James Barclay

[Mark D]

James,
This has been covered a little bit in other topics, but did you find it hard to kill off a lot of the main characters whilst writing the books? i found it very hard to accept 'The End' after finishing Demonstorm, ive found myself having a sense of emptiness now i have no stories of the Raven, and knowing that some of the best character may never come back! But im going to get into Cry of the Newborn soon which should help me get over the losses

[James]

Killing a character is never easy. If I found it a simple thing to decide and write then it would mean to me that it was a gratuitous act and not one driven by the story.


SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
Affects Elfsorrow and Demonstorm






Some have been harder than others. Ilkar in Elfsorrow was very hard to write having been a very tough decision to make. I still get emails about it now. And in Demonstorm, I was fighting with myself when I wrote Hirad's death. Thing is, both were absolutely right. It's hard to make an unsentimental decision but that's what you have to do.

Another temptation is giving all your heroes 'Hollywood' deaths. In the first draft of Demonstorm, Darrick had a supremely glorious demise. Changing it to a sudden, shocking end was a tough call but the right call, I think... if only to demonstrate the fragility of even the very best.
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'A human with a hand outstretched in friendship carries the fangs of a taipan in his palm.' A TaiGethen saying.

[Max Power]

Demonstorm spoiler





I really 'liked' the Darrick death, because it is the kind of thing that happens in war, and to be fair, James, surely it would have been hard to top the Ilkar death!!!
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If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

[Ilkarelvenmage]

Nope i didn't die. I actually teleported to Alfheim and events got rewritten What will they do without me? they will be awfully lost poor mortals