 Drama: August 29, 2012 Issue [#5234] |
  Drama
This week: A Sigh of Relief Edited by: Kit of House Lannister  
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Obstacles have to be overcome, for a character to be able to grow. However, a believable character needs a break, sometimes. And so does the reader...
kittiara |
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When you open a drama novel, you expect that not everything will go according to plan for the main character. If it did, there wouldn’t be much of a point. There have to be some twists and turns to their fate, there have to be obstacles to overcome, otherwise their character won’t grow.
It can’t all be fluffy little bunnies hopping in a lush green field… rainbows and sunshine, kittens and prancing unicorns. Even stories for the youngest audience have a problem that needs to be solved – a dog might have lost its ball, or a baby owl might wonder where mom is when she is out hunting.
Some readers like their drama to be described in graphic detail, with every bit of blood, sweat and tears out there on the page, ready to make its splash in their minds. I don’t require that. I have enough of an overactive imagination to paint my own mental picture. But graphic or not, I want the occasional sigh of relief. I need it. I don’t like it when the main character, or characters, get hit by bad luck over and over and over again, without hardly a break. It gets exhausting. It also makes the story difficult to believe.
I mean, I like it when a hero or heroine shows courage. I find it inspiring when they overcome their struggles. I want to be with them along the way and maybe absorb some of their bravery. Sometimes when an author has done their research on historical events, and the story is set against those, I wonder how I would have fared in those times, and reflect upon my own life and realise that things aren’t necessarily as bad as they may seem.
When the hero or heroine keeps getting put through the mangle – illness, death after death of loved ones, love after love lost, I know that if I were in their situation I would be a whimpering ball of misery, curled up in a corner somewhere. People need time to grieve and recover, they need a little ray of sunshine to enable them to carry on. They need hope. And so do believable characters.
If, then, a story keeps plunging into deep depths of despair, it feels like a mental rollercoaster that makes you so sick in the stomach that you never, ever want to get on it again. Twist and down, twist and down, twist and down…. Not even a rattly little up when you can catch your breath.
There is only so much a character can take. There is only so much a reader can take, too, before they will close the book and leave it on a dusty shelf somewhere. It may have a satisfactory ending, but if you want your audience to stick around for it, you’d better not tire them out too much.
kittiara
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Here are some of the latest additions to the drama genre:
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| |  | The Eavesdropper (13+)
Never Stokes hits on an unscrupulous plot for turning a profit on the troubles of others.
#1887239 by GiGi27  |
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The Drama Newsletter Team welcomes any and all questions, suggestions, thoughts and feedback, so please don't hesitate to write in! 
pinkbarbie - Hi, thank you for this wonderful newsletter. I like the idea of writing about a character I know and exaggerate his/her character. I also believe that writing about emotions that we have experienced brings life to a story. Thank you.
Thank you so much for your kind words!
~~~
Jaeff | KBtW of the Free Folk  - I've always been a big believer in "Write what you know... but if you don't know it, that doesn't mean you can't learn about it." A writer should be an expert on whatever subject they're writing about. If a protagonist is an advertising executive, the writer should know what an advertising exec does and how that type of business operates. But if the writer doesn't have personal experience, that doesn't mean she can't do some research until writing about that advertising exec character actually is "writing what she knows."
You also make a great point about emotions. Audiences don't usually connect with characters because they happen to share an occupation, a hometown, etc.... they connect when they can understand the character's emotional journey. If "what you know" includes how to realistically portray human emotion, it doesn't matter whether your protagonist is an advertising exec, an astronaut, an alien, or an athlete... your audience will connect.
Great job! 
Thanks! I absolutely agree with you. I love doing research. Not only does it help me write stories, it also means that I have obtained another piece of knowledge that I may be able to apply outside of my writing as well. It's always good to learn.
And yes, I find that the best writers (in my opinion, at least), are those who have a true insight into human nature and human emotion. Terry Pratchett, for example, may write about wizards and witches and elves and orcs and trolls, but the characters are believable, because of his grasp of what makes people tick.
Thank you so much for sharing your insights!
~~~
Wishing you a week filled with inspiration,
The Drama Newsletter Team
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