Ouch, toothache!

Sigh, I'm about to lose another couple of teeth. I feel like I'm in a cartoon. Really, like one of those where the cartoon character gets a mouth full of broken teeth and spits them out like a machinegun. It's not the same fun. I'll just say, "owie."

 

 

We all have pains and aches, so why is it that characters in stories tend to be so healthy? My guess is because we don't generally like listening to people complain and even more so with our fiction. While having pains does create a more realistic character, there's a really fine line that's easy to cross over. Still, I do wish there were more characters with more realistically frail bodies. It's almost like our heroes are superpowered or something. Even Superman has a vulnerability (no matter how trite) because without some form of weakness, there isn't any tension of possible harm to the hero.

 

It's funny how fickle we are about such things. On one side we love gossiping about someone else's failures and yet we dislike hearing about them. But, this event in my life again teaches me some valuable lessons about making my written characters more believable. Character quirks are fine, but actual flaws/vulnerabilities are also a good idea. When the audience is able to sympathize with the characters because of believable flaws, then it upholds the story and brings it to a higher level.

 

- M

 

ps. --Owie--