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I'm just wondering about some authors saying they 'love their characters' so much that they can't stand putting them through too much pain. Now this just sounds wrong to me, because conflict is such an important part of a good story. When you can't really believe that the character is neck deep in whatever problem the author's given them, and you just know they'll escape unscathed and happy go lucky, isn't that boring?
I do love the characters that I create, but personally, I like to put them through as much torment as the plot allows...

Does anyone here 'love their characters' to that extent?

When it comes down to it, characters are tools or a device to tell a story.

If a writer is prone to caring too much about their characters keeps that in mind it should help avoid the problem.

R-Tech

I love my characters and i don't have any problem putting them through alot of torment. Though to kill one of my characters...that needs alot of thinking before i go that far.

I enjoy writing some characters more than others but I don't have any problem putting them through extreme conflict or even killing them. The only hesitation I have, is deciding if their death is really necessary to the plot. If it's gratuitous, then I don't want to do it. If it adds to the conflict and tension, then I have no problem with it. Some scenes are harder to write than others. I killed the young child of the main character in one story and that was difficult to write because of the amount of loss I had to convey to the reader, not because the character was dying.


Tina

I love my characters, but more in the way one loves a good meal. You eat it anyway and you know that turns it into shit.

I think a lot of young writers are rather in love with their characters, and do have fantasies about having a relationship with them. I come across that while reading stories.
One of the characteritics: only the character who the writer is in love with gets a full and detailed description, all other characters are like cardboard. Description includes lots of love/sex-scenes that have no meaning to the lot whatsoever. Every kind of critique on the writing, especially the idolisation of one of the characters, is turned down with sentences like "but he's such a nice fellow". "but he IS just like that", "I can't change it, that is what happened".

I love my characters enough to give them happy endings everytime, but I never let them know that, and I don't let them get to that happy ending easily. It's the process of struggling to achieve thier goals that MAKES the story and also what makes that moment when they achieve thier goals so satisfactory. A story with a character who fights with all they have to get what they want is ALWAYS better than one where the character gets it all handed to them.

Yes, but a far better story can be when they have to struggle, and don't get what they want. But of course, that is not our genre (fiction).

True, I've read phenominal stories where the character's didn't get what they want, I think they REALLY exude real life (Atonement is a STUNNING example, sometimes justice isn't served etc.) but I'm a sucker for happy endings so I stick with them

Happy endings are fine - so long as you're not writing horror. Some authors prefer them and that makes it easier for readers. If they prefer happy endings, then they stick with those authors. If they don't, then they find someone else to read. So long as the characters face true conflicts in the story, I don't mind if they have a happy endings.

Tina

I get into my characters pretty deep, but at the end of the writing session - I do what's necessary to forward the plot. Even if it means killing the character. The novel I am currently working on shows major transitions in the protagonist in such drastic ways that at this point, I don't know how his story will end.

But struggle and change is a must if you want your readers to empathize with your characters. Just make sure you do what is necessary to keep the plot rolling.

The plot has to fit with the characters' motivations. Whether a story is plot driven or character driven, the characters have to be right for the plot and the way to determine that is to ask yourself if their movites match how they respond to the unfolding story.


Tina

I spent 3/4s of a book endearing a character to the reader, knowing I was going to kill them in the end. However, when it came to the crunch I did find it a little hard, but was spurred on by how much the writing had worked to cause this reaction. So I happily sent them to their death safe in the knowledge that the prose had done its job.

I used to love my characters too much. It made for an uneventful, conflict-free book. Nothing happened despite my outline and plotplan. I read it through and gagged, my love for the story vanished. I gave up, but I'm glad I made that mistake as my new novel is MUCH better (I hope!)

When I first started writing, I felt "bad" about tormenting my characters but I soon got over that and can now maim, kill off, or any number of things. I think it just takes practice and the realization that if we don't push our characters they will never grow.

I don't love my characters too much. I deliberately show them to be imperfect. For example: I wrote a scene in which my main character callously kills an old man. He is begging for his life, yet she kills him anyways.