Kind of a discussion or just me venting my own thoughts out on it.

I’m not as much sure how to write a character’s death because I don’t usually go to the subject and I don’t want a revival issue.

Imagine saying “_______ died?!” in a story, and it will depend on media.

A comic character? That’s Tuesday!

A character in a world devoid of necromancy? That’s more of a shock.

Maybe it’s because my own stories don’t require as much death and in their realm they’re crafty and sturdy enough to survive a lot of stuff as well as not focusing on killing anyone.

Personally, I’d hate to be making a story where a character dies for the 4th time and then find a way to bring them back through cloning, time travel, or advanced science.

What if it’s a “they actually survived” situation? Done right it can be awesome, but it could also over stay it’s welcome really fast.

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I'm... not sure it'd be particularly helpful if your setting is a fantasy or speculative one... but a short story like Leo Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilych" deals with someone dying in a pretty dramatic way. For one, the first chapter happens after the fact; Ivan Ilych is dead, and the story reveals how little he actually matters to most of the side characters, in an almost tragic way. The last three or four chapters, if I remember correctly, are dedicated to Ilych suffering through the final throes of his dying. He experiences mania, anger, delirium, despair, intense fear, and, as is fitting for a Tolstoy story, an epiphany at the very end of it all, about the meaning of life and death.

Death, at least in this story, is not romantic. It's terrible for everyone involved, and it goes into a pretty good amount of detail on the pain and fear of the dying. Granted, Ivan's death isn't exactly the point of the story, but it does become the emotional focal point for it.

If you're looking for something that deals with death in both a brutal and strangely fantastical way, you might want to look at Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. A lot of characters die throughout, but the way that Marquez handles their deaths is interesting. As is fitting for what many consider the epitome of magical realism, the supernatural aspects of death are placed on full display with little explanation: one character wastes the latter half of their life outside, eaten up by fire ants; another literally ascends to heaven while drying laundry. All very absurd, but all moving and magical, for what it's worth.

I suppose the lesson from these two examples is that when you bring death into the picture, it is probably important, and if the character who is dying is also important, then their death could be more than "X died today."

This, of course, assumes the permanence of death. If I understand the post correctly, you're looking for advice about the "fake-out death." I don't know a whole lot of literary examples of this, unfortunately.

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Depending on the world of your story, if a char needs to die, then do it.
Just kill em.

But.

You could do something like LOTR did with Gandalf and the Balrog where it looks like the char is gone, but it's not definite.
No one saw Gandalf die or his dead body so there is a chance. A very slim chance. The story acted like he was dead and it made sense.

Death of a fave char has to have impact and meaning depending on your story.

Personally, I’d hate to be making a story where a character dies for the 4th time and then find a way to bring them back through cloning, time travel, or advanced science.

Depending on the world of your story, some readers would be fine with this.
Look at Dr. Who before the Chris Chibnall years.
Folks were alright with the Doctor coming back, but he was different every regeneration.

During the Chibnall years, well, a lot of things were mishandled.

I haven't killed main chars in my longer stories, I just feel queasy about it unlike J R R Martin.
But secondary chars, well, have your affairs in order. One side char got torn apart by a villain.
I might kill a main char in my latest slog, um, story.

In my original short stories, I have killed some of my main chars.
They have been killed by:
Dust leopard.
Burning woman.
Hungry unicorns.

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And these bring up another topic that it should matter if it’s a close character to the plot. It needs to have some relevance in the story and not just be some event or random act.

One main use I could see for death in a story is to pay tribute to the character or make an impact of some kind. There needs to be some sort of reaction from the rest of the cast and not just a glance and moment of sad breath.

On that note, I have to admit there’s a bit of humor when it’s goons or “red shirts” getting put on display for the bad guy to show their powers or mood.

But pulling back, revival is the biggest factor that comes to me when thinking about writing death. Because if you can just have the character meet their end tragically and then a few weeks later they’re back like nothing’s happened, then it won’t matter if they eventually do croak and it’ll feel a little disrespectful to the character itself. It would be like saying their death was meaningless if it can just be fixed like a paper cut.

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But pulling back, revival is the biggest factor that comes to me when thinking about writing death. Because if you can just have the character meet their end tragically and then a few weeks later they’re back like nothing’s happened, then it won’t matter if they eventually do croak and it’ll feel a little disrespectful to the character itself. It would be like saying their death was meaningless if it can just be fixed like a paper cut.

Well, if the revival of the char meant the death of an entire town of peasants, it does have consequence.

Some times, you might want some meaningless death.
Again, that depends on the story.
It could be a running gag for a dark comedy.

As a writer you have control over life and death and the meaning and consequences.

Have you ever had a paper cut?
They sting and take forever to heal.

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I think this can help you

Edit !

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True.

Sometimes those deaths can make a story feel lived in and realistic.

Maybe this would be a fun setting to explore. As a writer who can use Alternate Universes, this can be built on