Belinda aka Worderella offers up Five Tips on Character Building through Adversity .

1. Physical Adversity – nobody goes through life untouched by illness or accidents, whether it is to themselves or someone they know and love. Give your character a touch of realism by including a physical or mental illness or family history.

2. Unfulfilled Desire – nobody gets everything they want out of life, either. Give your character a lingering desire for something they can’t have.

3. Haunting Past – you can give your character regrets for something he did or for something he didn’t do. Give your character horrific memories of the death of a loved one.

My mother died slowly of cancer. The doctor told us there would be certain signs that indicated death would occur within hours. My sister called me at work when she saw those signs. I decided to stay at work because I had a vendor coming in for a presentation that afternoon. My mom died an hour later. I could have been there to say goodbye one last time, but I wasn’t. I still have a lot of guilt over that. Does your character carry any trauma or guilt from her past?

4. Counter-culture Tendencies – if you heroine has thoughts and action that run contrary to her culture (time period, belief system, family morals), use the frustration and anger she feels as part of your plot. Show her struggling to achieve her goals in the face of opposition.

5. Worderella’s last piece of advice is to surprise yourself and your character. While this doesn’t seem to initially fit with torturing your character, think of it this way–people are mean, rude, and self-centered much of the time. Take an easy situation where your character could logically expect a good outcome (ordering a coffee from Starbucks) and turn it on its head (the server intentionally spills it all over your character and insists it was your character’s fault, refusing to get her another one).

Okay, it’s kind of far-fetched… but what can you do with the “normal” moments in your story, to make them more challenging for your character?

How do you torture your characters?

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