Avoiding the Primrose Path

Ephesians 4:2 "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."

It’s going to sound a little backwards, but I’ve discovered an interesting, book-saving truth:

In order to have a book that sucks a reader in, and have her emerge with feelings of loving tenderness towards said book, you have to make you characters suffer.

What?

Indeed, Newbery award winner Gail Carson Levine (https://www.gailcarsonlevine.com/), takes this to an even higher degree, stressing the importance of having book characters suffer so unrelentingly throughout her novels, it has pushed distraught, well-meaning (I’m sure), parents to have Levine’s book banned from their children’s libraries.

Well meaning, my foot.

Well, it’s sometimes difficult to see it, but only books with bad in them create sympathy in readers. And sympathy, as you might already know-

-Is necessary for readers to care about the next page.

Exactly. Without conflict, there’s no story. If there’s even a smidgen (we’ll say here that a smidgen means precisely six typed pages), of a chapter without any sort of conflict, struggling, suffering, or even the main character’s inward complaining about her annoyance towards a cold sore, there is no interest.

Wait, you ask yourself, aren’t books supposed to be breaths of air at the end of a suffocatingly intoxicating day? Aren’t books supposed to add happiness and joy to life? Aren’t books supposed to make me feel good?

Answer: YES! Yes, yes, absolutely one hundred percent yes. But remember, there is a difference between flimsy, selfish happiness, and deep, long-lasting, sacrificing joy. We humans are always forgetting, but books continue a long chain of life that has been around ever since a person took quill to parchment, with more than just a brain, but an imagination to boot; in other words, books are wise. They know the key to satisfaction, which includes cheering a fictional character on as she pulls shakily back to her feet, mud splattered, but never giving up. If she gave up, that would be the end of the book. And not the proper ’The End,’ sort of ending, but a writer throwing her laptop across the room, wondering madly, “WHY isn’t this working?!”

At the end of the day, we need reminded that there are other worriers fighting their own battles, and if they can do rise again, so will we.

Chew over that, it might help you make a few editing decisions on your novel.

Now, of course, we do not have characters suffering simply because we enjoy watching people suffer.

Don’t we?

Ignore him. Just as we feel satisfaction in writing and reading through struggles and trials, there is always the need for a well-deserved breather. A refreshing splash of ocean water, for the reader, even if the book character herself doesn’t get one (poor character! Always respect your characters, even the antagonists). Look at any good novel; there’s almost always a moment to breathe, to notice the leaves scattering across the ground, to admire the glowing Christmas tree, to hug your mum in the middle of confusion, and have a moment of perfect bliss.

So, in the end, mixing good luck and suffering in a book is a lot like creating a realistic character--I think Lemony Snicket puts it best when he says: “People aren't either wicked or noble. They're like chef's salads, with good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict.”

This is so true! It reminds me of the dinner I created the other night:

Very colorful, yes? I really love having lots of color in my meals, otherwise, obviously, it would be bland, monotonous, and boring. Books are the same way. You have to have a little of every color, and emotion, mixed in together at random like a chef's salad. Good and bad, just like in your own life.

You, as a writer, have the fascinating ability to move readers, if you know how to do it. It takes practice, that's for sure; so never stop practicing, and never stop learning. That's when the extraordinary and unimaginable can be achieved.

(p.s., if you want an example of how suffering is actually effective, and not just barbarous, read any of Jeannie Birdsall's Penderwick novels. Heartbreak!)