{"id":188,"date":"2015-08-19T13:27:09","date_gmt":"2015-08-19T18:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zachbarnesonwriting.wordpress.com\/?p=188"},"modified":"2015-08-19T13:27:09","modified_gmt":"2015-08-19T18:27:09","slug":"character-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/08\/19\/character-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"Character Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Writers can really learn a lot from TV.<\/p>\n

I used to really like the tv show\u00a0Bones. \u00a0<\/em>It’s a crime-drama that was somewhat\u00a0enjoyable (at first sight of this\u00a0genre, I usually chuckle under my breath and turn away). \u00a0But now, the show does not entertain, and that’s because it’s lacking in character pain.<\/p>\n

Character pain sounds like a bad thing, and it is. \u00a0Audiences don’t like it, writers don’t like writing it (the empathetic human beings among us, that is), but nothing could be more quintessential to high quality entertainment. By pain, I summarily mean adversity. \u00a0Physical, mental, situational, relationship-al, etc. \u00a0To clarify, readers and characters should always be feeling something between\u00a0\"images\"<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0\"imgres-1\"<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bones<\/em> should serve as a great example for all writers (spoilers for the later seasons follow: you have been warned!)<\/p>\n

\"imgres\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In its formative years, Bones<\/em>\u00a0outlined the lives of its two main characters: the socially awkward yet genius (of course) forensic scientist (“Brennan”), and the street-smart, rugged cop (“Booth”). \u00a0Over four seasons, these clich\u00e9s actually resembled real human beings who\u00a0were always\u00a0trying to get together, but were consistently prevented from doing so. \u00a0The tasty tension of hurt feelings and missed chances made for decent entertainment. \u00a0Where the folks writing\u00a0Bones<\/em> went wrong (story\/entertainment-wise) was to drag the show into its tenth season after resolving Booth and Brennan’s relationship-al tensions somewhere halfway through. \u00a0The resolution\/ending of pain is good, but it signals to the audience an end of plot and substance. \u00a0For watchers of Bones<\/i>, this\u00a0happened when the two main characters finally got married; everyone knows that an American cable crime drama is never,\u00a0ever<\/em> going to GRRM its main characters once they’re hitched (and it shouldn’t feel like it has to…)<\/p>\n

All this goes back to the fact that character pain\u00a0is necessary for growth and substance in a story, and without it, the audience will quickly realize that what they’re consuming is not a real story, but rather a pantomime of one, with any sense of stakes removed.<\/p>\n

Of course, I believe that there’s a point of diminishing returns when it comes to character pain, but that’s fodder for another post.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m on facebook at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zachbarnesonwriting<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

And Twitter: @ZacharyBarnes4<\/span><\/p>\n

Like or follow me if you enjoy\u00a0the blog!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t steal\u00a0my words. \u00a0They\u2019re mine. Zachary Barnes 2015\u00a9<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Character pain sounds like a bad thing, and it is. Audiences don’t like it, writers don’t like writing it (the empathetic human beings among us, that is), but nothing could be more quintessential to high quality entertainment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[4,9,45,52],"tags":[57,60,66,72,103,143,191],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":193,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/09\/04\/a-matter-of-diminishing-returns\/","url_meta":{"origin":188,"position":0},"title":"A Matter of Diminishing Returns","date":"September 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"BUT lo, there is a critical mass of character pain, after which you, dear author, will begin to look more and more like a sadistic bastard and the novel will become less and less enjoyable. You are drowning your plants in fertilizer.","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Character Development\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/01\/08\/observe-experience-write\/","url_meta":{"origin":188,"position":1},"title":"Observe, Experience, Write!","date":"January 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Writers observe everything. \u00a0But Zachary, you might contend,\u00a0doesn't everyone see everything? \u00a0Ah, nope. \u00a0It's the\u00a0difference between\u00a0hearing music and\u00a0listening to music. \u00a0One requires active participation, and one does not. \u00a0Writers\u00a0are human-shaped sponges, absorbing experience, digesting it, and turning it into meaningful prose. Just try it. \u00a0Step back from a group conversation\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"Similar post","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":196,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2016\/01\/02\/nasty-mcnasty-pants\/","url_meta":{"origin":188,"position":2},"title":"Nasty McNasty-Pants; Or,Titles with semicolons make you sound profound.","date":"January 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"And everyone knows, a good villain is worth twice their body-weight in death rays.","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Advice\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}