When I first started writing I didn't want my characters to go through too much turmoil. I had this weird superstition that if I brought too much carnage to my characters life that it would spill over into my life. Fast forward some years when my life was really in the FUBAR stage and I realized that my fears were baseless and the shit is gonna fly whether or not I'm nice to my fictional people or not. That was a real breakthrough for me. It's funny that I had to weather my own storms in order to create them for my characters.

The notion of "degrees" of trouble for your character is interesting in terms of structure too. If we look at inciting incidents, the kick into each act, the midpoint, and the finale, those are all going to be some sort of reversal, roadblock, or complication. If giving those transitions the most impact possible is the goal, it might be a good idea to stop and look at them in each script and see if they might benefit from a bump up to a higher degree of complication, or if they should build as the story progresses? Know what you mean, Nicole! I used to hate hurting my characters and ALL my characters were nice. Wish fulfillment of an eight-year-old at work, I guess. :) I think what you're describing is the old adage, "write what you know," at work. Basically, we get a better grasp of characters as we experience more, and we can empathize with them when they hit those rough spots, and we can make them flawed and helpless and hopeful, all the things we "know." And we know not everyone is nice.

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