killing children: Going too far?

I've notice that I don't normally bother with Plot Armour with child characters in my fantasy stories. If it makes sense that the kid going to die to the plots then they are going to die. Simple as that. If a monster is eating all the townsfolk logically there is no reason it's going to hold back.

That said, I know it kind of upsets people to have children die in fiction for totally understandable reasons, and I would like to think I'm above needlessly pissing people off just to make a point. So what is your opinion? Should the death of children be shy away from in fiction or not?

No.

I've already had a nominal good guy kill two of them. She didn't have many other options.

No, though I would advise against opening a work, chapter or even paragraph with the death of a child, especially if said death is violent. The degree of graphic description is irrelevant to this: Opening with a child's death makes people uncomfortable, and rarely in a good way.

It largely depends on the genre, target audience, and tone of the story. But the way I see it, death is horrible, no matter who the victim is, and killing even more so, so anyone who would put your book down just because the death is of a child as opposed to some one older, is just plain crazy. It's not like adults are any more deserving of death. And besides, there's a very popular novel and a recently successful movie all about killing children. So you have nothing to worry about. Just treat the deaths as seriously as you would any other death and you should be okay. Unless you're going for something like a Dead Baby Comedy.

Basically this.

Oddly I think the younger intended audience the less controversial it is. Adults might see kids as Innocent and child death as horrifying but children will see them as no better than any other characters.

edited 30th Mar '12 9:02:57 AM by joeyjojo

Treat their deaths seriously and don't abuse them for shock value and you'll be fine. Same as for any character's death, really.

I agree with this.

I also agree with this. The death of one's peer is generally less shocking than what could be the death of one's offspring.

Just like to point out the Hunger Games (novel) has been adapted to movies already.

Broke Twilight's record at the box office.

And Hunger Games was about Children killing Children.

Killing children is be not going too far according to the box office.

But in general, don't be afraid to kill off a child, especially if they would realistically die in such a situation, but handle it with care.

Thinking about it, "adults are more upset about children's deaths than children" is an interesting thought. I think that a young child probably will treat a death like any other death, teenagers become less fettered about death in general, but as an adult gets older and possibly has children, their fear of death increases.

Hmm...

Many teenagers love watching the death scenes of people whatever the age. Edgy, no?

Pretty much the reason why I chose to watch crime series in the first place.

If you're depicting child death in an honest, meaningful way that isn't there for the mere sake of showing you're "dark and gritty" (not that there's anything wrong with that) and there's a deeper meaning to it than just merely death for its own sake, then yes, do it but don't go overboard with it.

edited 30th Mar '12 8:31:48 PM by StillbirthMachine

I don't understand why age matters in the slightest when killing characters off. Children are just as mortal as adults are.

It really shouldn't be treated at all differently in comparison to any other death.

edited 30th Mar '12 9:30:11 PM by burnpsy

Stephen King generally hasn't been shy about offing kids in his work. Hasn't seemed to hurt him much. I'd say just do whatever serves your story best.

Obviously, if you're doing it just to be edgy, then you're probably going to turn people off from your work. However if it adds something to the plot and the characters and that's where you want it to go, run with it. Obviously, doing so is going to make the work a bit darker.

Any one remember the infamous 'baby pike' scene in eragon?