Monday and author's wrath
Tell us some of the worst things you have done to a character to move a plot along. (Remember to put them under a cut if they are TOO bad) Alternatively, tell us about any time you showed mercy and spared a character from a horror that would have helped the story along.
I have been told that I'm so *mean* when it comes to the things I've done to my characters. Especially to Marce and Emil, who I pretty much 'break' throughout the story and put back together. I do have ten or so years worth of storytime for them after all.
The list goes as follows:
-Family troubles: Marce gets disowned by her father while she is still a college student. This happened because she refused to cover up for his extramarital affair, and this resulted in her mother walking out on them. Marce also has the heart-wrenching task of having to commit her youngest sister to a psychiatric ward after the latter gets a psychotic episode. In both crises, Emil and Ida were the ones who helped Marce out.
-Health issues: Emil comes down with adult chickenpox and comes out weak and very scarred. It does give Marce the chance to take care of him and to prove that she isn't with him just for his looks. In one story, I gave Marce a violent stomach flu, and even had her break her ankle in an accident. It was just to give her friends a chance to come through for her. In a later story, I had her give birth prematurely to her second child (as a consequence of physical injuries sustained earlier that year). Fortunately she and little Alix eventually recover, but it does explain why Marce is especially protective of her daughter.
-Public humiliation: Emil and Marce are constantly being one-upped by fellow debaters, rivals, or other activists. The most infamous confrontations usually involve their nemesis Carlos, who enjoys embarrassing them and making them look like idealistic fools. It does help them become more tough as lawyers-in-training.
-Near-death experiences: Emil nearly died in a bomb blast after his bar exams, but fortunately got out with temporarily losing the use of his legs. Marce was kidnapped, raped, and tortured as retribution for her prosecuting a major case. This is not even counting their close calls during various rallies and natural disasters. These brushes with mortality really change them both: Marce learns that she can easily lose Emil to their cause, while Emil finds that he can be capable of acting rashly when the woman he loves is threatened. It's an unsettling revelation.
-The best of them all: Marce had to handle a case while she was in the family way for the first time. On a crucial day in the trial, she went into labor while cross-examining a witness. She did manage to make a breakthrough for the prosecution before she had to be rushed to the hospital. She ended up having a difficult delivery owing to her being narrow-hipped and her son being quite big. This episode greatly changes both Marce and Emil. It definitely accounts for Emil being extremely protective of Marce and their son Andrei.
I have been told that I'm so *mean* when it comes to the things I've done to my characters. Especially to Marce and Emil, who I pretty much 'break' throughout the story and put back together. I do have ten or so years worth of storytime for them after all.
The list goes as follows:
-Family troubles: Marce gets disowned by her father while she is still a college student. This happened because she refused to cover up for his extramarital affair, and this resulted in her mother walking out on them. Marce also has the heart-wrenching task of having to commit her youngest sister to a psychiatric ward after the latter gets a psychotic episode. In both crises, Emil and Ida were the ones who helped Marce out.
-Health issues: Emil comes down with adult chickenpox and comes out weak and very scarred. It does give Marce the chance to take care of him and to prove that she isn't with him just for his looks. In one story, I gave Marce a violent stomach flu, and even had her break her ankle in an accident. It was just to give her friends a chance to come through for her. In a later story, I had her give birth prematurely to her second child (as a consequence of physical injuries sustained earlier that year). Fortunately she and little Alix eventually recover, but it does explain why Marce is especially protective of her daughter.
-Public humiliation: Emil and Marce are constantly being one-upped by fellow debaters, rivals, or other activists. The most infamous confrontations usually involve their nemesis Carlos, who enjoys embarrassing them and making them look like idealistic fools. It does help them become more tough as lawyers-in-training.
-Near-death experiences: Emil nearly died in a bomb blast after his bar exams, but fortunately got out with temporarily losing the use of his legs. Marce was kidnapped, raped, and tortured as retribution for her prosecuting a major case. This is not even counting their close calls during various rallies and natural disasters. These brushes with mortality really change them both: Marce learns that she can easily lose Emil to their cause, while Emil finds that he can be capable of acting rashly when the woman he loves is threatened. It's an unsettling revelation.
-The best of them all: Marce had to handle a case while she was in the family way for the first time. On a crucial day in the trial, she went into labor while cross-examining a witness. She did manage to make a breakthrough for the prosecution before she had to be rushed to the hospital. She ended up having a difficult delivery owing to her being narrow-hipped and her son being quite big. This episode greatly changes both Marce and Emil. It definitely accounts for Emil being extremely protective of Marce and their son Andrei.