*raises hand tentatively* Because I like it when characters get beat up real good?
There can be a great deal of appeal for many writers in scenarios that feed one's surefire h/c kinks, and for a significant subset of h/c fans (like me) for whom the "hurt" part of the equation is just as important as the "comfort," a character's suffering can be deeply satisfying on some weird level that most non-h/c fans just can't grok ("but you like Sawyer/Snape/Spike/[insert antagonist name starting with s here]! Why would you want him to be in pain?"). There also a certain appeal in characters suffering "punishments disproportionate to their crimes," to paraphrase Captain Barbossa. Suffering that the character has brought upon themselves in some way is often more satisfying than random misery inflicted by the universe - this is why characters getting injured in the course of an action plot generally makes for better h/c than characters randomly getting cancer or something (there's a reason for Dean Winchester to get thrown into a wall by a ghost he's trying to destroy, whereas Sam getting a random brain tumor just smacks of authorial cruelty).
Plus, as seriousfic pointed out, the suffering can both act as a test of the newly-redeemed character's good intentions and proof to himself/the reader/the other characters that he's changed (ex: character A previously sold character B out to the bad guys in exchange for cash/goods/services/because he was being blackmailed; can he keep from revealing character C's location/secret identity/plans to the major villain under torture, when he's betrayed comerades before with far less compelling reasons?).
More important than either of these, though, is the fact (also pointed out by seriousfic) that significant amounts of suffering are a quick route to reader sympathy. This can either be used cleverly, to make readers or another character sympathize with the suffering character against their initial inclinations (only to be followed by yet another questionable/sleazy/ruthless act by the character, that will have them kicking themself for letting themselves be fooled) or it can be used as a shortcut in place of actually providing any reason for or evidence of the character's change or heart (if I had a dollar for every "poor, abused Draco's daddy was mean to him, and therefore he's good after all" fic I've seen, I would be able to buy myself a new laptop).
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Date: 2008-04-21 06:07 am (UTC)There can be a great deal of appeal for many writers in scenarios that feed one's surefire h/c kinks, and for a significant subset of h/c fans (like me) for whom the "hurt" part of the equation is just as important as the "comfort," a character's suffering can be deeply satisfying on some weird level that most non-h/c fans just can't grok ("but you like Sawyer/Snape/Spike/[insert antagonist name starting with s here]! Why would you want him to be in pain?"). There also a certain appeal in characters suffering "punishments disproportionate to their crimes," to paraphrase Captain Barbossa. Suffering that the character has brought upon themselves in some way is often more satisfying than random misery inflicted by the universe - this is why characters getting injured in the course of an action plot generally makes for better h/c than characters randomly getting cancer or something (there's a reason for Dean Winchester to get thrown into a wall by a ghost he's trying to destroy, whereas Sam getting a random brain tumor just smacks of authorial cruelty).
Plus, as
More important than either of these, though, is the fact (also pointed out by