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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

3 Ways I Torture Characters

by Chautona Havig · 9 Comments

I get emails almost weekly–often multiple times a week–and the question invariably goes something like this.  “How could you do that to him/her?”  In other words, “How could you torture that character like that?” So, I thought I’d give you a bit of insight into why I do the torturous things I do.  I even made fun of myself in HearthLand when Ralph says,

“I feel like a puppet—just a character in some author’s hands—as if he read something about making sure his character never gets what he wants, so every time I get close, the writer rips it away again.”

torture characters

(Note: links in this post may be affiliate links and as such, I may receive a small commission that costs you nothing extra!)

So, here we go!  Why I torture characters.

ready or notOne:

It’s fiction.  Let’s face it, most of us have pretty average lives.  If I wrote about life as it really is, it would bore you to tears.  I wrote Aggie as a response to the question I got (back when I only had eight children) almost every week.

How do you do it all?  I can hardly manage with the one (or two) that I have!”

I always said,

I didn’t manage with one or two either, and I’m still learning eight.  You don’t get them all at once.  They come one at a time (or for some people, possibly two) and you have an adjustment period before the next arrives.”

But, that’s what rekindled my desire to write.  I wondered what would happen if you did get them all at once.  Then I wondered what would happen if you were young, unmarried, with no young child experience.  I added a mother-in-law that wasn’t even hers and named her Aggie.  She’s a favorite with my readers.

Why?

Because I tortured an average girl and made her interesting.  So, sometimes I just take an average person and give them a not-so-average problem or situation.

Can you blame me?

Not a WordTwo:

It’s inspiring.  It is!  Extraordinary behavior takes the mundane and makes it fascinating. Mac did this in Not a Word. 

Let’s face it.  Christians expect other Christians to do what is right, to behave in a Christ-like manner.  Well, I wanted to explore the very real fact that sometimes the world behaves more like a Christian than we do.  They show compassion where we offer condemnation and forgive where we judge (not rebuke in love–judge).  Mac does exactly that.  In a very tiny way, he shows what Jesus did for us.  We reject His love and He forgives, is steadfast, is constant.  I didn’t do that deliberately–most of those parallels show up without thought and shock me when I see them.

So, sometimes I take an ordinary person and have him behave in an extraordinary way–but only after I make his life miserable first.

Because it’s boring if it just happens without conflict.  Trust me.

justified means coverThree:

It’s an escape! Fiction is a chance to suspend reality.  Sure, it has to feel plausible (except when working with fantasy/sci-fi) but exploring the “what if” gives characters chances to do what we never could.

The Agency Files series does exactly that.  I mean c’mon, a private agency that provides protection with the kind of government blinders that they have?  Using tranq guns on people?  Kidnapping people to save them from unknown threats?  It’s completely unrealistic.  And that is what makes it so exciting!

So, sometimes I suspend reality to torture a character and create conflict.  And it’s fun.  So very fun.

I torture characters because it makes my books more interesting.  You’re welcome.  😉

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Comments

  1. Cands says

    October 14, 2014 at 7:08 am

    Great post! It’s weird to me that folks don’t automatically ‘get’ what you just spelled out. It seems quite obvious to me. If someone wants reality, then DON’T READ FICTION – READ MEMOIRS & AUTOBIOGRAPHIES!!! Duh! Lol ????

    Reply
    • Chautona says

      October 14, 2014 at 1:41 pm

      You make me smile. I admit, that’s often my first thought, but really, it’s understandable too, I suppose. Some people want it within the realm of reality anyway. One thing that often annoys people is Aggie’s inexperience with children. As a recent graduate with a teaching degree, they think she should have, but I did a LOT of research to find out if it was possible not to have done student teaching in younger classrooms and it is! Several people said they had! WOOHOO for me! But boo… because people don’t realize that it is possible, so it isn’t “realistic.” Oh, well.

      Reply
  2. Alicia says

    October 14, 2014 at 6:11 am

    I love your books and the lessons they constantly teach. You say torture, I say challenges… She’s they may extreme challenges at times, but none-the-less challenges. I love Aggie and Willow and the challenges they confront and how they do so. Same Without A Word and how Mac confronts the issues he faces head on and honestly and eventually gets his answers aa to why that situation even evolved.

    Even the Agency Files, while having to expand your “imagination” to some degree, but who knows maybe there is something out there we don’t know about it (????) still has realistic challenges the characters must face. Even this last book with Keith’s issues of pride and questioning his religion and issues with Erica were all human nature challenges.

    No matter what your characters face, and yes some seem to have them come in more than threes, they are things they and others and the readers can learn from. :).

    I love all your books because of the quality in which they are written, they hold your attention throughout, and there are always multiple lessons both the characters and the readers can take away from every book (even the ones who are continually challenged (tortured).

    PS I am still waiting on the next Aggje… :). In your spare time, of course. LOL.

    Reply
    • Chautona says

      October 14, 2014 at 1:42 pm

      I’m waiting on it too! I’ve got a story to tell!! WOOHOO!

      Reply
  3. Ruthanne Reid says

    October 13, 2014 at 10:45 pm

    Absolutely AWESOME. And boy, your title grabbed me. 😀 I’ve been accused of that, too!

    Reply
    • Chautona says

      October 14, 2014 at 1:50 pm

      It’s almost an illness, isn’t it, Ruthanne?

      Reply
  4. Jenni says

    October 13, 2014 at 8:05 pm

    Aggie was who brought me to your ‘doorstep’ begging for more books! 😉 I echo the above commenter: THANK YOU for writing books that keep us on pins and needles! I love reading your writing.

    Reply
  5. Mari says

    October 13, 2014 at 6:50 pm

    And I for one love you for it! Thank you for writing!

    Reply

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Episode 43: A Chat with Allison Pearl
by Chautona Havig

Great Things Happen When You Mix Danger and Donuts

Suspense is a personal favorite genre, so when I heard about Allison Pearl’s series, I knew I wanted to read them and chat with her about them.  I only made it about a quarter of the way into the book before the interview, but that’s mostly because I spent way too much time deliberating over whether I should finish the book, Sprinkled with Sabotage, or set it aside and go read the first two.  

That’s actually a difficult thing about books in a series that stand alone.  You can read them out of order, so the dilemma begins–kind of like whether to read The Narnia series in order of publication or in chronological order.

Nah, everyone knows you need to read in order of publication.  Hmm… maybe that solves my question on Allison Pearl’s books, too.  Hmmm…

From the fun way she named the protagonists to our discussing the idea of a high-speed chase through the West Virginia mountains (I bet she could get those folks up to forty miles-per-hour! Trust me, if you’ve ever driven some of those roads, you’ll know that IS high speed in that area!), we talked about just about everything.  Faith in fiction, what got Allison writing suspense in the first place, locales for books, and… of course, what is coming next!

The Love and Danger in St. Claire series by Allison Pearl is full of danger, tension, and sprinkled with romance for the heart-throbbers among us.

Sprinkled with Sabotage

Synopsis: Lizzy Bennet loves life as a lawyer in the city. And not just because of the miles it puts between her and her ex. However, when she’s attacked on the street just hours after learning her identity was stolen, she tries to call home for help and ends up with the last person she expects: the very same high school boyfriend who broke her heart.

He says he’s there to help, but she’s not so sure, and now, all the endless questions and regrets are clouding her judgment and preventing her from seeing the dangerous saboteur closing in. Small-town auto mechanic, Koby Knightly, is looking forward to seeing a car show in the city. But when an unexpected call from his old girlfriend disconnects suddenly, he rushes to her aid. Throwing his plans out the window, Koby makes it his mission to protect her and discover the identity of the person trying to frame her.

Will he also be able to figure out what went wrong between them back in high school or will a killer get to her first?

Available in print, on Kindle, and also through Kindle Unlimited.  Or, read the first books in the series:

  • Glazed Suspicion
  • Dunked in Trouble

You can learn more about Allison Pearl, her upcoming books, and more on her website.

Find out what else her publisher, Anaiah Press has to offer HERE.

Episode 43: A Chat with Allison Pearl
Episode 43: A Chat with Allison Pearl
January 19, 2021
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Episode 42: A Chat with J'nell Ciesielski
January 13, 2021
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Episode 41: A Chat with Jennifer Pierce
January 5, 2021
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Episode 40: My Favorite Book of 2020
December 8, 2020
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Episode 39: A Chat with L.K. Simonds
December 1, 2020
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Episode 38: Dan Smith & Saving Ebenezer
November 24, 2020
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Episode 37: A Chat with Sara Beth Williams
November 17, 2020
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Episode 36: A Chat with Jennifer Beckstrand
November 10, 2020
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Episode 35: What Is This NaNoWriMo Thing All About?
November 3, 2020
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Episode 34: 5 Cheap & Easy Ways to Feed a Book Habit
October 27, 2020
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