How to NOT bringing back a dead character

This subject is a very tricky talent that few very special people possess. I do not claim to have this talent, but I do know what I hate seeing about characters who come back to life in stories. To sum up, I've done my research and looked into the bringing back of characters that I liked, and have written up some ideal guidelines that you can follow if you wish to. 




RULE ONE: it's OK to keep a character in the grave!


This makes your story a little more realistic and relatable. Make sure you really do want to bring back a character and that it won't affect the story in a bad way before you actually do. If you bring back a character, it should advance the plot, just like everything else. 

You don't need to bring back a character for the sake of having a happy ending. This isn't a great way to show your readers how to deal with grief and loss, instead, have your characters accept that someone they cared about is gone and that everything will be ok for them eventually. 






RULE TWO: DON'T CLICHE IT!!!


This is a pretty hard concept, and there are very few ways to not cliche it. There seem to be so many ways to bring back a dead character now that everything feels like it's already been done. My advice is to just think about how to do it your own way, and make sure everything is in character when it happens.

(NOTE: IF YOU DO BRING BACK A CHARACTER, THIS WILL AFFECT YOUR OTHER CHARACTERS!!!)






RULE THREE: DON'T LET SOMEONE FROM ONE OF YOUR CHARACTER'S PAST TO COME BACK TO RUIN THEIR CHARACTER BUILD!!!


THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE ON THIS LIST!!!  I cannot stress this enough with a lot of people! If you bring back a character that died and the character(s) who cared about them grew as a person (or people) and changed for the better or worse, DON'T BRING BACK THE DEAD CHARACTER! 

If you bring back a dead character whose death changed other characters' lives in any way, then you shouldn't bring them back just to ruin the other character's backstory. When you do this, especially if you end up not using that character again, you can't use any of those characters anymore without them being OOC, which isn't any fun.

ESPECIALLY DON'T PULL THIS STUNT FOR A REDEMPTION ARC!!!







RULE FOUR: Don't bring back someone because you're out of ideas


This is just sloppy and uncalled for... If you need to, take a break from writing and work on something else for a while until you come up with something else. You eventually won't know what to do with that character you brought back for randomly, and that isn't something all too great about your story.






in any form or fashion, you choose to bring back a character, I wish you the best of luck.




~Rey Brooks