Hubble Bubble Toil and Trouble
I suppose we love to see our hero/heroines in terrible
trouble so we can admire how they ultimately get out of terrible trouble. It’s
what all good fiction is about, whether it be romance, horror, mystery or
whatever.
The problem presents itself early on and usually the
concerns and worries pile on as the story progresses. But the thing that fascinates all readers is
asking the questions of ‘how are they going to get through this or cope with
that?’ This is where story gets to us because we put ourselves in their places
and worry if we would do the same thing.
We root for them to succeed in their endeavours because if they can cope
then so would we. If it’s a good story,
we identify with the character and we want them to succeed against all the
odds. It confirms something to us about human nature and the will to survive, I
think. And when at the end they do rise
up and overcome their terrible trouble we cheer for them.
As writers it is our job to create that terrible trouble and
then throughout the middle of the story make the terrible trouble even more
terrible until finally the hero has to step up to the mark in some way, deal
with the terrible trouble and be heroic to save the day! Hooray!
So, do you find it easy to pile on the woe for your charcters?
I love placing characters in hot water and seeing how they get themselves out of it :-) x
ReplyDeleteI tend to like to mess with my character's head. I can put them in a lot of trouble that way.
ReplyDeleteI usually throw them in at the deep end without really thinking how I'm going to get them out! Very typical panster behaviour I'm afraid...so the rest of the novel is spent resolving the problem.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do love to make terrible trouble! Finding fun ways to torture my characters entertains me. Of course, I have to hope they're able to get out of it at the end! :)
ReplyDeleteAt first I didn't think I could do it, but now I think it's fun to come up with new ways to "challenge" them. Although, I will admit that I can still use some practice!
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of piling on the woe, whether it's of their own making or external factors.
ReplyDelete