We want to make our readers feel all sorts of emotions while reading our book. We want them to feel happy, scared, angry, surprised, disgusted (in a good way) and, yes, sad. Any emotions we can evoke are good ones. And you want to them feel several different emotions, not just one of them the whole time because, in the end, that will bore the reader. They come looking for adventure, and they expect their emotions to be toyed with. Sometimes characters just have to die.
But it's not just about the reader. It's also about your story. Sometimes we want to kill a character for the sake of killing them and because we want our reader to react to the death. But, before you kill them, you have to ask yourself a question.
Why am I killing this character?
If you don't know why you're killing the character, no one else will either. Your character must have a reason to die. If there is no reason and you're killing them just because you want the reader to mourn them, it's not going to work out that way. It's all about reason. If there's no reason, the reader is not going to react or care the way you want them to. If you are sentencing a character to death, but are unable to pinpoint exactly why they have to go, then you should think twice before getting rid of them. Maybe they need to die, maybe they don't. If you're unsure, ask yourself these questions.
Is my character in the way?
Sometimes we end up with a character who just gets in the way of everything. They started out with real purpose and you had some big plans for them but, along the way, they sort of got kicked to the side and now really serve no purpose. It happens to the best of us. If you have a character that's just there and isn't really helping to move the plot along, don't kill them. When you kill for the sole purpose of getting rid of a character that you no longer have a need for, it shows. You won't be fooling anyone. It's taking the easy way out. So, obviously, this character needs not to be in the story because they're just getting in the way of everything but you don't need to kill them off. What you need to do is acknowledge they have no purpose and go back and completely write them out. This way, instead of having to kill them later, now they just never existed. You don't need characters in your story who serve no purpose, so don't have them in there in the first place.
Will killing this character move the plot forward?
If the answer to this question is no, you need to think again about killing them. Everything that happens in your story, every scene, every event, every death, has to help the plot along. If killing your character puts a pause on the plot or is completely irrelevant to the plot, then what's the point of killing them?
Is killing the character really necessary?
Sometimes, the plot demands we kill the character and sometimes it doesn't. Don't kill your character if you don't need to. You really want to avoid just going around killing characters because if it keeps happening and it doesn't need to happen, the reader isn't going to cry, they're going to get annoyed. We need to really plan out the character deaths and make sure it's necessary in order for the reader to care when the character dies.
How will the death affect the main character?
If you're going to kill a character, the death has to affect the main character. Whether positively or negatively, the main character has to have some reaction to it. Remember that the death of whoever you're killing has to push the plot forward, and your main character is carrying the plot with them, so they must be affected one way or another by the character's death. It doesn't have to be an emotional reaction. They may not have even known the character, but the death needs to come back to them somehow. Maybe it just makes their task more difficult, or maybe easier. Just make sure the death affects the main character either directly or indirectly.
Am I killing the character to make the reader sad or to shock them?
It's important that you don't kill off characters for the purpose of getting a reaction from your audience. You won't get the reaction you want if you kill for the sole purpose of getting a reaction. If your character dies in the right way, at the right time, for the right reasons, the reader will react. But don't try to get a reaction from them. Do not kill for the reader, kill for your story.
Am I killing the character because it's the bad guy?
It's common for the villain to die at the end of a story. But it's not written in stone that every villain ultimately has to die. In fact, it's not even suggested anywhere. Don't kill the villain just because they're the bad guy. They must have as much reason to die as any other character and that reason can't just be that they're the opposing force. Kill the villain only if they have to die for the sake of your story. Only if it makes the story better and they have no other option. When killing a bad guy, you have to ask yourself the same questions you would before killing any other character.
The point here is that you really need to think before killing your character. Really question your motives for doing it and make sure it's absolutely necessary for your story. Especially if you find yourself unable to pinpoint exactly why you're doing it. The truth is, sometimes, no matter how much we want to kill a character, they really don't need to die and we have to acknowledge that.
But, also, sometimes we really don't want to kill a character even though the plot is demanding they die and we must acknowledge that as well. Readers often imagine that authors love to kill and do it out of enjoyment and, sometimes that's true, but the other truth is that, many times, it's just as hard for the author to kill the character as it is for the reader to read about it. We love our characters, but we know that they can't always make it through alive. If you're having a hard time executing a beloved character, just remember the words of Robert Frost: "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader." If your story is messing with your emotions, you can be sure it will do as much for your reader.
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