Not every novel is going to have a death in it. But when do you kill a character in your writing? Authors kill characters for reasons, man, lots of reasons.
Here are some:
They are getting on your nerves
Turns out, that character is quite annoying. So they much die a painful excruciating death or fall down the stairs.
They made an emotional connection with your protagonist
And your protagonist can’t be happy. They must suffer relentlessly. Bwahahahaha
When your protagonist needs some motivation
Your protagonist should be saving the world but, sadly, they have no motivation to do so. And so you kill their best friend or lover and now they have the motivation to right that wrong!
You haven’t killed anyone yet
Someone Must die. Someone always dies. And so you randomly picked a character who wasn’t all that necessary but your protagonist liked them.
You’re writing a tragedy
So everyone must die! Tragically.
You don’t like happy-ever-afters
So when your character becomes happy and content that is time to kill someone. Stir things up a bit.
You like happy-ever-afters
And that character Deserved to die.
You’re bored
And feel like your novel needs a little tragedy to mix it up.
When it suits the plot
That dude was always going to die. Might as well be now.
You’re stuck on the plot
Die character! That’ll get the creativity going and the plot flowing.
You haven’t had any caffeine yet
So someone has to die. Best make it in the book.
You are suffering
So they must also suffer. Misery loves company. Even if it is the story that lives in your head. Thier pain will make you feel less stressed. I swear.
That character reminds you of someone you don’t like
So it is cathartic to kill them off. Boss pissed you off? Write them in your book and then murder them. While laughing manically.
So there you go. If you ever wanted to know why writers kill characters, these are some of the completely true not fabricated reasons.
Some other awesome writing tips:
Writing: How to get out of a stuck scene
Writing: What pets to put into your fantasy

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