Recently, I taught a webinar called FORGED IN FIRE: MAKING YOUR CHARACTER SUFFER FOR FUN AND PROFIT. Though the title is tongue-in-cheek, the basic premise that characters NEED to suffer and be tested in several different arenas in order to grow—and in order for that growth to be meaningful to readers—is one worth considering.

According to Sherrilyn Kenyon, “The strongest steel is forged by the hottest fires. It is pounded and struck repeatedly… The fire gives it power and flexibility, and the blows give it strength. Those two things make it able to withstand every battle…”

This is such an apt metaphor for character development—in life and in stories. When we make things difficult for our characters, then throw them into the fire—both in terms of the story’s physical demands AND its psychological/emotional ones—we give them the tools they need to evolve and to ultimately succeed at missions they might have found impossible to carry out at the beginning of the story.

WHAT IS SUFFERING (FOR STORY PURPOSES)?

• Physical, emotional, spiritual, or psychological pain that has an enduring quality.

• The ongoing state of anticipating such pain.

• The awareness of being diminished by such pain.

• Being stuck in a battle with adverse forces without an ultimate victory or gratification of some kind.

WHY IS IT NEEDED (FOR STORY PURPOSES)?

• Characters are changed by suffering/adversity, and plots are stories of change.

• Character is revealed and made concrete through the response to suffering/adversity.

• Suffering and adversity create friction and interest. A character’s seamless journey through events is lulling—and not really a story but a

  string of events.

• Without suffering/adversity, there’s no source of conflict and nothing for the reader to invest in or anticipate.

• Suffering and adversity lead to character growth, which adds meaning to a story.

• The overcoming of suffering and adversity instills a feeling of “moral uplift” and hope in the reader.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

• Is it difficult for you to make your characters suffer? Why?

• Does it help to equate suffering and being tested with ultimate growth and the capacity for greater happiness?

• Are you making use of more than one arena—the world of the story, other characters, family or past relationships, etc.—to create trials and difficulty for your character?

• Are you satisfied by stories where a character’s suffering is left unhealed/unresolved or where justice doesn’t prevail? Examples?
  
  Challenge yourself to challenge your characters. Your story will be better for it!