Guest Post: Author J. Bennett

We Hurt Them Because We Love Them
Why Making Characters Suffer Is A Good Thing

Thank you to Pamela for hosting me and for supporting so many talented authors.

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I would hazard to guess that most authors love their characters, even the bad guys. And yet, we put them through hell. We kill off their parents, drop high school bullies in their path, break their hearts, betray them, occasionally even kidnap, torture and kill them.

It’s an odd way to show love, but here’s the reason why: a happy protagonist is a boring protagonist.

There are only two real places in a novel where a protagonist is allowed to be happy – in the beginning when their world has yet to rocked by the coming storm and at the end when they’ve overcome whatever it is they had to overcome. Sure, the protagonist might experience a few instances of fleeting joy throughout the story, but in most cases, that happiness is planted by the author for the express purpose of snatching it away.

There are always exceptions. I’m sure there are books where characters are happy the entire way through. Kudos to the author who can write an active, enjoyable story without a lot of suffering along the way.

For the rest of us, however, suffering not only makes our characters interesting, it’s a great motivator. In order for a story to exist, a protagonist must go on a journey. This journey often combines spiritual, physical and emotional components. The best kick start to a journey is a traumatizing event that forces the protagonist to react.

My debut novel, Falling – Girl With Broken Wings, is no exception. The beginning of the novel features Maya, a college sophomore who has finally established a comfortable routine. She has a doting boyfriend, loves her classes, and is starting to break out of her shell.

Well, well, this can’t last at all, can it?

The trauma that throws Maya into a major tailspin comes in the form of a stranger with glowing hands. He uses those hands to murder Maya’s boyfriend, kidnap her, and to begin changing her into something other than human. A timely rescue from two vigilante half-brothers she never knew she had saves Maya’s life but not her humanity.

See? Suffering. It’s interesting, and in Maya’s case, very motivating indeed. As she begins to come to terms with her new abilities and the murderous hunger that fuels them, she’s got vengeance on her mind in a big way.

I can’t speak for other authors, but for myself, I have to admit I have conflicting feelings when it comes to making my characters suffer. I feel a very close bond with Maya and her brothers. A part of me wants nothing more than to swaddle them in allergen-free, organic cotton blankets and hug them all day long. But then there’s that other part of me that takes a perverse pleasure in pushing each character to their physical and emotional limit. I like seeing how much they can take and – just as they start to crack – throwing a big monster in their path or revealing another dark secret.

Suffering isn’t only interesting; it can lead to incredible character growth. Tragedy holds many lessons, and from it characters can choose a path toward healing and redemption (though they don’t always take it).

We authors make our characters suffer, but we do it out of love, so they’ll grow, so they’ll learn to fight, so that when they finally achieve happiness, it will be a well-earned reward.

For Maya and her brothers, their journey is just beginning. Falling is book one in the Girl With Broken Wings series. My poor protagonist has many burdens yet to bear, but with each she overcomes, she grows stronger and wiser.

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Falling is J Bennett’s debut novel and the first book in the Girl With Broken Wings series. It is currently available as an ebook for $2.99 on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. Learn more and read a free sample at www.GirlWithBrokenWings.com. J Bennett is a professional copywriter and copyeditor. She also writes the blog www.ShyWriter.com. Her Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/jbennettwrites.

Blog Tour: Guest Post/Giveaway - Ted Saves the World by Bryan Cohen

Today, I'm happy to have author Bryan Cohen on my blog, talking a bit about his novella, Ted Saves the World. This is the last stop on the tour, so make sure you check out the rest of the tour here to increase your chances of winning one of four $25 Amazon gift cards! More details of the giveaway to follow.

Description of Ted Saves the World (Available for just $0.99):
A possessed cheerleader. A cursed gang of criminals. Mysterious telekinetic powers. An angry ex-girlfriend in gym class? One second, sophomore in high school Ted endures his first breakup in his favorite place in town. The next, a mysterious blue light turns him into a worldwide superhero sensation for taking down a posse of grisly murderers. As his views on YouTube increase and his friend Dhiraj tries to capitalize on the marketing potential, his dangers increase as well when a presumed-dead cheerleader begins taking a personal interest. Can Ted survive his first week as a superhero in the public eye? This novella is the first taste in a series of full-length novels about the adventures of Ted Finley and Erica LaPlante. The book is also available on Barnes & Noble and Smashwords for $0.99. Click here to add it to your Goodreads shelf.

Gratefulness
By Bryan Cohen

I've been very fortunate in my career as a writer. On this last stop on my Ted Saves the World tour, I think it's important to remember to be thankful of all the positive things I have going for me in this strange, creative endeavor that I've made a major part of my life.

Throughout all of college, I came up with a ton of ideas for writing and producing and I wasn't afraid to put those concepts up on stage in front of my peers and the community. That being said, I never even dreamed of releasing those ideas to a public at large and having thousands of people buy a book with my name on it. Heck, I didn't even know that such a thing was possible without a publisher. I am grateful for all the people who have written about self-publishing who have found success and shared their strategies with the world in the form of blog or forum posts.

I've always liked the concept of superheroes and I'd alternately watched Saturday morning cartoons and read comic books as a kid. It wasn't until watching the show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" as a teenager that I realized that heroes could have major flaws and that they could have witty banter with their friends just like I did. By relating so much to the characters and situations presented, years later I was able to create my own high school superhero yarn in Ted Saves the World. I'm grateful to Joss Whedon and all the other writers, crew and actors who brought the show to life and helped to inspire me to create this project.

For a long time in life, I thought that I was dealt the short end of the stick. I wasn't particularly athletic growing up and I was made fun of for being a little pudgy around the edges. In high school, the other kids quickly grew taller than me and were more socially adjusted as well. Toward the end of my time at Upper Dublin High, I combined my intelligence with a desire to be involved in the social scene and thus was born my sense of humor. While originally a coping mechanism, I have cultivated this humor into a career as a writer and a comedian. I realize now that the things I wanted in life, to be a tall, muscular, girl-getting dude, weren't meant to be, but the traits I've gotten and worked with are really amazing in their own way. I'm grateful for becoming this wacky, funny guy who is able to write up a storm when necessary.

I also want to show appreciation all of the people who let me be a part of their blogs for this four-week stretch. I am grateful to be included and I'm so happy to be able to share my ideas with your readers. While writers go through thousands of words every week to create something incredible, today's post could have been summed up easily with the two most important words of the English language. Thank you.

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Biography:
Bryan Cohen is a writer, actor and comedian from Dresher, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005 with degrees in English and Dramatic Art and a minor in Creative Writing. He has written seven books including 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts: Ideas for Blogs, Scripts, Stories and More. Contact Bryan through his Ted Saves the World blog, his Build Creative Writing Ideas site or Twitter.


Giveaway!
Bryan Cohen is giving away four $25 Amazon gift cards, one for each week of his month long blog tour. To enter, simply comment with your e-mail address. Bryan will draw the four names at the end of the tour, picking one entrant at random from each week’s set of blog posts. Entries will be counted through Monday, August 15th, 2011. Enter on as many sites as you want, follow the tour at Build Creative Writing Ideas. If Ted reaches the Top 100 on Amazon at any point during the tour, a fifth $25 card will be added to the giveaway.