Grim Reaper

I don't think I've killed off that many characters. On both occasions I've killed the main character's parent(s), though canon material their family pretty much got killed off sometime in the past. Either way, those deaths leave a big impact on the main character later on. For the most part, my original characters either went to jail or left on their own accord haha.

As for my thoughts on killing off characters, it depends on the execution but I don't mind it overall. I too think it adds tensions and makes events more interesting.

I'm perfectly happy to kill characters off but I don't do it arbitrarily - it has to make sense for them to die or it has to add something to the story (at least for a character of any significance). It adds a lot more intensity to a story when nobody is immune to death and opens up a lot avenues for developing other characters too.

I don't think I've killed that many characters on-screen - maybe a few times, or a handful of times if I'm stretching. It's like, I dunno how to describe it: each character is like a piece of panned gold to me? I put a lot of thought into them from conception and, I dunno, I've never created a character like "This dude's gonna die Chapter 3," because I don't put that much thought into stories to begin with, so eh :/

Killing off a character is a super-significant major event that both the in-universe characters and out-of-universe writer shouldn't avert one's eyes from it. Not only you are going to lose a character forever so plot may progress differently, but the acknowledgement of death will alter the mental condition and thinking pattern of some characters, so they may not think in the same way as before. Thus it is an important plot turning point where many things will start to progress in a different manner than previously.
Even the killed off character is just some nameless passer-by that has absolute no relationship with any of the main characters, it is still impossible for ones to refuse to acknowledge this thing called death exist in the universe, and although to a much lesser degree of death of a closer relative, still the acknowledgement of death will still affect the mental of other characters.
Also, with the existence of death, despite that one may not really utilize it at all into the plot of the fic, but the possibility of death will still set the tone to a more serious one where that greatly eliminates the overall comicality of the fic.

In the second fic I'm currently working on, I had already set up quite some deaths of a few pokemons and one human character, all as part of the background story told by flashback of one of my main character. It is important as it gives out the reason of why this character is behaving like he is currently, what difficulty he is currently facing, and what he can do to resolve his problem. And, by doing that as early as on Chp.2, the reader should then understand from a very early stage that this fic of mine is not anything comical at all, the story is serious, this PokeWorld is the raw world of survival where law of jungle is the rule.
Thought, yet, other than this death in the flashback, there is really no more death in any of the later chapters (or correctly speaking, not planned yet. But I don't think it is needed).
But on the other hand, I planned on severely injuring one of the main character so he will be put on bus forever. Not exactly death, but still, the mental impact to my main characters are really not worse than death itself happening at that spot.

Killing characters is great, especially when they're crucial to your MC's survival. Got a supporting character with a positive trait that negates your MC's negative trait? Kill them the moment that trait would become most useful and force your MC to struggle through it. Growth is good, and the growth from the death of a close friend or family member is more meaningful and powerful than any other.

If done well, killing off a beloved character can be a powerful moment. That being said, you have to be very careful about it. Ask yourself "Can I still tell the story I want to tell without the character I want to kill off?"

If the answer is no, then don't.

If the answer is yes, next ask yourself "How can I still tell the story I want to tell without this character?"

Most importantly, don't just have the death come out of nowhere--build up to it, and have your characters grieve realistically, according to how you think they would grieve.

EmeraldSky said:

If done well, killing off a beloved character can be a powerful moment. That being said, you have to be very careful about it. Ask yourself "Can I still tell the story I want to tell without the character I want to kill off?"

If the answer is no, then don't.

If the answer is yes, next ask yourself "How can I still tell the story I want to tell without this character?"

Most importantly, don't just have the death come out of nowhere--build up to it, and have your characters grieve realistically, according to how you think they would grieve.

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Personally I think building up to a characters death gradually can lose a lot of the impact since it is often very obviously going to happen. I'd say it's better to just develop all your characters as per normal and then kill off intended characters out of nowhere. Deaths have more of an impact when you don't see them coming.

i've only ever done one short story where a character dies. and it ended right when he died. it was like..a short story fan fiction. other than that, i've never done any deaths. i also hate reading stories with major character death bc it bums me out personally.

Depends on the story, but there can be benefits to killing a character.

It can be used to bring out something of the protagonist/side characters. I tend to use it in three ways.

1) To start a resolve to do an objective
2) To aid in character development or show a side of a character/impact that was left
3) To be part of a sad scene to drive it through, and make it more memorable/impacting on future scenes of retribution/conflict end/pinnacle of choice.

BUT I HATE KILLING CAHRACTERS I LOVE, DESPITE HOW MUCH THE PLOT NEEDS IT! (Uhuhuhuhuhhh)

(sniff) My characters you will be missed (sniff)