1. Ritual Sacrifice – Nothing beats a good sacrifice. Whether your character has grown up knowing his or her fate or whether your character is an unwilling participant, a sacrifice to a god always makes things dramatic. (Whether or not the god plays a part in your story is up to you, of course.)

2. Other Sacrifice – Oh, the most noble of things – your character throwing himself or herself to death for honor, love, or anything the character considers worth dying for. If played right, you can get strong reactions out of your readers by doing this. Just don’t do it too much.

3. Assassination – Assassination, mystery, intrigue. Oh, there are so many things you can do with assassination. The (reader) known assassin vs. the unknown assassin. The assassin with a mission of honor vs. the assassin who does it for the money. The possibilities are many.

4. “It’s All in the Family” Murder – Murder within the family? Is there a disinherited sibling? Perhaps an unwanted child coming into the realization s/he’s missed out on his/her rightful place in life. No matter what the reason, murder within the family can always put in more plot tangles than you can think of.

5. Poison – The art of poisoning is a delicate one, but it can serve a number of purposes. Whether you want to kill your character in dramatic, fast fashion or slowly, poison can be your safe bet. However, be prepared to do some research on the subject. You don’t want to try poisoning someone with basil. You could try, though.

6. Forces of Nature – It’s unfortunate and random, which is why forces of nature could be just the method of death you are looking for. Floods, rock slides, avalanches – all can happen without warning. (Well, the floods do have a bit of warning, but dams breaking and such are likely to be unexpected. This method, I believe, is more one to keep in the back of your mind.

7. Death by Deity – There’s nothing like a godly hand intervening to strike down your character. Be careful with this one, though, because your deities should have good motives for killing the one character and not others.

8. Possession – This alternative provides the ability to get rid of the character personality, but keep the body. This can enable you to cause conflicts all over in your writing. Whether you care to focus on where the previous owner’s soul is and if it can be retrieved, or if you prefer focusing on the now and figuring out how to deal with the new soul, this method of killing of a character can definitely keep your hand writing or fingers typing.