Traumatize Your Characters!

It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's the posting day for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Click here to learn more and sign up!

This month's optional question is: As a writer, do you have favorite themes that you like to explore in your stories? If so, what are they?

I don't know if this would count as a "theme" exactly, but I do like to explore aspects of mental health in a lot of my stories. Maybe that's because I've had my own struggles with mental health and feel like it's an interesting and important topic to dive into, or maybe I just like to traumatize my characters with painful backstories! 

I think I just like creating complex characters who have to deal with life's problems. I like a character driven story, and I think these characters are easier to relate to and empathize with. Nobody wants to read a story about a character who's life is completely perfect! Characters not only have to deal with their present, but also their past, as well as their relationships, and all of this can come together to really drive the story. 

I feel like generational trauma comes up a lot in my stories (what's that about??). It's big part of Uneven Lines, where more than one character is struggling with the idea of being like their parents (or their child being like them). While the particular cases in this story are extreme, I feel like that's something most of us deal with to some extent, so hopefully it's an interesting aspect to the story. 

I do have a character in one story (still dubbed Shiny New Story) whose backstory is so traumatic that at times I feel I've gone too far with it. But I haven't written too much in that story yet, so there's still plenty to figure out. I sort of like the idea that in the present, he's found a happiness that his past makes him afraid to lose, and that informs some of his decisions and actions that drive the plot forward. 

I suppose if we're creating complex characters, all stories deal with mental health to some extent, or at least the exploration of the human condition. What do you think?