Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/45513
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/45513
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I think this may be a matter of opinion; different psychologies will answer differently.

Personally, my characters feel real to me; but I remind myself of a few things. I go back over what I wrote for her, reminding myself that **I _invented_ her,** all she really consists of is these words on paper. It is like sketching a person, then burning the sketch. In reality, I kill ALL the characters, sooner or later, when I stop writing about them. They will have their last words, even if I write a series.

What I would like to do for her is give her a meaningful death; I am not just killing her to get her out of the way. Her death will motivate the characters that love her, even if on the surface it looks like a pointless death, it will mean something in how the future of her friends turn out.

You have already said she is kind and caring -- Is she brave enough to knowingly sacrifice herself for her friends? If somebody must die, does she love them enough to make it herself? I think, for the other characters, _realizing_ somebody loved you that much is a powerful emotion that can motivate them to risks and sacrifice they would not have made without her "going first".

Personally I don't kill "good side" characters with stray bullets or other such random events or accidents; if they die, they die fighting. I pay a lot of attention (and often rewrites) to deaths so they will be meaningful and impact the story. And even if the death **is** meaningless, it can still have an impact upon the characters left behind to grieve and perhaps avenge her. if it doesn't -- You probably did not need this character in the first place.

Second, if **_I_** have become attached, that is a good thing. It means you didn't write a cardboard character to kill and forget, just to make a point. Hopefully the reader is also attached, so her death will be meaningful to them.

Original score: 8