When Things Get Bad

Last week was one of ‘those’ weeks. The car was playing up and had to go into the garage for some work. My laptop had a meltdown and ultimately had to be rebuilt, quite a major when it’s my livelihood. There were a couple of other things, but you get the picture. 

I kept telling myself that in the scheme of things it could be much worse, no deadly diseases had reared their heads, and sometimes life throws these things at you to remind you how good you’ve got it.

It also got me thinking about the characters in Lies of the Dead (my current WIP). I’m throwing lots of problems their way, but mostly they are to do with the main conflict. Life doesn’t work like that. We don’t live in a vacuum, and major traumas happen along with the smaller problems in our lives. At the moment my main character Tom has lots of serious problems to solve because of the main conflict, but his everyday life is going along smoothly, and characters there aren't causing him problems. Hah, things are about to change Tom!

While our characters may be going through some major crisis or trauma, it won’t be the only thing on their mind. They will also be thinking about the problems they had before that started. They still have their work deadlines, burst pipe and broken down car. The main conflict may be uppermost in their mind, but so will the argument with their partner/child/neighbour/work colleague, the unpaid bills, and the undesirable boyfriend their daughter has just taken up with.

Oh yes, let’s make it really bad.