Young Writers Society

I don't know. I mean, I guess I've probably inflicted some pretty torturous things upon my characters, but I don't think I've ever sat down specifically with the intent of torturing a character - like, you know, "Mwahaha, BILLY'S turn on the rack today!"

...but sometimes it happens anyway, I guess.

...I thought this was a literal question about real torture...I would've said it couldn't hurt to remind your character what physical pain really is like...Never mind that though.

'CAUSE IT'S FUN!

Besides that (*wink wink*), it's a good chance to show multiple sides of your character-- how they react to pain, death, etc. It shows whether they're a treacherous wuss or a valiant loyal.

When it makes sense I would use it, but I don't think I like to particular torture any of my characters. That is kinda cruel and if you care about your characters why would you do such a thing to them in the first place? If you get kicks out of purposely torturing your characters for the fun of it, that is a sick and perverted way of thinking. Especially if one of them happens to be a sadomasochist who likes it in the end.

Just a joke, Kenpachi. I don't enjoy torturing my characters. Something I've learned though, is that characters should earn hell. It's good for characters to be wrong or stupid every once and a while. If they make dumb and irrational decisions without any consequences, they never learn anything. However, seeing themselves or someone they care about suffer can make a great turning point, or make an idealistic character into a cynical one.

Also, if your characters suffer to get something, they (and the reader) rejoice more when they finally reach their goal.

Hmm..
I dunno.
I don't torture any of my characters..
I'm afraid to even have deaths in the story ever since I saw "Stranger Than Fiction"..
I'm a dork, I know.

Is that the one when the author is writing a story and the character becomes self-aware that someone is controlling him and is life through monologues and narration about him while he sleeps? Then he starts to hunt down the author and they talk, but she decides he has to die for the sake of the story. Only for it to come down to his watch being the thing that saved him in the end and thus the story does not have him killed?

Though in writing, a lot of works are about that subject, I just wonder how many are actually made into movies...

Hmm... Usually if i torture my characters i do because it's just how the story goes. I can't help it. Do you know what i mean? It just has to happen if i want to tell the story the way it wants to be told.

My character has claustrophobia and I stuck him in a small space once. I thoubht it was funny because he smacked his head against the cieling because the room was so small.

funny how the thread about torturing characters gets so many replies

then again, maybe it's not.

anyway, torturing characters...hmmm...can't recall any characters that i have tortured, chronically or sporadically...still, nothing brings out a character's true colours like a painful death. er, not their death...i mean the death of another character that they're really attached to, which i guess you could call emotional torture.

i say 'attached' for a reason. when a character(char1) has a pull or influence on another character(char2), they are 'attached'. when that pull is gone, the reader (and the writer) see char2's changes resulting from the lack of that pull. of course this does not really require char1 to die, but that experience is usually much more traumatic and makes the differences in char2 more obvious.

but i digress. yes, both physical and mental/emotional torture is a useful tool, and if you happen to find yourself torturing a character frequently, ask yourself what it does for the plot. i suppose it is possible to torture a character too much, but if it's actually an essential influence on the plot(or now that i think of it, tone/mood), don't worry about it.