As much as James Patterson books are page turners, I prefer Lee Child's "Jack Reacher" series for the most part. I'm not averse to people being killed but I like to spend time with old fictional friends and to seem them succeed.

On the other hand, I got tired of the Honor verse and the Daniel Leary/RCN series. It became too much "let's pat ourselves on the back for being the good guys and Player Characters".

Choosing Child vs Patterson is a right now thing and I'm good on that. Keeping away from Honor/RCN is a longer term goal. For that I'm working on changing venues and major characters as I start new books, but staying in the same "universe". The good guys will win, but it should always be tough and they may not be exactly the same at the end.

What are your thoughts on this?

Are you asking in relation to your specific story, or just people's preferences on the methods in general?

People's thoughts and preferences. Honestly more a "yes, that makes sense" point, the past few days have been blah and I'm too new a writer to think I know what I'm doing or be confident I'm doing anything well.

Can you elaborate on the different plot archetypes? I get the gist of what you're saying, but your summary is a bit cryptic for those who haven't read the aforementioned books.

Shows you how awake my brain is...sorry.

Lee Child writes the "Jack Reacher" books. Reacher has several things he's very good at; physical brawling, deduction, and knowing a lot of crime related things. Sort of a modern Sherlock Holmes. There's never a doubt that he will solve the case, but how he does it is a fun read.

James Patterson is a prolific commercial fiction writer of several series and he makes his books be page turners. Short chapters, lots of twists, and except for the main character you never know if anyone will survive. Even the main character might not, but I've only read a few of his books.

For example, in "Make Me" by Child, Reacher got the girl. Now, he moves around a lot and the relationship probably won't last, but there's that hope. If nothing else, they can meet again. In Patterson's "1st to Die" the MC's love interest was killed at the end. The MC has a life-threatening disease and I wanted some good for her. Didn't happen.


In the TDW books the same characters will move onto and off center stage. Since the 1429 series is set thirteen years after 1416 series you know the 1416 characters lived. Of course, how they have changed is the question. Sometimes who they are is in question, too.

The question is, then, do you prefer stories where the secondary and primary characters are "safe", in that they will live? Or do you prefer the edginess of risk where a primary or secondary character can die off? Do you lose interest if no one dies?

"Nothing!" Al stormed upstairs. Dad could hear her crying into her stuffed blagy.

"The boy is trouble." Matreetha looked up from her knitting and spat into the bucket. "You should let me kill him. They will not find the body."

"Not today, ma'am." Dad smiled. "I have a feeling Alba's troubles are of her own making. I need to take care of some business. If she comes down remind her that we're still on for Wilbur and her friends at supper. A deal's a deal."

"Not if the other party's body cannot be found." Matreetha shrugged. "As you wish, sir. You are The Dragon."

Dad smiled weakly. "I am the father of a daughter growing up too fast. Not sure I feel much like The Dragon right now."

and later

Is touched a comm on her headset. “I have your daughter, Mister Domici. You will do exactly as I say or she’ll get so much sugar she won’t sleep until next week.”

She chuckled at his reply. “You shouldn’t use that sort of threat against me! Besides, she thinks I’m a beautiful spy. I hate to ruin the fun, but when are you going to tell her about us?”

She listened. “I know. It’s your call; I’ll support your decision. Even if I do sugar up the kids and spoil them now and again. I love you!”

and then a little later

“I think my aunt is scared of your dad.” He said quietly. “Just like the sheriffs were last night. Don’t you remember? When they found out who he was they let him leave the scene and treated him like nobility. They came to his house instead of making him answer questions right then.”

Jo added. “Wilbur asked me for a copy of the corder’s record during the fight. I watched it too.”

“I spoke to Aunt Jen about it. Something looked funny but I wasn’t sure what it was.”

“My dad got lucky against a bunch of thugs.” Al said, looking at the floor. “What’s the big deal?”

“Your dad didn’t get lucky.” Wilbur said. “I watched the corder’s scene in real slow motion. When he turned to me he moved, too. That was odd. I described the move to Aunt Jen and...and she said it was a fighting trick. Not one you can use in a sport fight, but when you wanted to kill someone. She asked me where I had heard of it and when I told her she told me to forget it and never speak of it again. She was serious, almost like there was a scary secret.”

“He’s just my dad, guys. Honest.” Al said quietly. “He protected us.”

“Al, there’s no mention of a Marco Domici ever being a police officer on Wardn. Thirteen years ago his dad mysteriously died, his mom left the planet, and he seemed to drop off the map. Everybody knows about the Domici, they are a tight knit family. Some say they are a crime family. I wouldn’t have thought that about your dad, but he beats up six big guys and the sheriff deputies are afraid of him? Even Aunt Jen seemed scared and she’s not afraid of anything.”

“A few years later he comes back and there’s a lot more Domici activity. He leaves the planet several times a year but can’t afford a new car. He teaches at a seminary, but how often have you seen him go teach a class?”

“What are you saying?”

“I think your dad is a criminal, Al. Maybe an assassin.” Wilbur said quietly. His eyes darted around the room.

“But he’s my dad.” Al sniffed. She looked at Wilbur. “I thought you were my friend.”

Personally, my thoughts are...

I generally prefer most, if not all, of the good guys to live. When you're invested in a story, you need something to root for and you want the characters to succeed. Most of the time, it's the journey - the how-do-they-get-there - that is the story and exciting. Plus, just because the MC lives, doesn't mean he comes through the experience unscathed. The growth of the character, wounds he has to live with, etc. (like Frodo, or Hiccup from How to Train a Dragon) definitely affect the happy ending, even if the main characters survive.

Some people seem to enjoy the uncertainty (Game of Thrones certainly seems to dish it out from what I hear) so some of it comes down to the reader. I have enough stress and reality in my life not to need too much of it in my fiction - so I like a bit of it but I need the critical touch of hope and/or redemption in the things I read. If it is very fitting, I can accept a character dying (like a certain beloved wizard in Harry Potter), because it wasn't done for the shock value and was a critical component in the story and for the main character's growth. But too much of it or choosing the wrong person can destroy the reader's enjoyment and more importantly, their trust. (Let's just say the ending of the Divergent series would have made me throw the book across the room and never read the author again.)

Of course, this is just my opinion and how I approach both what I read & write. I'd think that if you stay true to your story, then you'll know when/if anyone needs to die or not and how the character will change and develop into the people who are in the later series.