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Nov. 12th, 2007 03:45 pmToday I've been thinking about imperilled heroines. Or imperilled protaganists. Or imperilled anyone in fiction.
So many writers place characters in life/death situations to raise the tension, but the types of peril that really hurt (in my mind) are the ones that everyone knows you'll get through but that leave you without something important you take for granted. Alan Garner did this in The Moon of Gomrath - two characters will never know peace again. They become children who have lost one of the fundamental elements we associate with a good childhood: security.
For me, one of the purest perils is my inteliigence. For instance, I become a particular kind of stupid when I'm in the middle of an asthma attack. I loathe myself beyond belief when I can't think my way out of things, can't dream, can't analyse everything as I live it. I develop a whole wall of 'can't' that blocks me from myself. It's one of the most terrifying things I can imagine.
This led me to wondering what kinds of peril hit hardest for other people. If you were a fictional character (or if someone you know were, if you don't want to reveal the unrevealable) what could be taken from you that might damage you beyond repair?
So many writers place characters in life/death situations to raise the tension, but the types of peril that really hurt (in my mind) are the ones that everyone knows you'll get through but that leave you without something important you take for granted. Alan Garner did this in The Moon of Gomrath - two characters will never know peace again. They become children who have lost one of the fundamental elements we associate with a good childhood: security.
For me, one of the purest perils is my inteliigence. For instance, I become a particular kind of stupid when I'm in the middle of an asthma attack. I loathe myself beyond belief when I can't think my way out of things, can't dream, can't analyse everything as I live it. I develop a whole wall of 'can't' that blocks me from myself. It's one of the most terrifying things I can imagine.
This led me to wondering what kinds of peril hit hardest for other people. If you were a fictional character (or if someone you know were, if you don't want to reveal the unrevealable) what could be taken from you that might damage you beyond repair?