Thank you, Sheila, you said it so perfectly. I agree with everything you said.

I, too, get very engrossed in the stories I read. I identify very strongly with the people I read about. Often I identify, to some degree at least, with every at least moderately likable character in the story, and the death of any such character will hurt me. I will never - and I mean never - be able to say, after I have finished reading a story, oh, thank God, it was only Lois (Clark, Harry Potter, Frodo, Rigoletto's daughter etc) who was killed, not me!

The reason why I want deathfic to be about the real world, to tell me important things about the real world, is that that is the only way I can get over my depression of seeing those fictional characters die. I, too, understand that the real world is more important, and certainly more real, than fictive worlds and characters. You may say whatever you like about a book like "Uncle Tom's Cabin", but it did make people question the system of slavery. Rather than getting all wrapped up in the tragedy of Uncle Tom himself, a fictional character, people felt the need to do something to help those who were slaves in the real world. That's the kind of deathfic that I can appreciate, the deathfic that energizes us and directs our purpose outwards, into the real world.

But just experiencing the shocking ups and downs of an emotional rollercoaster ride ending in the death of a likeable character, without being given a suggestion what to do with my ensuing emotions of shock, loss and despondence, well, that will only make me feel very depressed.

As for deathfic about Lois and Clark, I have invested an incredible amount of emotion into these two characters since I was thirteen years old. Reading about the premature death of one of them is, to me, really like reading about the premature death of one of my dearest and oldest friends. Will I ever be able to like or appreciate that? No, I never will.

Ann