When I joined GSHW, one of the questions I was asked was, “How many bodies, and where have you hidden them?” My response (I don’t remember whether it actually showed up in the newsletter):
Um, let’s see . . . two with a chainsaw, one was burned to death, I lost track of the knife ones, and there are at least a few with a sword. Some had their hearts ripped out by a werewolf. At least one death by poisoning. Most of a clutch destroyed by a game. Oh, then there’s this planet . . . I kill people a lot. You were talking about fiction, right?
I still haven’t gotten around to killing the planet; that’s an SF novel that’s on the to-do list for some time. On the other hand, I have bumped off a couple more people with blunt objects to the head. That’s all I can think of at the moment.
I’ve maimed some others. Carved things in people’s skin. Taken away people’s memories. Threatened to toss them off flying ships. Being a writer is fun!
Not everything has been finished. Not everything that has been finished has been accepted for publication somewhere.
Doesn’t matter. I’m having fun writing it. The next time you see me and I have an evil grin on my face, don’t ask why. The odds are good I’m planning another killing.
In my current WIP I favor poisoning people or dropping pieces of crumbling castles on them. In my past works I’ve bled them to death while trying to steal their souls. Other than that, I haven’t killed many people.
Hmmm…. I must up my body count, I think.
Well, I’m not writing as much YA as you do, so my body counts may naturally be higher. Or maybe I’m just more bloodthirsty. 😉
I don’t kill many people. They don’t get out of my clutches that easily. 😀
LOL!
Last book, I took out a young girl with a tornado, and another guy got blown over a cliff by a gust of wind. In the current book, a sentient tree sacrifices itself. Pretty low body counts recently. In older work I’ve stabbed people, sent them into battles they have little hope of winning, used death magic to take out an entire army, and sucked all the life out of an entire city.
Oooh, how creative! I love taking out the army — and tornadoes are terribly underutilized, I think. Poor tree.