Killing off a character.

[Endymion]

What purposes does a characters death serve in your story?
Do you ever create a character with the thought that you will kill him off?
Have you ever made a character likable only so that his death would have an impact on the reader?

[Ophiucha]

Varies from character to character. The only (important) I've killed in the first draft of my current project is the antagonist. His death is rather somber, with him realizing the extent of his actions and accepting to take on the same curse that plagues the protagonist (werewolfism). Because he's an old and frail man, however, he dies within a few full moons, the transformation basically breaking him. Also, he's a historical character - Pope Urban V - so his death was something of a foregone conclusion if you're well informed on your holy potentates.

I certainly create characters with the intent to kill them. Characters and plot develop rather simultaneously for me, and I don't really write about pointless death. Truthfully, in spite of my generally dark and gritty plots, I often only have one character die, and it is often in a sacrifice sort of way that gives the protagonist (or if it's the protagonist doing the sacrificing, then their loved ones) a victory. It borders on a recurring theme in my works.

Do I make characters likeable so they'll be mourned by the readers? Eh, not really. I mean, some of the characters who die are meant to be liked by the audience, but given my tendency to kill people at the climax of a novel, I make them likeable because they are one of the protagonists and likely a major recurring character, not because I want the audience to care when I kill them off. That's sort of incidental, rather than the intention.

There is one sort of exception, from a piece I did a lot of work on in high school, where instead of playing up a character as particularly likeable, I played up a relationship between the protagonist and his love interest as particularly likeable. The character who "died" (he comes back) is the love interest, and the protagonist works with the antagonists to get him killed during the final battle. It's a gambit: the protagonist knows his love interest will be resurrected as the God of Death (don't ask) and they'll win in the end, but the fact that he neither told his lover about this plan and was willing to watch him bleed to death to accomplish it is meant to be the final hint that the protagonist has basically been playing his lover, the antagonists, and even the audience (he narrates the novel) this whole time.

[Feo Takahari]

I used to plan to kill good characters, but they always, always developed sufficient personality and will to overcome the flaws that would lead to their deaths. At this point, I assume from the start that they'll survive, so the only question is what method they'll use.

[Chilari]

Generally I don't start out knowing which characters will die, and those who do die do so because the plot demands it. For example, for my current WIP I need one side of the conflict to be at an all-time low, and for my protagonist also to be at a low point. Now, her first husband (believed dead in a war that happened before the story starts, hence the remarriage, but recently returned having spent ages recovering hundreds of miles away), fits the bill perfectly - he is a leader of the resistance, and my main character cares deeply for him. So when he dies it seems like the final nail in the resistance's coffin, and to the protagonist (sort of a fence-sitter in the whole conflict) begins to move towards the resistance's side.

On one of the stories I've got on the backburner, I created a character with a particular actor I like in mind. The character is pretty badass, and becomes something of a leader. This is inconvenient for those who he would have thought would be his allies, and they kill him. This event changes everything. The main characters turn against that faction, where before they were vaguely in favour of them; one character is forced to see to her own safety, where before he protected her; and in terms of the immediate future, since the person who killed my character was a major, and another main character who was a captain serving under the major subsequently shot and killed the major, the main character group involved now have to get past an army to escape, where before they were expecting a smooth rescue.

I avoid creating characters for the sole purpose of killing them. They must have a part to play in the story - even if their death is the part they play. By that I mean, I don't create characters and develop their personalities if they are simply going to be a casualty of war. I will if by their death, others are spurred to action. So in my WIP one character is pretty much a background character for most of the story, but important in society, involved in the resistance and a thorn in the antagonist's side. His death looks accidental - he is found dead outside, surrounded by bottles of alcohol, one winter morning - but many suspect he was poisoned by the antagonist. The resistance suddenly gain quite a lot of support from those in the town who don't think the death was accidental.

[Ireth]

I've started stories believing that no one will die, only to find out partway through planning that sometimes a death is both inevitable and necessary. Such is the case with one of the protagonists in Summer's Blood; originally the death was going to be a fake, but I think it would be that much more powerful if it were real and irreversible. An important character also dies in Low Road, but comes back almost immediately due to a clause in his curse that he didn't know about. It has a huge impact on the main character.

[Ghost]

What purposes does a characters death serve in your story?

Purpose? I usually don't know someone's going to die until I begin his death scene. While I'm writing, I don't step outside of the story and become analytical about it. I just roll with it.

Do you ever create a character with the thought that you will kill him off?

Sure. It doesn't happen as often, but sometimes the whole story is leading up to a character's death. When I'm certain someone is going to die, there's a good chance it's the main character himself or that the main character causes the death. More often a death occurred before the start of the story and it's still influencing my characters.

Have you ever made a character likable only so that his death would have an impact on the reader?

No. I don't try to have an impact on the reader. Rather, I make the events have an impact on the characters and hope the reader relates to what the characters are going through. It's similar but done in a roundabout way. Trying to make a character likeable just to make his end tragic or poignant isn't my style. I need it to be more organic and genuine. Besides, I'd need to make a new character because I don't change their personalities on a whim.

[Anders Ämting]

What purposes does a characters death serve in your story?

Oh, lots of things. It really depends on the story.

I think the important thing is that the character's death does serve a purpose in the story. If there is something I can't stand, it's random character death.

Do you ever create a character with the thought that you will kill him off?

Frankly, the only characters I kill are the ones I invented for that exact purpose.

Have you ever made a character likable only so that his death would have an impact on the reader?

Nah. I try to make my characters likable so that their deaths will have an impact on my other characters.

[Kreigsbane]

I love the dramas that Shakespeare wrote, so indeed I have created several important characters that I did or intended to kill off. The death is what moves me lol

[Robert Donnell]

I have one charactor that I have killed off quite a few times but I keep sending an agent back in time to save him time after time because important people like him. He is young and brave and foolish.

[Tasha]

I've killed one character so far who was minor..ish but yeah. Also have one of my mains (I have 3 POV characters) dying at the end of book one. They were supposed to live but yeah.... not gonna happen it seems lol