting, no death, no supposedly tearful ending. Instead, it felt more like a happily ever after story, something we don’t get much of these days.

I’m not saying all stories should end with a happily ever after ending, nor am I saying killing off a main character should be done away with, I’m only saying that mixing it up would truly make for unpredictable storytelling, some stories ending with characters riding off into the sunset, while some stories ending with characters suffering a tearful death.

Today’s writers, whether they are for movies, TV shows or novels, seem to take the shocking death of a main character approach to storytelling. For example, one of my favorite shows on TV is Lost, the last season is coming up soon, most of the conversation is about who is going to die at the end of the series. Lets be honest, what would be more shocking, killing characters everyone is waiting to see die, or letting them all live?

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Gabriel Madison started writing when he was in high school, mostly short stories and poetry, and then developed a passion for screenplays. He attended a private art University in Atlanta Georgia for Media Production. There he studied script writing and film making. He wrote a few screenplays, and made a few short movies, including a twelve-minute vampire movie, he adapted from a short story, called Midnight Diner. After leaving school, his passion shifted mainly towards writing stories, than shooting and directing them. He writes short stories, novellas, screenplays, graphic novels and full-length novels. He was once asked to define himself: he answered... ‘storyteller’. 

Gabriel Madison now lives back home in Albany Georgia. His debut novel Three Seeds is now available in print and as an eBook. His vampire novella The Green-Eyed Devil will soon be released only as an eBook.

Title: Three Seeds

Paperback: 290 pages

Publisher: eTreasures Publishing

Publication Date: 19 Aug 2009

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Buy here: Amazon

Summary:

An unnatural cold front grows each day, bewildering world leaders and scientists, while leaving people across the world in a state of panic. All of North America is covered in snow. Earth is slowly reverting into a frozen oasis, causing religious groups to scream of the end of days, while others believe it’s the beginning of a new and foretold era.

Rosemary Anderson finds herself working as a receptionist, living on an old southern plantation and wishing for excitement. David, the man claiming to have rescued her from a car wreck three years earlier, has maneuvered himself into her life, but only shows up occasionally to ask Rose strange and cryptic questions about a past she no longer remembers.

Rose’s desire for adventure comes true, when strange men arrives at her plantation, and suddenly assails her. Rose narrowly escapes with the help of her mysterious friend David. David flees to Atlanta as he leads Rose through a hidden and treacherous world filled with death, power, secrets and passion. While trying to protect her from immortals shrouded by shadows, an ancient secret society and antediluvian beings from a forgotten time determined to either capture... or kill her.

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Okay, onto the CONTEST!

Gabriel is kindly giving a copy of Three Seeds in e-Book format as today's prize.

To be in with a chance to win all you have to do is the following:

1. Tweet/Blog about this contest leaving link with comment

2. Leave email address with comment

That's it - easy peasy lemon squeezy!

This is open worldwide and ends 3rd Dec. Good luck to all!

If you would like to know more about Gabriel and his books then visit him here:

Website