Well, an author notorious for the high body count of narrating protagonists is George R R Martin. I think whether or not a protag's death is acceptable or not can often depend on the genre and/or setting of the story; fantasy, history and war novels, for example, can come across as vastly more realisic if an author isn't afraid to take chances. In a bloody epic, not killing off a protag looks like an author too in love with her characters - when a reader knows, given the setting, people really should be dying. However, if this is a different sort of genre altogether then it might look contrived - a death to solve a problem, or just for unecessary angst, rather than a death to enhance the setting and/or plot or further the development of other characters.
If you know why you're killing off said character, and it advances plot/character development, then I'd say go for it. I might be weird, but I adore and respect fantasy authors who aren't afraid to kill off characters they, and their readers, care greatly about, just to demonstrate the 'anyone can die' nature of the setting.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2009-12-03 08:13 am (UTC)If you know why you're killing off said character, and it advances plot/character development, then I'd say go for it. I might be weird, but I adore and respect fantasy authors who aren't afraid to kill off characters they, and their readers, care greatly about, just to demonstrate the 'anyone can die' nature of the setting.