We're talking this week about our favorite methods of fictional murder. In terms of story, I found Inigo Montoya's sword fight with Count Rugen in The Princess Bride compelling. Of the murders I've done in my own books, the funnest to research was how to kill a person with a class-4 laser. (Spoiler: it takes time.)
But I don't get really into murder as a thing. Recently, I read a book on the Japanese invasion of Nanjing during World War II and had to put it down several times. Some murder is too much murder, especially if it actually happened.
And I guess that can be said for death in general. I remember when my dad was dying in the hospital, I saw a cockroach on the back porch of my house. My usual reaction to seeing a cockroach is to kill the thing immediately because eew, but right then I just watched it skitter. With death so close and immediate, I couldn't bring myself to take a life, even a cockroach life.
That's sort of how I feel writing this post in the middle of a pandemic. I mean, yeah death can be fictionally useful for story, but right now, with all of that darkness looming, I'd rather think about life.
Also, "I want my father back, you son of a bitch."
