a lot of shit is hitting the fan...

It's a first draft?

DO IT!

It might be too much, or it might be just the thing(s), or it might just be your imagination trying to find the right bad stuff through the ol' kitchen sink method. I wouldn't worry about it too much yet.

Since it's the first draft, write what's inspiring you and pare it down/revise it later. At that point, keep in mind that the protag should be driving much of the action, especially the bad things that happen to them, not just reacting. So, if you can find a way for a good hunk of the bad situations to be a consequence (directly or indirectly) of the protag's actions, they'll be more active, and readers will be less likely to point to these things as an overkill of atrocity piled on just because the author wants to put the character(s) through the ringer.

There's not a problem with having all kinds of bad stuff happen to your character. But why is it the only way you can move the story forward? That strikes me as more of a potential problem. What's your MC striving for in his life? What's the main story problem that he has to deal with? What would have to happen for the story to come to a conclusion? Usually the MC has a particular problem (in the widest possible sense of the word) that he or she is trying to deal with. Other shit can happen to them as they try to deal with it, either consequences of their actions to try to deal with the problem, or random life shit that happens, or the actions of an antagonist that's trying to stop them from doing what they want/need to do, or a combination of all of those. The story moves forward as the MC tries to find ways to fix the story problem, with various twists and turns (e.g. other shit happening) along the way.

Note: there is no set way to write a story and I may be off the mark, seeing as I only have your post to go by and haven't actually read any of the actual story. But that's what struck me about what you said in your post.

agree with above. I think there is also the risk that the narrative might feel shoehorned--a bit deus ex machina.

the story moves when the characters respond and act. If they are responding and acting on all those things then great, that's awesome. But if things are just "happening" to characters, if they're just punching bags who passively experience pain, then there might be a more foundational structural issue to address.

Either way, I would keep going and concentrate on finishing.

Harlequin said:

a bit deus ex machina. .

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More like devil ex machina D:

God, devil.... splitting hairs, innit ;-)

...

I vaguely remember watching a talk by Pixar writers where they say they always have to link plot events with “Because of that, it leads to this other thing”. If they find themselves going to the next event with “And then this happens”, they’d know they’re doing it wrong. Because ideally, the plot points should build on each other and lead to the next one, instead of unrelated events happening to the MC.

Putputt said:

I vaguely remember watching a talk by Pixar writers where they say they always have to link plot events with “Because of that, it leads to this other thing”. If they find themselves going to the next event with “And then this happens”, they’d know they’re doing it wrong. Because ideally, the plot points should build on each other and lead to the next one, instead of unrelated events happening to the MC.

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+1

Try to think if you really need a new event to wing in out of the blue, or if you can use complications from a previous incident (or the characters' reactions to that incident) to move things along... though, this being a rough draft, I wouldn't overanalyze things too much if it stalls out your momentum. If you're pantsing it, you're still feeling out the story's map in the rough draft; you refine the trail in the next drafts, once you know the terrain and can figure out the best itinerary.

Good luck! : D

One of my friends at university for the whole time I knew her was in bits because her dad was slowly dying from stomach cancer. He finally passed away at the beginning of her final year. A week later her mother got a bad stomach ache and went to the doctor where she was diagnosed with exactly the same kind of cancer. A month later she was dead too.

Sometimes train wrecks really do happen.

Seeing as this is a first draft, if it feels right I would just get it written down- be prepared to cut it later though. Endless unlucky events happening to the protagonist could come across as soapy or melodramatic but you won't really know how it fits into the story until you've made good progress with the story.

As other posters have said earlier, unlucky events that follow on from each other like falling dominoes can be effective, but just make sure that you're not just ladelling the misery on and that it serves a purpose, otherwise a reader will stop reading.