I am halfway through writing a book that requires the father character to die, starvation or pneumonia due to a weakened system and the main character, his son to be devastated by his death. There is no one to blame so he blames God. Though I have lost my own father and my father-in-law (we were close), as well as many other relatives and people in our church, I have never felt that sad even when someone dies. It is usually a celebration as they lived as a Christian and died believing. The son will not be able to accept this easily but I am hesitating to write this part without a stronger empathy for the character. Any suggestions?
The fact that you empathize allows you to describe what it looks like in that character. You’ve seen devastation in people. Having experienced something is what we use to build a relationship with a person to bring about healing, not to describe them. Going to take a guess, but I think writing it will bring you to tears.
