One reason Characters are a pain

Characters are even more of a pain than live people.

Most folks do not find it terribly surprising when someone complains that they don’t understand a real, live person. (One’s partner and/or children may complain bitterly about not being understood, but they’re not surprised.) People implicitly acknowledge the truth that people are complicated and have lots of non-obvious reasons for doing whatever they do.

Writers, though, are expected to understand their characters. If you complain about y...