Give every character a tragic backstory


Rape victim Sarah Nuffield examined the tiles on her rack. The triple word score seemed out of reach for now, but maybe if she...
‘Come on, come on,’ barked Pete, who had lost an eye in the same childhood accident which had killed his twin brother. ‘We haven’t got all day.’
‘Oh Pete,’ laughed Andrea, whose crippling bouts of depression had led her more than once to the brink of suicide. ‘Leave Sarah alone. It’s only a game.’
‘Yeah, Pete,’ said Simon. ‘You took long enough on your turn.’ He flashed Pete the sympathetic smile which had been his trademark since he had escaped from the religious cult which had indoctrinated him, taken all his money and forced him never to see his family again.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Pete, bravely struggling with his lack of adequate depth perception, ‘but I’ve got a real doozy lined up here.’
‘Lucky you,’ said Sarah. ‘The only word I can make is “anguish,” and I can’t find a place to put it.’
‘How about there?’ said Andrea, with a chuckle. ‘Using the “A” from “trauma?”’

10 comments:

  1. They use this one all the time in Japanese role playing games. Can't have a protagonist without dead (or soon to be dead) parents!

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  2. Oh if only I get tiles that spell "anguish" when playing scrabble.. I'd be a happy lady.

    :-)

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  3. That's in the style of yer man who wrote Dear John and The Notebook and all that pish.

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  4. Oh, my. This is too much. You have an excellent eye for the sins we commit. :-)

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  5. This was actually entertaining!

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  6. Egads. What a collection of characters.

    Makes me want to write their stories!

    ......dhole

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  7. Which A did she use?

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  8. This is what reality TV is like in Australia.
    They have this rule that you can't be a contestant unless you've got a tragic backstory and the ability to cry on demand when one of the hosts interviews you.

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  9. Rape victim... examined the tiles on her. rack.

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