Character Empathy

Jeph Jaques, author of the webcomic Questionable Content recently said that he hates writing arguments in his comic, because it's like watching his best friends having a fight. I think there's a lot of truth in that. I remember a couples of years back I was working on the first draft of one of my stories, and I was writing an arc where the bonds of trust between the four protagonists is badly shaken, and it honestly really depressed me to write it. J. K. Rowling has also admitted that she's cried while writing certain parts of the Harry Potter books, so I can't be the only one. It's strange, because the writer has usually planned what happens next, so knows that everything will turn out okay. I think when you create a character, they become more than words on the page, or drawings in a comic. They become people themselves, people created from a part of you, and their journey is your journey. You're sad when they're sad, and you're happy when they're happy. It's one of the reasons I would encourage everyone to try writing a story, even if you never plan to get published. It's an amazing experience.