I'd say create them and let them live. I love creating characters and I love it the more I explore internet but I tend to think of them as actors. They are my miniatures (the equivalent to figures in strategy and tabletop RPG games) but as I write and discover I've realized they're both: miniatures and actors so I would feel like killing one of my actresses if I decided to make a "disposable" character and no, I'm not killing my actresses/miniatures/dolls