How to Successfully Mourn a Fictional Character...

I could take you through the seven stages of grief, or quote other articles detailing how to appropriately recover from the death of your beloved character; but you've heard those silly notations before. Instead, I'll show you how I survive the loss of my precious cinnamon rolls and force my self to continue with life.

If you're anything like me, you'll experience rage before sadness. The kind of rage that takes away all rational thinking. Make sure to have pillows on standby to avoid punching a wall or something similar that could seriously injure you. Pillows make great tools to punch, scream in, tear, etc., all the while avoiding a trip to the hospital. Who wants to explain to a doctor that you punched a pillow because the latest episode of Doctor Who.

Also, if you destroy them, they only cost $5 at Walmart to replace.

While you have a pillow, be sure to keep it handy for this next part. It makes a great tool to hold and cuddle when the tears start rolling. And trust me, once they start... they won't stop, not for a while. And if you think for a second that it's going to be one of those cutesy cries with soft sniffles and only a few tears, you're wrong. Dead wrong.

Nope, it's going to be one of those ugly sobs. The kind that are so deep and guttural that your throat goes sore and your stomach tightens, snot seeping out your nose. So, get the tissue ready!

Trust me, you're going to need it.

Whether you're crying for a couple of minutes, or hours, (let's be honest, there's no real 'appropriate' time frame) eventually, the tears will be over. If you're lucky, you might tire yourself out and fall asleep.

Usually, my next step for coping is memes or funny pictures on the internet. From memes mocking the death of said beloved character to memes simply making fun of the entire show, movie, or book, comic relief is comic relief.

Laughter is the best medicine, after all.

Either way, the internet can be a quick fix for a multitude of reasons. Memes and laughter being just one of those reasons. While laughter may soothe any leftover rage or despair, it won't change the fact that your favorite character is still dead. Which unfortunately means, unless your character exists in the Marvel universe, they might have met their permanent demise.

Fortunately for you, a beautiful thing called Fix-it Fics exists in this cruel world. These are fanfictions created in order to fix the most horrible circumstances.

After a bit of laughter, I tend to live in a blissful state of ignorance, which I can easily do with fanfictions.

You can definitely find me scouring fan fiction, Tumblr, or archive of our own for stories about how my precious characters have miraculously survived or been resurrected. This stage usually takes hours upon hours, days upon days. Weeks even. It is also perhaps the most difficult in all of the steps. It takes time, patience, dedication, and a bit of crazy.

For some, the process of coping with the loss of a fictional character could take months. It may be something you can never truly recover from. That's simply a part of being such a dedicated fangirl, or fanboy.

However, as a fan, I encourage you to see the purpose in the writers' or directors' decision. Sometimes even the actors are the reason a character may be killed off. Regardless of who makes the final call, dig deeper. Figure out why the decision was made. Perhaps the actor wanted to move on to a bigger or more diverse role. Maybe the writers thought it would advance the plot. Whatever the reason may it, knowing why this happened may just provide you with a big sense of relief you've been searching for.