im writing a story about a guy who is addicted to drugs. should he die at the end or not?

Question

heres the jist of it.

Theirs this guy whos name is Gerard Love, he's 21 years of age. And lives in Mass. Hes highly addicted to drugs. and drinks heavily.

thats the basic of the story.

im wondering should Gerard die at the end?
Or live to tell other not to to drugs?

I think he should die at the end to make a bigger impact, instead the typical 'the guy cleans up his act and then turns out great'.


Opinions would be very welcomed.

thank you.

Answer 1

depends on what kind of effect you want:

if you want a pesimistic effect: he finaly cleans up his act and dies in a mugging by a drug adict looking to finance his next hit

If you want optomistic: he cleans his act up, finds a girl falls in love and gets married (which would be more inline with shakespeare, he loved happy endings- they sell more tickets)

if you want nihilistic: it doesn't matter what he does! he cleans up then gets hooked again and it ends with him in the same spot as the begining

if you want the religious ending: he finds god and his connection with his faith leads him to be healed

if you want the "realistic" ending: he gets killed either by drug overdose or goes to prison for a very long time (i don't like the realistic endings, thier is too much reality in the real world for me, i don't want it in my fiction too

Answer 2

I agree with you about making Gerard die in the end because it'd be a big break from the "cleaning up and straightening out" act. Many stories such as this one end up with the addict surviving the "struggle" against drugs and afterwards trying to help other persons to quit; these stories carry a good message but sometimes they fail to deliver it properly. The way you end it will have a very big impact because when people read it, they must feel sorry for the guy and then maybe they won't give in to drugs...

Hope this helps. Email me when your story's finished, I'd like to read it, that is if you want me to. Good luck writing!

Answer 3

As a writer I feel that characters tend to work it out for you, you can't always predict whether they will live or die.
He also doesn't have to die to make an impact, there are ways to end it that wouldn't mean him either "cleaning up his act" or flat out dying, you never know what will happen simply because it isn't either or in real life either.
Ultimately it's a combination of the characters progress and the authors willingness to compromise with that character that will get you your conclusion.
Good Luck.

Answer 4

I still don't feel like you've told us the "basic of the story." You've given us some information about the main character, but unless the story is a really long character sketch, we don't actually know anything about it.

Is this a day-in-the-life story? Is it about his drug dealer? His time spent in rehab? How his habit forced him to lose his job? Until we know what's actually HAPPENING in the story, picking an ending is pretty difficult, especially from a literary standpoint.

Would you mind offering up some more info so we can get a better idea of what the story is? Thanks. :)

Answer 5

He needs to die,absolutely.
Everybody loves drama and everybody loves practical example.What is a better proof that drugs kill than actually visualising a drug addict die?
Besides,drugs stain you,you will always be marked,same with the alcohol,so he'd better die now than live a life of misery and sickness.
This way you show charity to your character,and you bring a moral contribution to an imaginary world,because his death must convince someone to stop doing drugs or just stay away from them.That's my guess....

Answer 6

You could turn into Shakespeare and make it into a "tragedy"...
The plot is a bit boring now because not many people will be attracted to the plot, but you will attract more if you add a girlfriend or wife etc.

If you don't however, you could always add her anyway and have the ending with her turning out to be a figure of his imagination, for a good twist......

You could have him kill himself because he really loved her
Or you could have him stay and wait to see if she exists...

Both work the same, but on your plot, I would have him die, but not in the way the readers would think....I mean you have to have some sort of twist!! Maybe he could die from a car crash or he gets killed?

Answer 7

I thing the best and realistic end of your story is for the guy to die. An alcoholic and drug addict is unfortunately doomed. Of course I am sure there are cases of people to have lived happily ever after, but the truth is harsh.

Answer 8

It all comes down to the main message you want to transmit to your readers. If you are trying to inform your readers about the possible effects and health risks to drugs, then you should consider making Gerald live and go through drug rehab. However, if the sole purpose of writing a story IS writing a story, then you could consider making him die to add a tragical, emotional touch to your story's ending.

Answer 9

Go to an AA or NA open meeting. You'll hear stories and get a better idea of the ending that you want for Gerard. You'll hear a lot of stories about people cleaning up, you'll hear about people cleaning up and falling off, and you'll hear about people that cleaned up too late to save themselves.

Having had to go to an NA meeting in a show of support for a friend, I was a little surprised. His girlfriend turned him in to his parents, landing him in rehab, when she discovered that he was "selling" himself in the gay neighborhoods to support a growing addiction. There are worse stories.

A friend of mine died at 23, after almost perpetually being in either rehab or jail for 6 years. He'd gone back to making meth, swallowed the baggie full of it when the cops stopped him on a traffic warrant and died in jail.

Having had to read the AA "Big Book," to deal with a man I supervised, who relapsed in an outstanding manner, (at work, nonetheless,) was an eye opener. I now give it freely to anyone I know who's got a problem employee; it supports the organization, it might save an addict his job, and give the employer an insight to the demons plaguing their employee.

So, go let people better skilled in the nature of the beast tell you what they think. You'll be out a dollar, choked by cigarette smoke,hyper caffeinated, but they'll be more than happy to talk to you about what they think your ending should be.

I can't tell you how to think, I can't tell you what to think. The people at an AA or NA open meeting will be more than happy to tell you what you should think on the subject.

JT

Answer 10

it depends on how you would like the message of your story turn out. if you want to emphasize tragedy, then let the character die. If you want to give hope to drug addicts and encourage the that there's still hope, then let the character live.

if you want tragic:
let the character realize that he regrets using drugs but its now too late for him to change after all things went bad. then he commits suicide. (coz most drug addicts have bigger problems that they want to escape and they tend to distract themselves by using drugs or masking the loneliness that they feel) or have been shot by the cops, or went crazy.

if you want him to live:
its boring, and been used a million times

other:
open-ended. make the readers wonder what happened to him. and this is very tricky.