Why - when it comes to your characters - you SHOULDN'T be kind!

Have you ever heard the phrase - Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?

It's basically ye olden day equivalent to today's #BeKind movement. Only do to others what you wouldn't mind having done to you. In other words - don't be mean, be kind.

But there's one exception to that...

And that's when you are determining the fate of all your characters.

When it comes to their characters, writers should make their lives hell. Or at the very least, difficult and challenging.

Writing allows you to live vicariously through a whole array of personalities - behaving in a way you, as an individual, would never behave. Think of all the really nice actors you see on telly being interviewed, talking about relishing all the nasty roles they get to play. The liberation of it! Being able to be someone you'd never be in real life.

How you write - and what you write about - can definitely be a reflection of who you are as a person.

For instance, I know all my stories have characters who have a lot to overcome personally.

As for me, in real life, I tend to be quite a positive, happy person and I want everyone around me to be happy. If I saw someone struggling, I'd like to think I'd go and help. Try and cheer them up, listen to them, convince them they could achieve whatever it was they were trying to do, help with whatever it was they needed help with.

In other words, I don't like being horrible to anyone. If I don't like someone (which is rare) I don't waste time or energy thinking about them (unless I have to). So where I can, I'll walk away. In other words, I don't get off on giving people a hard time.

But one of the very first bits of professional feedback I ever got basically said I wasn't giving my characters enough of a hard time. The actual feedback was something along the lines of-

'You're giving your story a bit of a Disney feel to it but it isn't a Disney kind of story.'

In other words, I was writing butterflies and sunshine, when what I should have been writing about was storms and obstacles.

I didn't want to make things too horrible for my characters because I liked them. But if all your characters' lives are too 'fluffy', and they're not really struggling for anything, then what is there for your readers or viewers to care about?

At the very start of your story you need to give all of your characters a vulnerability to make people care about them. Then, once people care - that's when you get mean and dirty. Make your characters' lives a living hell. Give them something or someone to fight. Give them an impossible dream, or something they really, really want and make it near-on impossible to achieve. That way your readers or viewers will be invested in your characters, and want to go on their 'journey' with them.

I've never forgotten my 'Disney' feedback comment. It's pretty much the single, best bit of writing advice I've ever had because of who I am as a person. And it's something I kept in the forefront of my mind when I was writing all my scenes with Boom in for my debut novel.

Boom's a good person. Loyal, kind, funny (and fun-loving). Super creative, really talented, bright. And yet he's held back by his abusive stepdad, Oli, who terrifies him and stifles everything in his life, including his 'voice'.

In his scenes with Oli, I had to strike the right balance between graphic, but not too graphic. But I wanted there to be two or three scenes that resonated with my readers long after they put my book down. Scenes that helped establish Oli for the person he is - someone so scary that no-one around him has the ability to stand up to him.

I had to think about how Boom would feel about Oli, and delve into his psyche.

As a son, Boom naturally feels very protective over his mum. So then I had to find ways of showing Oli cruelly humiliate Boom's mum in front of him. And then, to make it even worse, I added guilt into the equation.

Boom loves his mum, and wants to protect her. But he's so scared of Oli, he can't. Every time he tries to do something to protect his mum, he just freezes to the spot in fear. Which makes him feel guilty, like he's letting his mum down, when in fact, no-one is brave enough to stand up to Oli. But Boom can't see that, so has to carry this constant guilt around with him - until the time he's finally pushed to fight back. Which makes that moment all the more powerful because of what's gone before.

For me, there were three scenes (or chapters) with Oli and Boom in that I think will resonate with my readers and as hard as they were for me to write, it was important for me to take the 'Disney' out of them. Because in order for me to make the domestic violence feel real, I had to make Oli as unpleasant and as vile as I possibly could.

So for me writing really is a good example of how should ignore the nicer side of your personality...

And why - when it comes to your characters - you SHOULDN'T be kind.