Writing advice from Janet Fitch, whose White Oleander is one of my (and Oprah's) favorite freaky women's fiction novels. This is the piece that spoke the most to conflict-avoidant moi"
10. Torture your protagonist.
The writer is both a sadist and a masochist. We create people we love, and then we torture them. The more we love them, and the more cleverly we torture them along the lines of their greatest vulnerability and fear, the better the story. Sometimes we try to protect them from getting booboos that are too big. Don’t. This is your protagonist, not your kid.
Read the rest of Janet Fitch's 10 rules for writers, at LA Times' Jacket Copy.
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