I have four main character. One of them our a couple and I plan on killing him off in the first book. Being that this is a series I wonder if this is a good choice. In he book you get to know him well, and I'm sure plenty of people will like him. If I kill him off do I run risk of losing my readers for the second book.
You have to plan the deaths carefully, so that you don't lose the reader's interest. A great example of this is Robert Bloch's 1959 suspense novel Psycho, later the source of inspiration for the Hitchcock film of the same name. By introducing protagonists, building audience sympathy and then killing them off suddenly, Bloch/Hitchcock disturb and unsettle and, far from losing the reader/viewer, keep them on the edge of their seats, gripped by the certainty that the next person will surely die...
Watch the film. It's brilliantly constructed.
"Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself." William Faulkner.
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Like Gahks said, death scenes need to be very carefully constructed. If it's a "cheap death" which is not necessary to driving the plot forward, then readers will feel disgusted and profoundly cheated. If it is written naturally, tragically, and by a forward-looking author, then it will drive the readers on.
I would say a simple example of this would be Sirius Black's death in Harry Potter. It moved the plot forward and was both touching and compelling. Many of the deaths at the end of book seven, however, felt as if Rowling killed off characters because she thought that it would pad the story. Death needs to be pivotal, and requires reflection.
It always hurts me when a character that I've come to know and love dies, but it most cases I realize it's necessary to continue the story. When the character dies for some reason that doesn't move the plot forward then it just plain hurts.
