I’ve been facing an authorly issue.  While writing Trial By Fire, the third book in my shape-shifting dragon series, I accidentally killed off a character…a beloved character…a character I never meant any harm. After I finished typing the scene I just stared at my screen. How had this happened? What the heck was my brain doing? Would people hate me for this?

I pondered the chapter and waited a day before re-reading the scene. I couldn’t do it. I cut the scene and pasted it into a separate area on Scrivner. Then I rewrote the scene injuring the character. It worked. My fictional universe seemed to be back in balance. Harmony was restored.

I personally dislike books where the author makes us care about a character only to kill the character off for emotional shock effect. I understand death is a part of life, and sometimes it belongs in fiction, but I don’t like feeling manipulated.

And yet I keep pulling up that scene where the character dies. I can see the effects this death would have on all the other characters like ripples on a pond. It would up the emotional risk for all the other characters and increase the emotional stakes across the board. So…I am undecided. What are your thoughts on authors who kill characters?