Audiences want to see characters suffer.  Not because they’re brimming with Schadenfreude or love to see people in pain but because they are far more interested in watching a character dealing with a difficult situation than one who is not.   And if your character ISN’T dealing with a situation that is challenging I have to wonder why we bothering with this story.

As a good storyteller I know you will have given your protagonist a great problem to overcome or an important goal to pursue but make it too easy for them to do so you run the risk of a weak and less that engaging story.

Let’s think about the protagonist John Book from the award-winning 80s film “Witness.” 

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Within the first 20 minutes of the story protagonist Book is faced with a brutal murder to solve – which is challenging enough - but he’s also charged with protecting the young witness who comes with an uncooperative Amish mother AND he discovers that the murderer he’s seeking is a colleague.  As if that’s not bad enough he’s then betrayed by another colleague, shot and wounded, before having to drive the hell out of dodge with young witness in tow. Once out of dodge he nearly dies an agonising death on an Amish farm because the elders aren’t big on modern medicine. And that’s just the beginning...

But I love my characters, you say, I find it hard to treat them badly. Harden up, I say, and start treating ‘em mean. Still not sold?  Consider the challenges the ever popular Jane Austen or any of those nasty Bronte sisters inflicted on their protagonists – just brutal!  

So here are just 15 ways you can make your protagonist’s life hell and create more possibilities in your plot.

1. Let them make stupid mistakes.

2. Throw them into an environment that gets in the way of their goal.

3. Put them in a culture that isn’t conducive to achieving their goal.

4. Give them a childhood “wound” that still haunts them.

5. Give them a physical or mental weakness that will hinder their journey.

6. Saddle them with a wounded/useless/troublesome colleague or buddy.

7. Create more antagonistic forces in their day to day world e.g. the door that sticks the stupid dog that pees everywhere, the zombies that roam the streets – that sort of thing.

8. Allow a significant personality flaw to cause them problems.

9. Let “the worst possible thing that could happen” happen.

10. Give them a secret they’re ashamed of.

11. Give them a difficult family member to deal with in addition to everything else.

12. Let them lose something really important. Bonus – if it’s the one thing that solves the problem.

13. Give them more than one significant antagonistic character to deal with.

14. Give them a habit that bites them in the ass later down the track.

15. Think about who or what their biggest support is – then pull it out from under them.

Mean, so mean. Enjoy!

©Kathryn Burnett 2022

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