being mean to the characters
Fiction is about storytelling, and storytelling is mostly about trouble.
I like my characters, even the unlikeable ones. Or let me say: I don't especially like Jemima, but there are things about her that I admire. The same thing was true of Elizabeth's brother Julian, once you got below the surface and saw him as the sum of his experiences. Even Jack Lingo had a backstory, though it didn't show up in the novels.
Right now I'm coping with very bad things happening to the characters I like best, and it's unpleasant for me as well as them. But you know, these characters insist on putting themselves in the most dangerous situations, and sooner or later, the consequences show themselves.
I'm hoping that by the end of this book -- and I should finish it by January 1 -- some good things will happen for Hannah. I almost see the light at the end of that tunnel. The really odd thing is this: I feel the rest of the characters watching me. Waiting to see what will happen, a little worried, a little impatient. Nathaniel is definitely on guard and not exactly enamored of me at the moment.
Back to work.