How happy are your characters...

[Pentagon]

You hear the risks of being radicalised by scary online communities on dodgy communties! We as a community take sociopathism to brand new levels!

I don't think i'd let me child hang out on SFF Chrons!

 

[NbDawn]

One doesn't have to feel fulfillment in order to be happy. And one doesn't have to jump up and down with joy to feel happiness. When a careerist or idealist succeeds at one of their mile-post goals, there can be a sense of accomplishment, relief, and satisfaction, which I would think is a form of happiness.

 

[genocon]

i think happiness is for after the story ends. after they have fought their battles and lived through their conflict. there's a reason fairy tales end with 'they lived happily ever after.' if they're too happy in the story, as most have said, it gets boring. so, beat them and torture them, but make sure they have a happy ending.

 

[The Big Peat]

I'd argue that they need a little happiness in the stories at least. Endless pain is, personally, very boring.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I'd run away if I were one of your characters, or at least try to.

In fairness I've read authors who are far more horrible to their characters than Jo is. I only say this so she knows there is room for improvement

Ha! I knew I should have kept an eye on this thread.....

I'd fully put my hands up and admitting being thoroughly awful to everyone in Abendau's Heir (and in most other books, to be fair - John hardly has a party in Inish Carraig). I wanted to ensure I took things to the full misery that gets dumped on characters in so many genre books (as this thread is showcasing, you bad lot ). The big difference, I think, is how close I keep the reader to the misery (and there is the odd fun scene. Usually right before the next bit of misery turns up, but hey-ho...) I've argued in many places that the themes and ordeals presented are not ott or excessive for the genre. In fact, they're presented in book after book. It's just that few ask the question of what that would mean for someone. That's what makes it so dark, the closeness.

I think over the course of the trilogy, that balance comes back. Because it is about balance and whilst I'm at the misery end of the spectrum, I think the odd moment of hope - and, ultimately, I believe hope is a good thing - is to be embraced.

But I'll have to wait another few months to see if I did get that balance over the 3 books.

Ps Tim - they've tried it.

 

[Tim Murray]

I'm guilty of nearly killing off most of my main characters in one book, nearly! It can be fun!

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Ha! Miserable once I'm done with them.

That's not true. They're all happy to make it through alive.

 

[Tim Murray]

That's not true. They're all happy to make it through alive.

Great Zebra! Is it of the sloth/zebra off-shoot of the DNA family?

 

[hopewrites]

I think it depends entirely on one's definition of happiness.
If happy is being smiling and bubbling, laughing and kicking up one's heels... No you don't want an excess of that. One doesn't get an excess of irl, so an excess in fiction would be jarring, raise suspicions...
If happy is that thing you come back to again and again, the emotional high you crave, then yeah, show me characters having to deal with what that means in their life. Do they admit what makes them happy, or do they try and hide it from themselves? Does the society they live in promote or discourage their favorite form of happiness? How does that shape the characters view on how happy they are? Do those close to them know what makes them happy? Is it promoted or hindered? On purpose or by accident?

I think this is a brilliant question to ask if the writer asking themselves looks at it from the second definition! Our lives are lived without the promise of a happily ever after, my obituary isn't going to be "She lived happily ever after, the end. Will the family now join me at the grave side dedication, thank you."
Even if you look at life as a series of stories, when you accomplish one thing, you don't get a nice big musical closing number *que fire works and curtain call music* "we beat the tests and learned some stuff, now I've got my diploma and nothing's tough. Oh it'll be smooth sailing from here on in! I'm a qualified accountant and it's no sin, TO LOVE SPREADSHEETS FOR-EV-ER~~~"
Hell, I'd go back to school in a heartbeat if I could get my accounting certificate with a good show stopper. Biology degree with a nice moonlit pan out over inspirational number that all but guarantees a happy life traipsing through the jungle (that has no hindering government and provides life to the biologists studying it that is full of ease and comfort) making new discoveries for which I'll be remembered and loved forever.

^^^ not going to happen.
So. What do I get? I get to figure out what makes me happy. Not smiling happy, but living life by the teeth biting into each moment happy. "She enjoyed her usual state of ill health" "grinning into the teeth of the storm like a madman" "guilty pleasure" "unabashed joy" "but you love being miserable" "never more happy then when traipsing through misery"

If I can't find mine, I go to my favorite characters. How did they find theirs? Did they have it all along and not know? ([Expletive] ruby slippers, could have been home in act one) Did they stumble into it? Fate? What did those around them do to help or hinder their search?