This fall and winter have really tested my nursing abilities.
Unfortunately, both my children have the seasonal flu right now. One of those kids has already had H1N1 recently (October.)
I’ve been busily refilling water glasses, taking temperatures, handing out bowls of cut fruit, and checking in with doctors’ offices and schools.
Monday my daughter was only interested in either sleeping or curling up in a tight ball of misery on the sofa and watching “Spongebob.” It’s amazing the work you can do, sitting beside a sick child with a cartoon running in the background.
Tuesday morning I got a text message from my son. “I’m sick.” Sure enough, the middle school was delighted for me to take my feverish, hollow-eyed child back home. They’d both been fine only a couple of hours before the flu hit them like a ton of bricks.
Do your characters get sick? I’ve got illness on the brain now and my characters will probably come down with something nasty.
The thing about illness is that it’s intrinsically boring. You feel like you can barely lug yourself out of the bed. You’re not running around leading an interesting life when you’re sick.
But getting sick is real life. And it’s another way of adding some depth to a character.
In my Myrtle Clover series, I’ve had Myrtle fake being sick more than once. It’s proven a good gimmick for getting her way or to get suspects bearing casseroles to her house (all the better to question these suspects.)
What if it’s a chronic illness and the character is the protagonist’s child or mother? Then the illness provides a good vehicle for conflict or for the protagonist’s growth as a character.
If the protagonist learns to deal with medical problems like heart disease, diabetes, or even the flu, it not only shows the vulnerability of the character, but their strength, too.
Do you plan on inflicting any illnesses on your characters?
Elizabeth – I am sorry to hear that your kids are both sick. Just be sure to take care of yourself as you nurse them.
I hadn’t thought of my characters getting sick, although of course, if they’re going to be realistic, there’s bound to be sickness. Something else for me to think about as I work on my WIP.
This is such a brilliant idea, I don’t know why I haven’t read about it before. It reminds me of something Agatha Raisin would do to get info from suspects.
That said, I do hope that you and your children are feeling better soon. It sounds like you’ve already had enough this season.
My protagonist recently lost his parents and he’s only 26, so that’s pain enough. Oh, there’s a lot pf physical pain he endures though as there are numerous fight scenes.
Stephen Tremp
I hope your kids feel better soon!
I don’t write fiction, so I can’t comment on inflicting illness on my characters, but from a fiction reader’s perspective, I think it adds an interesting layer to the work, especially when a character deals with a fairly major medical problem. How someone copes with illness can provide a lot of information about about their character that might otherwise not be evident.
Sickness can hit us very quickly. It really seems worse when it is our children.
I had never thought of including sickness in a story line. I will put this in my notes to do.
Thanks, Elizabeth.
You’ve had a rough time of it. Hopefully things will get better soon!
My characters tend to get injured more than sick. In the current ms, I’ve had a few serious injuries. I don’t spend a lot of time on recovery though – kinda dull. I just fast forward through it. Wish you could do that for your family!
Moms aren’t allowed to get sick. It’s a law. Hubby still owes me 2 days of total pampering for leaving me home when I had the flu and infant twins. Thank goodness for neighbors.
And, FWIW, I’m talking about throwing the unexpected at characters on my blog today! But I didn’t hit on sickness. I haven’t tossed that too far into the mix in my books — yet. Heroine Frankie did get sick, but by the time hero Ryan caught up with her, she was much recovered.
I’ve dealt with hangovers, shootings, poisonings and stabbings, however. Mere sickness is too easy! LOL!
Ack, Elizabeth, your house is quarantined again? Wipe down doorknobs with alcohol. Make everybody wash hands. I hope your kids better soon and *you* don’t get sick.
I freely admit to using the device of a head cold at the beginning of my 4th book to help readers experience the detective as more relatable. I also saddled the poor guy with performing a thankless, dull task in that first chapter, while he feels like pooh-pooh. Maybe that seems like overkill, just to get readers to like him, but from the feedback I’ve received, he’s definitely relatable. I needed all the help I could get. He’s a *redcoat*. :-)
Hope both kids get well soon. It’s hard with the weather being so crazy.
With characters being sick it can also lead to their deaths or give them opportunity for murder. If they are on certain medicines then that can be tampered with to cause their deaths. And they can also use those medicines to cause someone else’s death because of what they know about the medicines actions and reactions.
I’m starting to wonder if my characters have too much illness. The MC’s mother and Aunt have already died. A friend of the MC’s died in the first chapter. The MC’s father has an episode that threathens his health.
What do you think?
I’ve never had characters become ill, but I have had them injured. Then it’s fun to figure out how to make them still continue with their injuries.
I do hope your kids start to feel better soon. I hope you’ve had your H1N1 shot.
Having a character get sick is not something we think about, I think. Probably because it means they’re incapacitated for days, if you’re going to keep it realistic. But, you’re right, it does open up a lot of possibilities.
Helen
Straight From Hel
I think having flu fly around your house again is just mean. Hopefully, it will fly out with the same speed it flew in!
I’ve got one character with a cold, which I’m using as an opportunity for humour (never a bad thing). In real life, however, if you’re sick you’re lying about with the energy of a cotton ball. Protagonists with this level of energy aren’t great help in pushing that plot ball up the hill.
Elspeth
Poor children, and poor you! I don´t know what is worse, when they are really ill, or when they are getting better (and ever so restlesss!)
Actually, there is quite a lot of illness (physically as well as mentally) in my WIP. I am researching a rather horrible inherited disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy which plays an important part of the story.
That’s a really good question. Sometimes I don’t think we give that too much consideration, the daily bumps and scrapes of life. I think in my mystery novels, my characters wait until after the case to get sick. The same with me, I won’t get sick when I’m busy, but when the action dies down. Bam! I’m out.
ann
So sorry to hear of your kiddos! Been there done that and it stinks! Wishing you all a speedy recovery. As for my writing, I’ve definitely had my characters get sick. But usually it plays into the plot. I think anything that progresses the plot is usually doable, but if it doesn’t, it’s definitely on the chopping block. Sickness for the sake of verisimilitude is just, well, downright borng.
I never thought about my characters getting sick, but it’s an excellent idea that I plan to keep in the back of my mind for just the right situation.
I hope your kids recover quickly.
I’m so sorry about your sick kids! That really stinks and I hope they get better fast.
I haven’t had a main character ACTUALLY sick, but I have an important character go out of town to take care of a sick elderly parent, and then I have a teen who ‘feels sick’ when emotional stuff is running high, so has a few times she bolts out of class.
I think it DOES add for a realism, but in all my examples, it also takes characters out of their routine and to places I need them to be for the story.
Two kids with flu, get your own jammys on and join them on the couch. I prescribe Finding Nemo – good for any age.
No, I haven’t had any of my characters get sick except in my first book – one of the four main characters (3 daughters and a mom) had chronic mental health problems.
Lindsay, my MC of the novel I’m editing had a nasty ear infection…it ends up leading to a big change in her life.
~ Wendy
Sounds like your household has gotten hit with a bunch of the sickies this winter. Hope everybody feels better soon!
I recently wrote a flash story about someone with OCD. It has been very interesting reading people’s reactions, from funny to scary.
I try to avoid my characters getting sick because I don’t like to think about being sick when I write. However I made an exception in one of my stories and my protagonist actually has a raging fever for several weeks. Mostly I wanted to humanise her and make her appear to be more vulnerable.
Definitely something to think about!
I hope your kids get better!
Btw–you’re so right! I love how we had different takes on the same theme!
One of my characters in Owen Fiddler had Lupus. I had to research the disease in order to write her with believability.
Marvin D Wilson
Margot–Thanks! I’ve just gotten an antibiotic for my daughter (flu turned into an infection), so things are looking up for her, at least. :)
As for the characters? I think one or more of mine is getting sick pretty soon. I’m in a vengeful mood with all the germs circulating around me!
Suzanne–Thanks. :) Myrtle knows she can’t just walk around interviewing suspects in their houses…they’d get a little suspicious about that. So this is her little trick. I think the suspects are going to catch on soon, though. :)
Stephen–That really would be a tough time for a protagonist. A great test for them.
Ingrid–Thanks! I agree with the approach towards the illness giving us info on the character. We can find out all kinds of things about people when they’re being tested.
Teresa–You’re so right…it’s worse when it’s the children. That would definitely make some good conflict for a parent character.
Jemi–I definitely need that fast-forward button!
Helen–Flu is definitely not a good choice for a sick protagonist…unless you’re trying to totally knock them out! I did get my flu shot, so I’m okay this round.
Terry–Illness does look sort of tame next to all that you’ve already thrown at them! As for mom illness–no, we don’t get sick days. So far so good with this one…I’ve had my flu shot.
Suzanne–Good idea! We can use even temporary illness to drum up a reader’s sympathy for a character. Especially if the character is a redcoat!
Ann–You are SO right. I always get a migraine AFTER the deadline!
Jane–Thanks! I’m about to run out the door for a doctor appt–think one of the kids has bronchitis now.
Hart–That’s a great point. We can use the illness as a realistic vehicle for getting a character somewhere we need for them to go.
Jan–Mental health issues for characters would really make some challenges for them–even if it wasn’t the protagonist’s illness, but someone close to hers.
Wendy–Very interesting! I wonder..did she end up losing her hearing? That would really make a change of life for a character.
Mason–Great point! I love the books where the insulin was tampered with or where the killer knew just what meds would create fatal interactions with other meds.
Tamika–Sounds like Dickens! It’s fairly realistic, though–there are families that just seemed plagued by illness and a cycle of financial problems related to it. If you handle it well, then I bet it would be really interesting. It’s definitely creating conflict for the MC!
Carol–And the readers are proud of them for persevering with their injuries…it’s a good way to make the protagonist likable.
Marvin–That would be challenging for a character–I bet the research took some time, too.
Elspeth–I think it’s mean, too. And my son, who is dealing with his 2nd bout, is wondering where he went wrong in his life!
Yeah, flu wouldn’t be a good choice for a sick protag. It’s an exceedingly boring illness, for sure. I’ve got two kids with sluggish energy levels–when they’re awake, that is. And they’re sleeping the rest of the time.
Sorry about your kids!
And do you want a list? Let’s see, several have had the flu, a secondary character died from heart problems, and another from cancer. Plus there’s been a few accidents along the way, too.
Of course, my books are a ‘slice of life’ so that should include illnesses.
Unless you’re mu husband, who NEVER gets sick!
Dorte–Poor all of us! You’re right about that.
Sounds like you’re putting a *lot* of research into that condition. I know it’ll really add a lot to your WIP with all the time you’ve spent on it.
Thinking about long-term medical conditions, I’ve read a lot about Asperger’s Syndrome lately, in books. Like “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” I’d forgotten that, but it did really make for an interesting side to the character.
Carolina–Very good point. It does need to advance the plot or produce some new info about the characters and how they deal with problems. Otherwise…it’ll get cut by an editor!
Janel–I bet that *would* get a lot of different reactions! And the reader reaction is probably based on what they know about the illness and how sympathetic they might be.
Diane–You have one of those types of husbands, too? If mine *gets* sick, which is rare, then it’s something he’s manufactured himself–he never catches anything from the rest of us! His immune system rocks.
Yeah, I’ve had a few of my characters to be sick. Sometimes it helps with the storyline. Such as the story I posted today on my writing blog.
Well, Elizabeth, I hadn’t “planned” on introducing an element of sickness to any characters. But since, as usual, you always surface an interesting point, I’ll just have to reconsider. Say, I want a little lovers spat. Not feeling well is a perfect doorway in, huh. Thanks.
Best Wishes Galen.
Imagineering Fiction Blog
It seems that everybody is getting sick this year, a bad flu season to be sure. I feel for you. And yes, I have a character that just landed in the hospital. Poor kid. I’m gonna get her out though, I’m gonna see to it that she begins to live a healthier lifestyle too!
You commented on the grim faces in old pictures, thought I’d copy my comment for you. You might be able to use this bit of Trivia.
“Elizabeth-A little bit of trivia history, in order for the image to be burned on the old camera photo plates(remember how in movies, westerns particularly there was a burst of powder for lighting), people had to be very still for a fairly long period of time. So a brace was placed behind each person and their head was placed into the brace. They couldn’t turn their head or move for a period of time. Which was uncomfortable to say the least.”
Hope your family feels better soon (and you get some sleep)!
I agree with Simon–disabilities worked really well and were integral for story with Ethan Hawke’s character in Gattaca and Thomas Covenant in the Donaldson books (the leprosy made him sympathetic, even though he was very much an anti-hero).
Of course, I think an annoying flu would be good for a detective. If he/she were usually upbeat, it could temporarily change them to grumpy and short tempered for the length of the story and shake things up a bit.
Bogus with the sick kids, good lady. It’s no fun, I know. We had six weeks of hacking coughs and colds in our household leading up to Xmas. Not. Much. Sleep.
But, as for sick or handicapped characters? My favorites of all time are Thomas Covenant of Stephen R. Donaldson’s epic trilogies, and Ethan Hawke’s character in Gattaca. Both triumph because of and despite their respective handicaps. Magnificent!
Cassandra–That’s a great way to make your character a little more vulnerable.
Galen–That sounds like a great way of working that in!
Kristen–Thanks! I really enjoyed your post today.
Elizabeth–We’ve got to keep those characters going, haven’t we? Good luck with yours.
Oh, Simon. It was so funny when the doctor asked my daughter today if her coughing was disturbing her sleep and she said no and I said “yes” at the same time! Her coughing is disturbing *my* sleeping. :) I totally know where you’re coming from.
I loved “Gattaca.” And thought the handicap he dealt with was very interesting.
Judy–I think illness can make a good subplot or even a major plot, depending on the story.
I haven’t inflicted any illness on my characters yet, if I remember correctly. I don’t like to write sad scenes…
Really Angelic
I am sorry about your kids, and hope they both get well soon enough.
I almost give one of my characters a major health scare to get her to come to terms with things, then decided unwelcome sexual advances from a client worked better.
Sorry also about being so tardy with my comments. Have been too busy to keep up with my favourite blogs, and am only just catching up.