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Making characters believable is a must for good writing. But how can we give validity to a character's suffering and pain?
Hopefully, I'll be able to help you build better characters in your writing by giving a way to make either hero or villain more believable, human, and rounded. In this editorial I hope to share how we can by using what we know as people from experience and/or observation.
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Pain, Agony, and Misery
My body aches with twinges of sharp pain, thrown in for good measure, letting me know that I’m very much alive. Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and fibromyalgia affect joints, muscles, and even skin. Pain is a constant companion but not a friend. Different methods or combinations help people manage living with pain, but not all attempts work consistently. Knowing and using some of these methods in writing about a character helps develop that character more fully.
Pain medications are the main line of defense for many pain sufferers. Everything from aspirin to heavy-duty narcotics help delete or deaden the pain that wracks bodies. Also, often those medicines only deaden the level of pain, without dispersing it completely. However, the use of such drugs can allow a person to have a better quality of life. A person in a book or story might use pills and/or injections to move and do things. That sufferer may also find ways to try to ignore the pain rather than use medication.
Massage and/or manipulation helps alleviate some aches and pains. Such treatments also relax a person, which in turn causes pain to decrease at least somewhat. When the arthritis in my neck and back is severe, massage works with my medication to reduce the levels of agony. Another bit of information which could be woven into a plot.
A warm bath, or at least a shower, relaxes a person and eases the pain in muscles, tendons, and joints. Climbing into a hot tub with jets pounding against sore places brings relief, too.
Some people practice bio-feedback to help manage pain. The results seem to vary from person to person. At times, a person can develop a method that greatly reduces pain levels; at other times, the results are little to none.
Exercise appropriate for a person’s condition, age, and/or situation helps with pain. With my many problems, my physical activities are quite limited, but swimming, short walks several times a day, and isometric exercises help reduce the level of pain. When I’m in a lupus or RA flare, activity has to be limited, but exercising in warm water helps. One of my characters not only had to endure the agony of pain from an injury, but also the misery caused by therapy.
When all methods have been tried, too often some pain remains. Then a person has to learn to live with it. I know that I’m never completely without pain, and if I should be, I would be like the old woman in a joke. She woke her husband, insisting that she was dead. He assured her that she wasn’t dead. She would state again that she was dead. Finally he asked her what made her think she was dead. Her answer was, “I’m not in pain, so I must be dead.” I laugh because it’s too close to the truth, and crying just makes the pain worse.
But, you ask, what does that information have to do with writing? The best writing has believable characters, and a character who lives with constant pain needs to exhibit how he does. Knowing about methods to deal with pain, a writer can invest some of that knowledge into his character. A hero who lives with pain but still acts and reacts “heroically” despite it appears more human to readers. Villains, who suffer physically, also seem more human. Every character, at least major ones, should be well-rounded, three dimensional, not flat. Therefore, the protagonist shouldn’t be without flaw, and the antagonist shouldn’t be all bad, completely imperfect.
At times in my newsletters, I try to find something in my port that illustrates what I've discussed. In the following story (which has been extended into a novel released last year), the hero has to overcome the injury caused by a bullet in his back:
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From Our Readers
pammierose
Is there any way to get a back copy of this news letter? When I got the issue covering apostrophes, I was still a newbie and unsure of what is what and probably deleted it.Blush At that time, I had so much information to digest, I felt I could not handle anymore. That's about as hones as I can be. Howver, I would now love to read this information. SO is there any way to get a back issue? My problem lies in the use of its vs it's. I believe if the "its" is showing possession, it should be "it's", but my punctuation program is always trying to correct me.Frown A lot of what I have read here, indicates many rule changes over the years. I am from the old school and still punctuate thus.
Archived issues can be found at http://www.writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives.
Its means belonging to it, possessive. It's means it is. That's the rule forever and still.
Last month I wrote about a free online writers conference. Thanks everyone for your feedback. I hope to see many of you at the 2010 conference.
sarahreed
Thanks for the link to the free online conference. I've gotten emails about some, but they always cost. So I'm looking forward to signing up and participating in this free one.
StephBee - House Targaryen 
Oh wow, Viv. This was chock full 'o info. Thanks so much for sharing. This was very helpful and online conferences are definitely do-able. Steph
NickiD89 
I'm excited to check out these online writing conferences. Thanks so much for the info and links. What an informative newsletter!
diamond_hoop
{indent|It's always great to hear of new opportunities to advance one's writing career. Thanks.
I hope to see many attend the online writing conference next year and hope you join me next month in the For Authors Newsletter.
Viv |
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For Authors: November 25, 2009 Issue [#3399]
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