The Word Cloud

I've run into an interesting conundrum while writting recently- not exactly wanting advise as such at the moment, but just interested in peoples thoughts on the matter.

My MC has just killed someone. Not through choice, purely out of self defence, but still... well she's a little shaken up by it. She doesn't LIKE killing people, and as the story progresses, her dillema is only going to get worse.

In order to be likeable, she has to show remorse- otherwise she is just like her enemies (okay, that's not strictly true, but I do feel that remorse does make her a more likeable character)
On the other hand, there is only so much time your MC can spend mourning over a dead enemy before it becomes whinny and annoying (once again, this is a personal opinion).

I'm interested to see what people think.

Is remorse a good thing for an MC to have? It certainly prevents them from doing things, and thus slow down the story, but at the same time, it does make them more human.
Is passing remorse enough, or would you expect it to build up, becoming worse with every death? or perhaps the MC becomes accustomed to it, caring less and less as the story progresses?

I only bring this up, because generally speaking, MC's do not show remorse for the enemies they kill. They just go "Oh, they were a bad person" or whatever, and it gets brushed over. (or they are a 'pure' MC and thus don't kill anyone)
Also, it relates back to the classic "why are all heroines spiky" topic, in that Remorse is generally not considered a spikey attribute.

Characters should change over the course of the story. They shouldn’t be exactly the same people at the end as they were at the beginning.

So, taking remorse as an example, a MC could wallow in it with the situation becoming worse and worse until some disaster occurs because of it, they could suppress it until it re-emerges at some time in the future where it causes problems or perhaps points to a better way, or they can deal with it and move on, perhaps discovering that when the need is imperative they can kill, but conscience prevents them from revelling in death or killing unless absolutely necessary. Or perhaps some other outcome altogether. But whatever course is chosen, there needs to be a reason for it that’s relevant to the plot and the character.

What path your MC’s remorse follows depends on whether she is going to kill again later in the story. If she does then the path of her remorse now must set her for her required response on that next occasion.

Except when it’s totally relevant, as in my first possibility, I’d agree that listening to the MC witter on about it endlessly is likely to grow tedious. When she does bring it up and how often, in other scenarios, depends on what purpose the remorse has to the character’s development and to the plot.

Well that’s my take on it anyway.

I agree with both of you; killing someone is unlikely not to leave its mark on a character and any MC who shrugs it off becomes flat and boring; but also too much angst and navel-gazing is tiresome.
I feel the answer is to go back to first principles of character evolution and show-don't-tell.

All stories have to be about some kind of transformation (otherwise, er, where's the story? It's just an anecdote otherwise), and drama is defined as 'Character in Action'.
So yes, the character has to change, but this doesn't have to me endless moaning and wringing of hands. What does she DO that will illustrate her mind-shift when she's killed someone?
And the whole episode involved more than the murder-in-self-defence. Was she in fear of her life before? Was she careless and so may blame herself?
Perhaps she walks down the street, crossing the road whenever she hears someone behind her and clutching her bag? I did this for months after I'd been mugged. Does she justify it endlessly to friends in conversation? Does she stop going out? Is she afraid to be alone at night? Check the locks fifteen times when she comes in? Lay subtle traps (a hair across the door, things like that)? Does she try to make covert recompense to her victim's family? Try to find out more about him? Where might this lead?
This all comes back to first prinicples: let the reader work out how she feels about it, by showing what she does in the aftermath, and avoiding endless 'Woe is me' exposition.

Someone who has no reaction to killing a person is a psychopath, but remorse isn't the only possible emotion for the rest of us, if we've killed someone - you can feel both guilty and relieved, happy and horrified...

Ways to make sure the story doesn't stall on pages of introspection, while keeping the reader being aware that for the MC everything has changed:

a) think character-in-action. Be careful how much you Tell us about what the MC is thinking and feeling - and how much she Tells herself in brooding. Focus on Showing us her actions and reactions, in ways which make us sense how different things now are for her. Where you do want her to think, remember that thinking is action too - Don't describe her thoughts, concentrate on where you want the thinking to lead her, phrase by phrase, thought by thought - and write that linked chain that leads somewhere. At the end of a paragraph of her thoughts, she needs to have changed, by realising someting or deciding to do something.

b) make what the change is (and the scale of it) become apparent in bits and pieces and stages, not necessarily one huge Moment.

c) Remember how sometimes our awareness of how much we and our lives has changed only comes in retrospect, too - we look back on something we've just done or said, and suddenly realise, "Golly, I'd never have reacted like that five years (or ten days) ago, before my father died/I got divorced/I ran that dog over."

Exactly - it's an evolution of a character that needs to be shown...

And, apart from character development, it could be an important plot device. For example, because of her earlier remorse, when faced with having to kill again, she may pause for that vital split second - which could have all sorts of ramifications...

Interesting, so the general opinion appears to be: