Pain

How can pain be useful in a story?

Well, there are many types of pain, many kinds. There's mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, and maybe even more. We all understand pain, and we all know what it feels like. I think that's why stories with real visceral pain move us so much. Think about the recent movie "127 Hours" where the hiker had to cut off his own arm. That story was powerful simply because it was an extreme form of pain that every human being has felt, and not only that but he was alone and suffering from extremes of emotion and mental pain. A very compelling story.

What if the pain is being imposed on the focus of the story? What if the pain is used to put the reader into the pain itself? What if the main character is the one causing pain to others?

It seems to me that the conflict from many stories is because of pain. It's such an easy thing to sympathize with, and so is useful for an author in a big way. The best way, in my view, is to draw in a reader is to make them feel something definite for the characters. Do that and readers will put up with a lot of errors, just so they can continue the story to a satisfying conclusion (happy or not). I think readers love to get their emotions yanked by feeling the pain in the story.

- M