Let's Make It Hurt!

Sometimes it's easy to believe that it's a good thing no one can see the future.  Having the foreknowledge that I do about the fate of my characters (that's not to say that they don't put their foot down and make decisions for themselves without my say so, because honestly they surprise me all the time), I found myself holding back from specific characters because I knew not to get attached.  I have to love and hate my characters along with my heroine and I found that instead of loving a certain character like I was supposed to, I was not allowing her to love him like she was supposed to so that I could get away with making her final decision easier on myself.  Experience and pain shape fictional characters just as they do real people or at least it should if you want a good story. So I can't expect my character to end up the way she's supposed to if I don't give her the chance to hurt the way she must.  Fiction is about living vicariously so if I tell a lie to my reader by holding back what was intended then I am betraying myself, my characters and my readers.  So it's time to stop holding back. Let's tell the true story.  Let's get the experience right.  And if the truth hurts...Let's make it hurt.