When you’ve reached that point in your story or novel where your main character dies—whether it’s from a disease, fatal accident, murder, or other creative cause—it’s important to handle the death in a way that your readers don’t want to turn away. It’s natural for readers to create an attachment to the central character, and saying good-bye is a hardship we all share. To make the death of your main character a little easier to bear, the following are points of advice to consider when crossing this difficult literary hurdle.

As writers, most of us would admit to sometimes stifling our own potential because we’re afraid to fail at something new. In fact, most people can say that about their lives in general. But, because we are creative people, we have to expect more of ourselves than the status quo. But that expectation isn’t just limited to our lifestyles; we have to see new places, meet new people, and pursue new experiences—but we also have to push ourselves to try new things in the writing itself.

If you never experiment with your style, you’ll only ever be capable of what you’re already good at today. We’re hoping that you won’t be satisfied with just what you do well at this moment, but that you’ll try some of the following suggestions and push yourself to new heights in your writing.