Bad Stuff Happens to Nice Characters

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Photo by Kat J on Unsplash

With my six-decade vision, this photo was easier to view when it was small.

I pasted it, it enlarged, and my stomach turned. I almost deleted.

My mind went beyond the child even, to the artist/photographer. What did it take out of the photographer to snap it and post it to Unsplash? What was that moment?

What are these tears? That mouth about to burst? Or is this kid going to keep that bottom lip control? His jaw must be aching.

Our characters

At times, characters sidle or fight into our minds, fully formed really, whether or not we know it at the time. We follow them where they lead us, we learn about them. Other times, we create “from scratch.” Sometimes we have the agony of re-naming them after we’ve begun to spend time together.

We spend hours that can turn into years with these figments of our imaginations. We get to know them in ways we don’t know people we live with. We care; we have to actively care in order to create a story with some guts to it, a story that will resonate.

Can we care too much? Care for what—the character? The story? The reader’s experience?