PSA: killing off a side character too early wrecked my whole plot

I was writing this horror story set in a small town outside Portland and killed off the librarian in chapter 3 thinking it would raise the stakes. Turns out she was the only one who knew the town's secret history and without her the rest of the story fell flat on its face. I had to rewrite 12 pages to bring her back as a ghost who appears in flashbacks. Has anyone else made a character death they regretted and had to undo?

2 comments

2 Comments

reesel501mo ago

My buddy wrote himself into a corner with a detective novel. Killed off the coroner in chapter two for shock value, then realized that character was the only one who could explain the weird poison used in the murder. He ended up making the coroner's twin brother show up out of nowhere, which felt super cheap but he said it saved his book.

patricia5581mo ago

Your librarian ghost sounds way more interesting than a living librarian anyway. Ghosts can pop in at random moments and drop cryptic hints without it feeling forced. Plus horror stories need some supernatural element or they're just sad stories with bad weather. That coroner's twin trick though? That's the kind of write-around that makes readers throw books across rooms.