I am not writing a love story. I have never written a love story. But it is very important that my characters fall in love. So that I can kill a character that my readers care about. I need them to deeply care about this love/friendship and bond. conflicts need to bring them closer and apart and closer again but what kind of conflict?
It's difficult to say without knowing details about your story, characters, setting. plot etc. All that stuff will play a part in creating conflict. Think of how what you want is done in other books, or TV shows or movies, and see if you can implement it to your story. That's what I sometimes do when I'm stuck: see how others have done it and try to (in my own way) emulate that.
Think about what makes you love the people in your life. Think back on the conflicts that have strengthened or weakened that bond of love. Use what you find, but change names and circumstances to protect the innocent and guilty alike.
Boo. Drama for the sake of drama. You don't kill a character to break the reader's heart. You kill a character because it means something to the other characters and advances the plot. If the death means something to your protagonist it will mean something to the reader. Sure, some writers do kill of beloved characters simply because they were beloved. Those people are at best monsters and at worst, complete hacks. George RR Martin doesn't give a fuck who the fans love in his books. He will kill off who he needs to kill off for the sake of the story.
Totally not a fan of your thought process... As a reader, I would really dislike an author that uses such an obvious cheap trick to cause distress and drama. Nothing worst than setting up a love interest for the purpose of killing them off!
Ditto. I will also add that in real life you can't fake attraction. If you see another person of your preferred sex you either are attracted to them or you're not. It starts there. Use those sources of desire to help you draw your characters together. And I'm not just talking about the physical. But yeah, if you are systematically doing this just to generate false drama then you need to rethink your writing.
Characters don't have to be romantically involved for their death to mean something to the reader. The reader has to be attached to the character, even more so than the other characters in the book, for it to make an impact.
I agree you shouldn't be creating a relationship just to tug on heartstrings. For me, I think a better approach would be backing off a notch, just letting the surviving character develop a little one-sided crush on the character who dies. Assuming they are sympathetic at all then the reader will still feel for them but without being quite so cynical. It's forgivable to have a minor character who is around and the MC takes a shine to who then dies; it's kinda less so to only have another major character around so we'll give a damn when they die.
