It's like they're afraid I'll crush their spirits and ruin their lives or something...

So... they know about you and your little ways? I have always suspected that characters all talk backstage in the Great Green Room of Possibility.

Character A: Yeah, I got this gig and my agent didn't tell me I die in the middle of book two, the rat.

Character B: Seriously? I got Tragic Backstory AND Sidekick Died To Save Me. In the freakin' prologue.

Character C: I'm a walk-on. I have, like, three lines to give the bonehead hero a clue then I'm back to my sheep and my pipe by the fire.

Character A & B: I hate you.

Mean things: blackmail, painful reminders of the past, the possibility of having to murder an old friend, hangovers

Oh, is that all?

(Laughing with, not at, you and reminding myself to bump Bone Palace higher up my re-read stack. Again.)