So, as some of you know, I love killing off characters in the short stories I write, but my teachers don’t seem to like it very much… 
So does anyone have a good alternative to killing off characters that won’t make the story less dramatic?
Or do you think that killing at least a few characters in a story is important?
Do you like killing off your characters?
I personally hate killing off characters. But it does depend on what kind of story you’re writing. Is death an important theme in your story? Is someone’s death necessary to start the story or move the plot along?
I usually kill them off at the end to make the ending more dramatic because I hate happy endings
depend on the story. you dont have to kill charaters in the story. you can also kill evryone. its your story. many famouse stories kill of the MC.
but you could always send them away. many children stories do that, or do as they did in star wars frezz them down. (they did that in the second movie because they where not sure if han would return)
Use the k-drama trick and send them abroad, to jail, make them insane… it works
The character disappears without a trace? 
It’s not “killing”.
Seriously though, I agree with @/CoffeeAunt, unless their death is an important factor to the plot or overall theme of your story, you can just give them a verbally dramatic exit… they left town suddenly with no explanation, they were committed to a sanatorium, abducted by aliens. There is a ton of ways to give a sad/dramatic ending without it revolving around a character’s death.
I am a murder-mystery fan and have toyed with the idea of writing it- unfortunately, Episode guidelines are so restrictive that I’d never be able to put it there.
I just feel like just making them disappear isn’t as dramatic as describing their death in a very long paragraph
I wanted to write one on episode too but I gave up on the idea after reading their guidelines 
Same.
True. But, I think a lot of the drama comes from the way it’s written. The word choices, the tone, the details. I’ve read some amazing death scenes (I use the term amazing to describe the writer’s ability to give me chills, clarity! )but I’ve also read stories that elude to a murder, without directly saying “this is how they died” that made me use my imagination to figure out what happened after they left without a trace. …So, it’s a coin-toss for my opinion. Death scenes aren’t inherently bad…
&&I think the OPs teachers may be concerned more about the perceived obsession with murder/death (especially if these ending are a repeating occurrence) and descriptive death scenes – as opposed to just being against them.
It’s all about raising stakes and then following through. They don’t need to die, but the effects of what they went through need to be visible and change them in some profound way.
In a game I play, a character loses an arm after he gets betrayed. You can bet he doesn’t ever fight the same. He’s kinda a badass, but having to relearn how to fight, needing to change a lot of stuff about himself? Definitely stakes raised.
Or PTSD from an event. I’m Skulduggery Pleasant, the main character is really scarred by what happened to her and it affects the way she acts in later books
I’ve tried to do this once but failed miserably… I guess I wouldn’t be a good murder mystery writer even if episode’s guidelines weren’t that strict
Maybe, I guess killing off 2 of the 3 MCs in a 5 page long story wasn’t as funny to them as I thought (It’s just funny because I started killing off more characters only because my teacher gave my class the punishment to write a 100+ words long story for no reason and I decided to make him suffer while reading my 1k+ words story 
)
This is definitely something I would have done in school.
But, maybe it is just a matter of practice to get the detailing right? Idk. I vote abducted by aliens… 
I guess 
Cool idea, but won’t that be a bit unrealistic? 
Idk, there are a lot of people out there with their fuzzy photos and outlandish stories about little grey men. you never know!
But, for arguments sake:
Wouldn’t you agree that because the universe is so large and we are always learning more about outer space, the idea that there are other intelligent life out there isn’t all that outlandish? (I do not think there are the little green/grey men with big heads that like to abduct and probe people. Let’s be clear on that.)
I’m sure that there’s other intelligent life out there but m teachers and many others will still criticize them as being unrealistic as long as we don’t have solid proof for their existence
But I’ll consider putting aliens into my next story 
Well, I mean- at least the teacher wouldn’t be able to complain about death scenes…
But you could end it with:
Someone:
Just a few off the top of my head. 
Those are all great suggestions! Thank you! 
I actually like killing off characters, and I do think it’s important. 
A good alternative to that is just saying that the character went missing, and no one saw them again, ever 
Hmmm, if they had an illness from the start that affected their health (And the reader already knows this)
Then their death would probably be less dramatic 
But I think the easiest way is if you make the character less likeable/important in the story =D
Only if it sparks an epic plot
(Or if I’m sick of their existence )
Yepppp, Some characters are already dead before the story begins >:D
I don’t think so but you could check out haunted house or beach mystery on YouTube. It
real haunted stories from long time ago before anyone was actually born. https://youtu.be/f3cGDcASnvo
This haunted beach video over in California should help you out.