Last night, I didn't sleep one wink, and my two remaining brain cells are rebelling. Could I pick some great books to mention? Sure. Could I say why they're fab? Not in any coherent fashion. So instead, I am rerunning a column from 2018 about the importance of being mean to your characters. I hope it helps.
And now ...
They Must Suffer!
Authors in the mystery community are generally known for being nice folks. Helpful, welcoming, even pleasant. But when it comes to their work, successful writers are mean. They have to be.
An author who likes her characters too much might be inclined to make
things easy for them. The sleuth quickly finds the killer. She's never
in any real danger. In fact, there's no murder at all in the story or
book. Just an attempted murder, but the sleuth's best friend pulls
through just fine.
These scenarios may be all well and good in Happily Ever After Land. But in Crime Land, they result in a book without tension that's probably going to be way too short. That's why editors often tell mystery authors to make their characters suffer.
Yet that can be easier said than done. If you're basing a character on someone you don't like, then you might have a grand time writing every punch, broken bone, and funeral. But not every character can be based on an enemy. And sometimes characters seem to plead from the page, "Don't do that to me."
It's happened to me. I once started writing a certain story. I had a great first page, and then I got stuck. No matter how I tried to write the next several sentences, they didn't work. So I walked away from the computer. Sometimes I find a break can help a writing logjam. But not this time. In the end, I found I simply couldn't write the story I'd planned because, you see, that plan had included the death of a cat. And I just couldn't do it.
The publication I was aiming the story for would have been fine with a story that included a dead animal. But I wasn't fine with it. And I knew my regular readers wouldn't like it either. Sure animals die in real life, and sometimes they die in fiction too. But those deaths should be key to the story. The Yearling wouldn't work if the deer didn't die. And Old Yeller needed the dog to die too.
But not all stories need animal jeopardy. And that's the key question: is it necessary? In the story I was writing about the cat it wasn't, and I knew it in my gut, even if I didn't know it in my head at first. That's why I couldn't bring myself to write the story as planned. Instead, with the help of a friend, I found another way to make the story work, one without any harm to animals.
It's not the first time something like that has happened to me. I once wrote a story called "Suffer the Little Children" (published in my collection, Don't Get Mad, Get Even). This is the first story of mine involving a female sheriff name Ellen Wescott. She's smart and honest and way different than I'd planned. Originally she was supposed to be a corrupt man. But as I was thinking through the plot during my planning stage, I heard that male sheriff say in my head, "Don't make me do that. I don't want to do that." Spooky, right?
While part of me immediately responded, "too bad,"--he had to
suffer--another part of me knew that when characters talk back like
that, it's because my subconscious knows what I'm planning isn't going
to work. Either it won't work for the readers, as with the cat I
couldn't kill. Or it won't work for the plot, as was the case with this
sheriff story. So my corrupt male sheriff became an honorable female
sheriff, and large parts of the plot changed. My female sheriff faced
obstacles, but she was a good person. That was a compromise my gut could
live with.
Readers, I'd love to hear about stories and books you've enjoyed that involved a plot event you didn't love, yet you accepted it because you knew it was important to the story. And writers, I'd love to hear about times you couldn't bring yourself to write something. What was it? And why?
These scenarios may be all well and good in Happily Ever After Land. But in Crime Land, they result in a book without tension that's probably going to be way too short. That's why editors often tell mystery authors to make their characters suffer.
Yet that can be easier said than done. If you're basing a character on someone you don't like, then you might have a grand time writing every punch, broken bone, and funeral. But not every character can be based on an enemy. And sometimes characters seem to plead from the page, "Don't do that to me."
It's happened to me. I once started writing a certain story. I had a great first page, and then I got stuck. No matter how I tried to write the next several sentences, they didn't work. So I walked away from the computer. Sometimes I find a break can help a writing logjam. But not this time. In the end, I found I simply couldn't write the story I'd planned because, you see, that plan had included the death of a cat. And I just couldn't do it.
 |
| Don't do it! |
The publication I was aiming the story for would have been fine with a story that included a dead animal. But I wasn't fine with it. And I knew my regular readers wouldn't like it either. Sure animals die in real life, and sometimes they die in fiction too. But those deaths should be key to the story. The Yearling wouldn't work if the deer didn't die. And Old Yeller needed the dog to die too.
But not all stories need animal jeopardy. And that's the key question: is it necessary? In the story I was writing about the cat it wasn't, and I knew it in my gut, even if I didn't know it in my head at first. That's why I couldn't bring myself to write the story as planned. Instead, with the help of a friend, I found another way to make the story work, one without any harm to animals.
It's not the first time something like that has happened to me. I once wrote a story called "Suffer the Little Children" (published in my collection, Don't Get Mad, Get Even). This is the first story of mine involving a female sheriff name Ellen Wescott. She's smart and honest and way different than I'd planned. Originally she was supposed to be a corrupt man. But as I was thinking through the plot during my planning stage, I heard that male sheriff say in my head, "Don't make me do that. I don't want to do that." Spooky, right?
 | |
| Sometimes characters just have to be nice |
Readers, I'd love to hear about stories and books you've enjoyed that involved a plot event you didn't love, yet you accepted it because you knew it was important to the story. And writers, I'd love to hear about times you couldn't bring yourself to write something. What was it? And why?
When we were first married, my wife was addicted toa certain soap opera in which every character, bar none, had (to my mind) absolutely no redeeming qualities; they were all petty, shallow, vindictive, self-serving, and morally bankrupt. In my mind, they all had to die to redeem the storyline. They didn't.
ReplyDeleteThe soap is no longer on the air but the characters seem to ,live on today ibn Washington, D.C. I certainly do not wish harm to any of those real-world people, but it sure would be nice if their current gig were to be cancelled.
And, not be a contrarian, Old Yeller did not need to die. I'm sure the Coates family had some nasty neighbors the dog could have bitten instead to bring the film to a close.
I am literally laughing out loud at your alternate ending to Old Yeller. Good job!
DeleteWell, the most heartbreaking movie I saw was actually "Sounder", which had a happy ending - but DAMN that family went through hell on earth to get there.
ReplyDeleteAnd I had to shoot one of my regular narrators, Linda, in "Bad Influence" (which was in our Murder, Neat Anthology) to make the plot work. At least I didn't have to kill her.
I can hear Linda right now whispering, "Glad to be alive, but you had to shoot me? HAD TO?" );
DeleteOops. I messed up the winking emoji. Oh well.
DeleteVery interesting topic, Barb! Timely for me - in The Pharaoh's Curse Murders, just released, I wanted the theme to be Justice for Women - and what *is* a jury of your peers in1929? To do that, I had to make some terrible things happen to a very likeable female character who does survive it. I hated to do it - and I wasn't graphic, but still it almost killed me to write that exposure chapter. I absolutely needed the reader to feel the dread, in order to approve of the ending of the story. The industry reviewers seem to like it...I hope readers do.
ReplyDeleteI bet they will, Mel. I wish you many sales.
DeleteGreat piece, Barb. I'm working on a story now where the protagonist discovers her husband once killed a man, but his self-inflicted punishment makes her life miserable. Conflicted characters are always more fun to write than happy ones.
ReplyDeleteMaybe she should kill him. That could get rid of her misery.
DeleteActually, Barb, I think Linda's more upset that I've given her a lousy ex-husband and a nonexistent love life...
ReplyDeleteFair.
DeleteA great article, Barb! I appreciate your knowledge of a correct looking plot, coupled with the fact that you tailor your stories in accordance with your inner voice in your heart, which is not comfortable with harshness to some characters. Huma here, your fb friend. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Huma! I've listened to my gut many times over the years, and it has not failed me, in writing and in life.
Delete