Every writer you know does the worst things to their main character. It creates more conflict and that drives your plot. Today we dive into every way we can mess with and create issues for your characters.
There are several levels of issues. There are minor issues, major issues, and serious traumas. You can inconvenience your characters or cause them issues beyond repair. Your main character could end up in a psych hospital if you do enough fictional damage. It depends on what you want to make them do and see.
Minor Issues
These are, like I said before, inconvenient and short-lived. They don't last all book long. It might be mentioned later, but won't be a big deal for more than a few chapters. Many minor issues can build up to something bigger, however, so they can be built up to more if rapid-fired at someone by the same person or group.
Stress from an outside source is ideal for this. Put them in uncomfortable circumstances. Press their buttons with pet peeves. Try to make them mildly irritated. Roommates can do this easily, just like siblings or anyone they don't like. Put them in social groups they are not okay being in. Trap them in stressful situations. Based on their personality, stress could be anything from moving their stuff to not cleaning the dorm room to gossip.
Weather is one way you can throw someone off their groove. Extreme weather actually causes mental distress to us, especially in winter. Heat exhaustion in summer can make it hard to sleep and impossible to think. Crummy weather can bring us into an odd mood. A full moon can make everything weird in nursing homes and schools, as well as other places for some weird reason. Foul weather conditions can mess with anyone, and I mean anyone.
Basic needs are more vital than you think. If you lack sleep for two weeks or have interrupted sleep, like I did while I was stressed over a theatre performance, you become someone you normally aren't. Lack of sleep can actually kill you, and after that lack of water kills you. Lack of food then kills you. Emotions and the state of your brain are deeply connected to your basic needs. Balanced people probably take care of themselves. Unbalanced people may have sugar problems, too, so diabetics don't see this as minor because it can kill them.
Being overwhelmed by circumstances can disorient someone into a state of distress. They can't organize their brain. People who don't understand cause more problems on top of this. If you can't think your emotions scramble into a mix of unbalanced, strange reactions. You can react in many ways to this, including anger, tears, screaming......etc. It all depends on how much distress you put them through.
Major Issues
Mental illness is right at the top of my list. Making daily tasks hard to do in various ways makes your character suffer. If you desire to make them unable to handle reality without help this is ideal. You can make them able to cope or not, your choice, but if you need to show a mental illness of some sort do good research on the disorder you are giving out. Take into account that some disorders are not simple. High functioning or not is your choice.
Betrayal is heartbreaking and can get your character killed physically in the right circumstances. It can also break their heart to the point of not loving again or not being able to trust someone else for a long time. Emotional distress can even cause physical pain. This is one way to make someone fall to pieces, temporarily or permanently being your choice.
Plot twist! Here comes an unforeseen situation that makes it impossible to do something. While this can also be minor, it is major, too. This can be major when you make the situation something so stressful that it just keeps getting worse as they react and try to navigate through. Percy Jackson being accused of stealing the lightning bolt is a good example because for all his trying to fix it, he gets blocked at most turns. Throwing a character the audience thought was done (like Irving Figgis in Live By Night) in your main character's path will surprise everyone - when written correctly. Monkey wrenches in well-made plans are perfect when you need extra conflict.
Death and grief can be traumatic or major, but it is never minor unless your character is without conscience. Grief can make someone disappear, whether it is the death of a person or a relationship. The grieving process makes someone sensitive. Anything can remind them of the human they long to see and hear again. Anger can be part of this process, in some specific characters. Culture will tell you whether they mourn quietly or wail. Either way, they hurt and may hurt for a long time.
Trauma
Here is where you can send someone to a psych ward or hospital for physical or mental injury. This is when you want to take your main character and break them. Serious physical injury is hard to recover from. Mental recovery is even longer of a process. The stability of your character will dictate how long this takes.
Battle and war, whether you are a doctor or soldier, imprints on your brain. Seeing so many people die, doing meatball surgery, and generally seeing too much violence is damaging. PTSD and survivor's guilt are not something you recover from in a few days or years. Your character will likely never be the same. Some attempt or succeed in committing suicide. The war can kill someone even after it ends.
Abuse is so traumatic that it can psychologically mess someone up for years afterward. Anyone who's experienced abuse understands. When you have one character abuse another prepare to show aftereffects all book long. In the case of Agatha Christie, she used it as a motive to have someone killed slowly, which any abuse victim also understands.
Sexual trauma, such as rape, is abuse to a higher degree. Being invaded against your will is never forgotten. The memories of such things come back without warning. This is never a minor issue, ever, and that is a fact. If you include this be careful how you write it. Just know that this is trauma to a horrible degree.
Conclusion
When you write your plots make sure that you don't add trauma just to add it. It has to fit within your plot and have a point. Write so that it makes sense. Your character should be believable (unless you make them ridiculous on purpose). Write backstory that works for your main or supporting characters.
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