Hurting the Characters You Love

And no, I’m not talking about your kids or mine, even though they may indeed be “characters.” I’m talking about those kids we kid’s fiction writers create on the page and then — somewhere between writing The End and the call from your friend/agent/beta reader with revision ideas/suggestions/orders/demands to beef up your plot — we fall in love with.

I was sitting on my porch on Monday, wondering why I was having such a hard time revising one of my manuscripts when it popped into my head that the only thing keeping me from tearing into that revision with the necessary gusto was that I loved my main character too much.

Let’s call him Raymond, shall we? Precious little Raymond.

Raymond is just about everything I like in a kid. He’s sneaky, mischievous, funny, overly dramatic, smart, geeky, and deeply insecure. He has his own very special moral code, which might not be immediately recognizable as, well, moral to many old farts/adults. I wrote him, sure. I even found myself disapproving of his antics from time to time. Okay, not really. But I knew I *should* disapprove, if I were a “Good Parent.” Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with the little squirt. He became – like Pinocchio, like so many characters from books I read as a child — a real boy. My perfect, my precious. (Go ahead, do your Smeagol/Gollum voice here; I did.)

Of course, once I realized what I’d done, that the thing holding me back from making my manuscript better (um, hello? The *job* of a writer???) was that I didn’t want Raymond to suffer, it wasn’t a problem any more. Hey, I didn’t stick that post-it on my writing desk with those three magic words just to fill the space! What three words, you ask?

Hurt your characters.

Long story short-ish? I’m applying a whole lotta Tough Love to poor little Raymond this week. I hope it’ll make the book better. Who knows? Maybe it would work in the real world, too. (cue evil laughter)

(No, no. Bad Mommy. Hurt your characters, not your children. Very important to remember.)

Write well, friends. And be vicious and brutal to your fictional children. 😉

Posted in Children's Fiction, People I Love on 03/10/2010 07:10 pm

8 Comments

  1. Nikki–someone has a blog called “Kill your Darlings.” Ewww. Well, we don’t really want to harm sweet Raymond–remember, I know him, too, but maybe he should suffer a little. One little book on writing says, get your hero in hot water, get him out, then throw him right back in. Keep going–you’re doing a wonderful job. Celia

    Reply

    • Nikki Loftin

      Celia – Ha! I think of that blog every time my kids come home from school.
      Just kidding, yanno. Now, I’m off to boil some literary hot water for my little frog boy to try and jump out of.

      Reply

  2. Vicious and brutal. Good advice. I’ve been reading someone’s pages where life keeps getting worse and worse for the MC, who is the most likeable yet real girl ever. It’s ripping my heart out, and I can’t wait to see what happens. So, I can see how your advice can really make a book work. Thanks.

    Reply

    • Nikki Loftin

      Hi, Lori! You know the thing about advice, right? Yeah, hard to follow your own. But I’m trying… maybe I’ll be able to make this book work before I go nuts.

      Reply

  3. Awe, go ahead. Rough him up, Nikki. He’s tough. That kid can take it. 😉 And I know you can do it.

    Reply

  4. You’re so funny 🙂 Good luck with the revisions. I know they’ll be amazing!

    Reply

    • Nikki Loftin

      Hmmm. Amazing? That’s what I’m aiming for, but I keep landing on “awkward.”
      I feel like I’m coloring my own hair — making a huge mess that I may regret, and that I’ll have to live with for months.
      Still, back to work! Love ya, Suze.

      Reply

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