Brief thought

Are my characters horrible? That's not my intention. I only want them to be interesting, to do interesting things and have interesting things happen. I do need to work on my upsides. I don't know if the rewards are there for my characters, at least enough to compensate for their hardships. Maybe that's the pro wrestling fan in me. I'm used to seeing characters I feel so much for go through so much, for years, only to get a moment or two of glory, and even then only if they're very lucky. But that's true enough in most fiction. The general mandate of a rising action towards a singular moment of growth, pain, reflection, etc., more or less dictates that the protagonists are going to have to go through some mud. In No Chinook, I put in that series of a few days in the middle there where everything was fine (during the Chinook, actually) in order to give the characters a respite from their self-imposed drama. In Rainfall, I wanted Bret and Tess to be happy any time they were together, and for their drama to happen whenever they were apart. In Corona Gale, Sprites, Moonbow, and My Lover's Phone, I'm a little meaner. As I put it all together, I'm trying very hard to keep from being a sadist to my characters. I want them to have an adventure, and to gamble and lose at times, and be human ultimately. But I actually do just want the best for them. I want to put them in their best place by the end.