how to kill off characters

I have killed off many a character. I have read books where other authors have killed off characters. So I think I know some of the tricks, and also some of the dangers.

As an author, one of the problems is that you want to kill off characters you don't like. Characters you haven't spent a lot of time to build up. You want to kill off the characters you don't understand. And if you know a character is going to die, you will tend to make it easier on yourself if you can. Why spend all that time and effort and emotion investing in a character?

You know what I am talking about. The red-shirt phenomenon isn't just in the Star Trek movies. It happens all the time, in TV shows, movies, and books. Someone has to die to make the menace seem real. It happens early on, before there's much time to get to know that characters. And afterward, well, that person is dead, right? S/he can't be a character any more, right?

I have made this mistake a lot of times. You'd think that I would have learned from it. But in my current WIP which is whipping me, I have a couple of characters who die and I simply don't spend as much time building them up as other characters. It would be a waste. Their purpose in the novel is to die, right? They are place holders?

But the problem is, your readers won't care about those deaths. More important than that, your readers will guess what is going to happen. Your readers will feel dismissive of any time that character is on stage.

You know the old phrase, kill your darlings? Well, it doesn't just mean cutting out phrases that are purple prose. It means that when you kill off characters, you had darn well better love them. Don't make them red shirts. Make the reader love that character. Make that character a hero. Make your character who dies your favorite. And then, yes, it will hurt more in the death. But that is what a death needs to be in a novel. Not something that you throw away mentally or emotionally. It should hurt. And if doesn't hurt you, the author, it's not going to hurt your reader, either.

Also, just as an addendum--when a character dies, s/he should stay dead. That's my position and I'm sticking to it. If not, then death doesn't matter, does it. (And yes, I still love Joss Whedon and I understand why he kept bringing Darla back to life).