It’s said that humans are the only organism on the planet who are aware of their own deaths. That’s a bit tough to verify, since we can’t ask cetaceans and cephalopods, elephants and other primates if they’re aware that someday they’re going to die. We do know that humans are aware, though, and for writers, it’s always lurking in the backs of our creation processes.
When we write LGBT fiction and especially romance based fiction, a lot of us shy away from the subject because many of us grew up during the literary period where the LGBT character always died before the end. But we can’t always ignore it. Like birth, like growth, like sex, at some point writers have to acknowledge that the hooded figure with the scythe in the corner is there.
So writers – talk to us about death. Do you kill characters? Do you deal with death as Death, a personification? How do your created societies deal with death, ritually, symbolically, philosophically?
And readers – are there any rites or rituals in fiction you’ve particularly liked? Any character deaths you will never, ever forgive?