So someone asked me yesterday why I didn’t just find a way to take out the inconvenient minion without killing him. It’s interesting, because there are a number of places where I’ve done exactly that. And I thought about doing it here too. After all, in the original draft of this section no one died at all.
But I’ve thought about it quite a lot since I killed him and it feels like it would be a cop-out to reverse it. While I could go back and un-kill him, it wouldn’t solve the problem so much as shove it under the rug. Because the fact that they’re in that place at that moment… it’s because they’re prepared to kill to do this. They’re willing to kill to achieve their goal. So altering the story so they’re not in the position of actually having to go through with it doesn’t make them innocent.
They’re not backed into a corner (unless it’s a really funny shaped corner). They have a choice. There’s always a choice. And, hell, that’s sort of what these books are about. Choice. And what makes you a hero. And what makes you a monster. And it’s only going to get worse. If I can’t handle killing this guy I’m going to lose it completely when I get to book four.
Which is sort of a point. Uncomfortable as I am with this, maybe it’s good that I’m doing this here. Like… foreshadowing.
I’m always a little concerned that people will read the first book and be all, Hey, light and fluffy and drinking and silliness and then be absolutely appalled by the end of the book. It’s all, Let the cute little rabbit lead you down the garden path into Hades.
I’m not entirely sure why the book with the drinking and swearing and sex is coming out as the less disturbing one but… well, I guess I’m only half of one book into that world. Half a book into Path things were still fairly light on the angst.
Kandace Mavrick
Paul McLaughlan
platform thing 
David
15/06/2012
Are you aiming for straight heroes, or anti-heroes?
Being teenage fiction, angst seems a popular part of such books. The characters think they are doing the right thing and being heroes, but their personal journies are finding out that what they think being a hero means is a small component of the greater picture.
There is always a choice. Some choices just ensure you die a lot quicker =P
Kandace Mavrick
15/06/2012
I don’t really draw the distinction between hero and anti-hero in my books. They’re all just people making choices.
I still refer to my protagonists as ‘the good guys’, and generally they are. But like all people, sometimes they make dubious choices. Sometimes they make wrong choices. Because they’re scared or confused or desperate. Sometimes they make the only choice they think they can and it leads them further into the darkness.
arkayspark
15/06/2012
But each time each choice can go either way. It depends on which way you’re facing each time…all about orientation. No one choice ever means you’re forever committed..to darkness or light .. Hades or paradeisos Paradise
David
15/06/2012
You are correct on two counts, Arkay.
Situations are rarely ideal, and “which way you’re facing” makes it harder to pick the right choice out of the many options.
Depending on your personal beliefs regarding free will or determinism, you are never committed eternally to one option. However, he choices you make determine how hard it is to right the wrongs caused. Make the right choice to avoid future hardship… but then how interesting would the story be? =P