Writing Meme - Day Twenty Four

Death does not really come up that often in my stories, but if the plot demands it, I suppose I would kill off my characters.  There's a bit of a saying (or something like that) that if you're NaNoWriMo novel is running out of steam, it's time to kill off a character.  I've only had this happen once, though, when I killed off Claudia in my 2007 novel, though it wasn't because I was stuck, but to build up the shadowy conspiracy that was lurking in the background.  Why would they kill off Claudia?  Was it simply because she was connected to the protagonist or was there another reason?  I never actually came to a conclusion on that point.  Nor was it a very interesting kill, since it happened offscreen.  In fact, I haven't had any onscreen deaths at all, so there you go.