Don't kill your darlings.  Torture them instead--it's much more fun!

Not too long ago, we had a short discussion here about whether or not writers are gods.  I'm of the opinion that we are--at least so far as being creators of universes, and the beings that populate them.  We give life and form to collections of words, and through the skill of our magic, we get other people to believe in our creations, to care about what happens to them, and to become emotionally involved with people and places that don't really exist.