McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Making Life Hard for your Characters
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: OZ on February 24, 2013, 02:29:46 AM ---It seems like any rule that is established about story writing will be successfully broken by someone.
--- End quote ---
Indeed, but I think the take home message is more " ..but it may not be you, and it's particularly unlikely to be you when you are just starting out". Not that it can never be you, but don't expect the odds of being able to walk before you have put a goodl bit of practice into crawling to be in your favour.
Paynesgrey:
--- Quote from: the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh on February 25, 2013, 03:25:45 AM ---Oh, I totally agree with you on the general principle; I just couldn't resist the counterexample given the specific example you quoted.
Peter Watts is something very special; if you've not read it, I strongly recommend his novel "Blindsight", which is legitmately available from his website here: http://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm
It's one of the most intelligent books I have ever read, and also one of the most downbeat.
--- End quote ---
It's actually a good reminder that the "main character" isn't necessarily the protagonist as far as the audience is concerned. I'll have to take a look at some of his other work... although I get enough downbeat from the news these days.
arianne:
Regarding the "making life hard for characters" part in the OP, I sometimes have the problem where I have a bad day and I come home and I sit down at the computer, and I think, "Awww. I've had such a bad day. Do I really want my character to lose their girlfriend/almost die (yet again!)/have an hour to save the world and so on and so on?" It just seems EVIL to spread pain around the world. I want my characters to be happy and go home safely....
And then I realize that I have nothing to write about, because everyone is happy.
Yes...I'm softhearted...it's a problem... :'(
Is there a pill that can make writers really really horrible? ::)
The Deposed King:
--- Quote from: arianne on March 03, 2013, 11:16:08 AM ---Regarding the "making life hard for characters" part in the OP, I sometimes have the problem where I have a bad day and I come home and I sit down at the computer, and I think, "Awww. I've had such a bad day. Do I really want my character to lose their girlfriend/almost die (yet again!)/have an hour to save the world and so on and so on?" It just seems EVIL to spread pain around the world. I want my characters to be happy and go home safely....
And then I realize that I have nothing to write about, because everyone is happy.
Yes...I'm softhearted...it's a problem... :'(
Is there a pill that can make writers really really horrible? ::)
--- End quote ---
I needed to put my main character through the ringer but like you I felt bad about it. The miracle of the technological healing tank helped sooth my malicious ego. Its all a matter of no pain no gain, at the point survival equates 'eventually' being able to fix the damage.
If my character wants to walk off set and go ride out the rest of his days on a farm that's entirely up to him but if he's willing to stick it out. Crippled, maimed, burnt, etc its 'mostly' his choice how much he's willing to put himself through along the way. Sure bad things will happen to 'other' people if you play it safe and stand aside but you should be fine... sadly he's too much of a hero to stand by more than just occasionally.
However he is a real enough every day type that true humility makes him 'foolishly' believe that he's just another guy and that everything doesn't rest on his shoulders. Moron huh? I mean he's the hero so why is he surprised that when he declares, 'they said they were going to deal with it they're legitimate I'm not!' and stands aside, that everything goes in the toilet for other people and he's left picking up the pieces.
mwahahahahah
The Deposed King
Paynesgrey:
--- Quote from: arianne on March 03, 2013, 11:16:08 AM ---Regarding the "making life hard for characters" part in the OP, I sometimes have the problem where I have a bad day and I come home and I sit down at the computer, and I think, "Awww. I've had such a bad day. Do I really want my character to lose their girlfriend/almost die (yet again!)/have an hour to save the world and so on and so on?" It just seems EVIL to spread pain around the world. I want my characters to be happy and go home safely....
And then I realize that I have nothing to write about, because everyone is happy.
Yes...I'm softhearted...it's a problem... :'(
Is there a pill that can make writers really really horrible? ::)
--- End quote ---
Just watch all of Buffy and Angel, or Firefly and then Serenity. It won't make you mean, but it'll give you a quick dose of appreciation of the emotional impact you can generate by doing things to your characters. As well as a lesson on how to balance it. (I love the BBC series "Spooks", but you can frequently tell when they're about to kill off a main character or sympathetic guest by their tendency to do these long, lingering scenes which make the watcher say "wait... why are they dragging this out?"
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