Give up Misery? Never,

I write on this website called Protagonize, which allows you to post your own stories, continue other people's, comment on them, and rate them. It's really cool. I'm definitely an unknown at this point, but I love having the opportunity to write and get feedback on my stuff, especially since I'm a Creative Writing minor.

Link to my page:

http://www.protagonize.com/author/Laure

Anyway, there's this story called "Team Protagonize" which is really popular. Authors are allowed to use their favorite main characters and drop them into the plot at any point. Right now there are 72 chapters and 14 characters. I haven't decided if I want to join in (or even read all 72 chapters!).

This brought to mind, of course, which character I would choose.

After a bit of reflection and reasoning, I realized it would have to be either Lizabeth or Misery, both of whom are weird and dead.

Lizabeth is from a story about "the City" and "the Underground"--the city being the modern world and the underground being a society stuck in the past, but don't tell, I'm not there yet--and the battles between the two. She's dead and she's supposed to be working for the devil, who disappeared a hundred years from the day the story starts. A boy she found cast out from society fifteen years ago, Jack, is the guardian of the underground, and there is some backstory and hidden drama there.

Misery is a reaper who lives in Manhattan and spends his time drinking and cursing and smoking. He's not all together a savory person. His girlfriend, Malice/Melinda, and his two best friends, Terror and Regret, live with him. They switch between the "dead version" of Manhattan and the real world--in the dead world, evil spirits called shadows roam around and steal souls, and it's their job to stop them. Misery had a rotten childhood and he hates most people. He's bitter, mean, and cold. But he has a good heart underneath all the violence and distrust.

I've been writing about Misery and his groupies for probably four years. Of all the things I've written, their stories stick in my mind the best. I had read a little blurb on Protag about retiring characters after a few years of use, and as I was considering this Team Protagonize story, that popped into my head.

Is it odd that I consider Misery someone I think life would be pretty empty without? I can't imagine not having him sitting around in my head, waiting to kill some shadows or defend Melinda, always in the most gruesome and explicit way possible (that's just him). I get a little nervous thinking about that.

In other news, I got really sick this morning and couldn't eat for most of the day. Damned medication's making my stomach turn to mush.