I've been holding off on commenting on this because, to be honest, I'm very adverse to this sort of thing.
I mean, sure, you need to prune your writing judiciously - and there's nothing wrong with taking the editorial knife to your creations. Folks around here know I've done that on more than a few occasions, even going as far as outright rewriting them all over again.
But the thing I hate the most is killing a character in-story. It has always struck me as a very cheap way of trying to drive up the drama factor. Hell, I don't even like killing 'villains' half the time. Really, I think it's far more interesting to see them beaten down, but not killed, only to have them come back and be beaten down... repeat one or two more times until something happens; a character development that causes them to have that all-important heel-face-turn moment.
Even worse are stories where it seems the only point is to kill off as many characters as possible. I can't even stomach such stories as I'm highly empathetic and prone to depression. Really, if I want to feel bad for someone, I'll go get the Old Testament and read about Job.
I mean, sure, you need to prune your writing judiciously - and there's nothing wrong with taking the editorial knife to your creations. Folks around here know I've done that on more than a few occasions, even going as far as outright rewriting them all over again.
But the thing I hate the most is killing a character in-story. It has always struck me as a very cheap way of trying to drive up the drama factor. Hell, I don't even like killing 'villains' half the time. Really, I think it's far more interesting to see them beaten down, but not killed, only to have them come back and be beaten down... repeat one or two more times until something happens; a character development that causes them to have that all-important heel-face-turn moment.
Even worse are stories where it seems the only point is to kill off as many characters as possible. I can't even stomach such stories as I'm highly empathetic and prone to depression. Really, if I want to feel bad for someone, I'll go get the Old Testament and read about Job.