on Writers in the Storm:
Yes, there are right ways and wrong ways to kill a character in a fiction story. And, even if we’re working with non-fiction and telling a true story, we might still need to determine how to tell how a character will die.
We often have characters who, for one reason or another, need to be left behind. Maybe it’s a mentor, like Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. We know from the beginning of Charlotte’s Web (at least, some of us know!) that the spider, Charlotte, will die, because few small critters like her live very long. But there’s a time and place to help make the story more real, to create the most impact.
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 