A Time to Kill (Writing Essay)

 OK.  So, over on myaru 's journal, she and sacae  had a little exchange about killing characters off-- the pros and cons thereof, squeamishness when it comes to one's favorite characters, and so on.  I had some things I wanted to say there, but hijacking that particular thread wasn't the right place for it.

I guess I'll start with the quote from sacae  that got my wheels turning:

But then I realized... Damn, I put the characters through literal hell in the outline, and THEN KILL ONE OF THEM?!  That seemed a bit too much.  Too much drama, too much angst, and for a reader, very disappointing.  I don't always think "Happily Ever After" is the answer to an ending, obviously, but I do think that most readers prefer that they read a long story and come away with... something.  Something good.

Now, I'll admit right off that I'm not "most readers" and my tastes are, shall we say, weird, but I think my arguments here are fairly well-grounded in classical lit, or at least they bear a passing acquaintance with classical lit.  So, consider this an apology of sorts for putting characters through hell and then killing them.

( tl;dr defense of tragedy here )