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.”
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So, here we go! Why I torture characters.
One:
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?
Two:
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.
Three:
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.
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 ????
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.
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.
I’m waiting on it too! I’ve got a story to tell!! WOOHOO!
Absolutely AWESOME. And boy, your title grabbed me. 😀 I’ve been accused of that, too!
It’s almost an illness, isn’t it, Ruthanne?
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.
And I for one love you for it! Thank you for writing!