I’m planning a sci-fi and fantasy webseries. It probably won’t go anywhere, so don’t get too excited, but I need help with the plot of one episode.
I’m planning to kill off a character and have the other protagonists almost die, but only just survive. However, what should the cause of death be?
- Nuclear radiation
- Sci-fi disease
- Some kind of terrifying alien creature
It honestly depends on how you are writing the web series. How this character dies should also bring about a whole plot line.
Nuclear radiation - Why? What accident happened? What changes in safety regulations?
Sci-fi disease - Why? Was it because of first contact? Does that hinder the relationship with that alien creature?
alien creature - Why? Are they just big baddies who don’t have any motivations of their own except to be a big bad or is this an alien creature mob boss and they had to kill this person to keep a secret safe?
Lots of places you can take this death but overall it should reflect what you are going to be writing.
if you give me the choice, i will always pick aliens :)
Sci fi disease that turns out to be a terrifying alien creature.
Be aware how slow and gruesome dying of radiation poisoning can be unless the dose is immideately fatal. including a day where they feel much better, the Walking-Ghost-Phase
This would be a massive burst from all directions, absorbed through a faulty radiation suit. In my rough plan, the protagonists find a secret research station underground, where experiments were run involving delta radiation (which is a real thing, look it up).
I’m not good with answers, but if it helps I have a question.
Why did he specifically survive? Is he physically different or is it just luck?
What?
My bad: die, not survive.
They die to destroy the monster in this episode. There’s a refuge pod in the centre of the location, which protects the protagonists from radiation. However, in order to destroy the monster that’s been terrorising the town, they seal their friends inside the pod and then do something to release a gigantic amount of radiation.
I have, of course, come to the conclusion of what actually kills this character since I made this post. Nobody needs to worry though, as I’ll definitely feature some aliens in a few episodes.
Are you still deciding?
I would probably not do a disease unless you are are trying to evoke feelings related to covid, or it’s very, very different in symptoms. (and maybe not even then) - only because I feel like that’s carrying a lot of baggage right now for some folks.
Of the rest, I love the alien creature idea!
What is the most dramatic way? Could another protagonist die from it when one of them chose to save the day instead? Can it be a daily ocurrance, and that guy was just the unlucky one?
Was it something just utterly mundane like having their feet stuck in something? Does that guy have actually to die to finalise their character arc in a satisfying way?
- He sacrifices himself to save the others.
- The others sacrifice him to save themselves.
- One character kills him to save everyone else, but doesn’t tell them, thus setting up the next big dirty secret.
Whether the mechanism of death is radiation, disease, or aliens isn’t too important.
They were already going to sacrifice themself to save the others. The mechanism of death, however, is an important part of the plot of this episode.
In that case, I vote for aliens.
Nuclear Radiation almost killing people is probably the most problematic, there will be all sorts of long-term damage.
The sci-fi disease at least has the exact properties you want it to have, and the Alien Creature option simply gives you physical damage which comes in your choice of severity. I’d lean toward that over all, but it really depends on what fits the story best.
And might I recommend Royal Road as one of your publishing platforms? Pure fantasy tends to do better than Sci-fi, but at least it is a point of traction. I know a lot of people post across multiple platforms.
