If Challenges Make the Character More Interesting . . . Why Do People Say I'm So Boring?

One of my favorite movies with Will Ferrel is Stranger than Fiction. At least that's one of my favorite movies of his where he is trying to be serious. My favorite part of that movie is when Will Ferrell's character, Harold Crick, finally discovers who the author talking to him in his thoughts is, he confronts her, gets a copy of the novel she is writing about him (and he is subsequently living out) and he gives it to Dustin Hoffman, a literature professor to read. Dustin Hoffman reads it and says something along the lines of "I'm sorry, you have to die. The book won't be any good if you don't die." (see here)

I was thinking about this movie on my drive in today. Today I feel like Harold. When I first started editing and rewriting my novel, my editor kept saying you have to add more conflict, more challenges. If the protagonist isn't having to overcome obstacles the reader will get bored. Now, when I read I see all the challenges that the author lays out in their own works  . . . boom . . . boom . . . boom. Now that I know what to look for I see it. In the book I'm reading, Red Storm Rising, I see World War III, five different characters stuck in their own little battles within the war, submarines stalking boats, ships stalking subs, firefights, an attempted rape, even Toland the intelligence officer trying to figure out how to gain the initiative, and even in the midst of all that he's dealing with troubles with his wife back at home. Tons of external and internal challenges.

My life is like that protagonist right now. The company I work for just recently laid off a large group of folks. I have had to take on a lot of new duties as well as continue my own. I have this to do, that to do, I have to fly to California, there is impending doom on the horizon when we look at our Fall workload. . . . boom . . . boom . . . boom. I feel like an author is throwing challenges at me to see how many more I can take. Interestingly, I find it difficult to believe that a reader would still be reading my novel. Who cares about the upcoming workload for an industrial cleaning company. Makes me think I need to find my own life's author and tell them to get more creative.