lol some dork ass on Reddit is like "why are writers obsessed with traumatizing their characters?"
Among smarter reasons, it's also because if nobody is traumatized then I don't get my sweet, sweet hurt/comfort fix.
If I don't hurt them then you the reader can't look at them and go "oh no they deserve better than this" because that's the feeling I want to make, Jan!!!!
I gave my protagonist gender freedom and friends, one of them a dragon, I don’t even have the former, so it’s only fair that I balance the scales and screw the nails in by putting them Through It™️
lmao imagining them saying the same thing, except they're standing over 8-year old me having her Barbies argue over who gets sacrificed by being thrown into the pit (gap between the bed frame and wall)
The reader needs to see them suffer so the reader can empathize and finally feel the catharsis with the character--or have their soul crushed as the author chooses.
Is it not simply enough to have the partner die! Why must you make him say he's two weeks from retirement and tell us about the sweet boat he's restoring to go sailing with his grandkids.
