How Much Love is Too Much Love?

Now, for those who do not know, I do a liveblog of El Goonish Shive, and a very negative one at that. It's who I am. One of the things that always bothered me was how attached Shive (the author) was to his characters. For example:

This and this.

Note I did not start this thread to make another opportunity to bitch and moan about EGS. I actually want to know if my asessment of the treatment of the characters is bad for the story, or if I myself am the one at fault, and in general, love for a character and when a line should be drawn.

Could you clarify what you're asking? I'm reminded of Fiction.

When should you take a step back from your characters and realize you should start treating them less than your darlings and more like your soldiers of story telling? Are the strips linked to crossing this line? Is there a line at all?

Aren't those non-canon?

The strips? Yes. But they depict a mentality that worries me.

I feel the line is crossed the first time you find yourself bending the story to affect them in a way that does not positively affect the quality of the story.

I don't read the comic, but the strips seem fairly harmless— just some standard fourth wall breaking and lampshading the crap authors put their characters through.

I had a 150 word paragraph here, but Cygan said what I wanted to more succinctly.

i guess the line is where your own feelings affect the storyline; some sometimes bad things happen to nice characters, and feeling guilty over will eventually harm the storyline.

If drawing those non-canon strips where he apologized to his characters for the crap he puts them through allowed him to continue to use them fully, more power to him. Many creators begin to feel like their characters are "real people" to a degree; if that feeling gets in the way of the story it becomes a problem.