Today I’ll be talking to you about suffering. It’s a
horrible subject I know, but it’s part of a story, so you’ll just have to deal.
I have a very prime example of suffering. I have been sick
all weekend. I slept for most of Sunday, which sucked. I mean the sleeping didn’t
suck, but the fact that I had to sleep instead of doing fun things like
watching cutthroat kitchen sucked. I’m feeling somewhat better today though,
thank you very much. Also, it’s impossible to catch any kind of sickness
through the internet. Or maybe it is these days, I don’t know. But I digress.
The protagonist of your story can’t have it too easy. If his
fiancée is captured by pirates (kidnapped by pirates is good), it
actually has to be difficult for him to get her back. He can’t just pick up the
Pirate Shooter 3000 (Patent Pending), waltz onto the ship, and get her back no
problem. How boring would that be?
If your protagonist’s fiancée is captured by pirates, your
protagonist should have to go through a lot to rescue her. I’m talking storms
at sea, sunburn, sea monsters, more sunburn, fights with pirates, peely
sunburns, evil shipmates, and yet more sunburn.
Adding things for your protagonist to suffer from makes the
story much more interesting and exciting to read. Otherwise it’s super boring.
Of course, your protagonist has to make actual progress, but it can’t be too
easy.
Also, I might add, making your protagonist suffer is a good
way to show that he actually cares about the story goal. If he will fight
pirates to rescue his love, it’s obviously he really loves her.
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