Characters and your dark side

[Tiger]

We often talk about our characters and how they represent what we want to be or how we see own good attributes, but there are often negatives. I can really put my dark side into a character. Julian is an excellent example. While his anger is expressed through violence (and certainly overblown), I have my own ways of venting, and I can be irritable. Jesse got into drugs for a while and hid his sexuality from himself. I certainly had similar issues at one point in my life, and I think he's a character I used to express that. Surely I am not the only one who gives my characters some of my darkness. How do you express your dark side through your characters and what negative attributes do they have?

[Johnathan Colourfield]

We often talk about our characters and how they represent what we want to be or how we see own good attributes, but there are often negatives. I can really put my dark side into a character. Julian is an excellent example. While his anger is expressed through violence (and certainly overblown), I have my own ways of venting, and I can be irritable. Jesse got into drugs for a while and hid his sexuality from himself. I certainly had similar issues at one point in my life, and I think he's a character I used to express that. Surely I am not the only one who gives my characters some of my darkness. How do you express your dark side through your characters and what negative attributes do they have?

 

my characters dont have any bad points lol but i do put gayness always into my main characters lol

[Graeme]

I have trouble putting a dark side into my characters. Even the 'villains' usually have a very human rationale for what they are doing, so I can't categorise their behaviour as a 'dark side'.

 

I don't look at things as a 'dark side' but as flaws or characteristics that show that they're human.

[kitten]

I have trouble putting a dark side into my characters. Even the 'villains' usually have a very human rationale for what they are doing, so I can't categorise their behaviour as a 'dark side'.

 

I don't look at things as a 'dark side' but as flaws or characteristics that show that they're human.

 

I sort-of agree (I think!).

While I believe that there are true villains in real life who are truly evil, I almost certainly wouldn't have such a character in my stories. Why? Well, not for any moral or ethical reason, and not because I don't think I could write about them convincingly. The reason is that such characters, like absolutely good characters, are not very interesting to write about.

 

The really interesting characters are those which represent the vast majority of real people, and the vast majority of people are far from perfect, but they are not total villains. The characters I enjoy writing about are those who have flaws and who have to find ways of dealing with, or at least living with, those flaws.

 

Do some of those characters have flaws that mirror my own?

Of course they do!

 

Kit

[Cynical Romantic]

Sometimes I wonder about people who can write villains a little too well. You know, not the cardboard cutout type villain who is one-dimensional and easy to laugh at, but the truly dark, disturbed, twisted villain with many facets and layers who you find yourself mysteriously sympathizing with, even though you know better. Like, the writers of the Sopranos, for example. If you write "bad" a little too "good", what does that say about your psyche? Hmmm...

[Duncan Ryder]

I generally feel a need to redeem my villains.... maybe it's because even they have something of me in them.

 

The only really bad character in my current story/sequel is Josh's former lover. Graham is genuinely amoral. I've used him to explore a theme that is of great interest to me, which is the artist as exploiter. If an artist does what he does for the sake of his art...and the art is of itself brilliant...does that justify what he has done to achieve it?

[kitten]

If an artist does what he does for the sake of his art...and the art is of itself brilliant...does that justify what he has done to achieve it?

 

No.

 

Kit

[Former Member]

Sometimes when im writing my characters get a bit of my darkside and im like "OH NO!". The most darkest character i wrote so far became the biggest jerk in the story that even i got tired of writing about him that i had to cancel the story. I even tried writing him much nicer but it didnt work.

 

I try and give my characters a little bit of me, if its the main character because then i can be like "What would i do?" I try and base them off people i know, sometimes i base them off other author others characters that i have read like bits and pieces.

 

One of my favorite authors Laurell K Hamilton always has dedications to her husband Jon about letting her play in the darkness but not letting her live there. Or different things like that. Anita Blake is one of her characters who is soo angry all the time and laurell will say that Anita has laurells anger and rage. And that when she is writing Merry she has a hardtime because Merry will solve problems without the rage.

[JamesSavik]

I like heroes that look like villains and villains that look like heroes. It confuses the hell out of people and much more akin to reality.

[Dolores Esteban]

I had two villains in a story. One I redeemed, the other I put to death. The first prevented abuse of power, the second did not. He failed miserably. So I put him to death. My decision certainly represents my personal opinion. Does it represent my dark side? It's a matter worth contemplating.

 

[Former Member]

In this new story ive been writing i have a pair of sisters in there late 30's early 40s who are twins. So far i got 1 real bitch of a evil twin. She's pretty much verbally attacked everyone in the family. Its so funny to write her scenes. And she's got a way that is pissing the main character and his mother the evil twins sister off so bad. That she's actually helping me progress the story. So i cant even say shes evil when shes helping me:)

[ashessnow]

I have a very easy time putting darker qualities into my characters. Its also easier for me to write for them, I guess its just something that comes naturally. And they all definitely come from places Im familiar with. Things like addictions or self-destruction or pain is easier for me to connect with then happy endings and buckets of joy.

 

Everyone of my characters has negative qualities, not only because its just comes naturally to write them, but because it also makes them more realistic and three-dimensional. I also dont write the typical teenage love story so maybe that lends itself easily to writing darker characters.

 

EDIT: Now that I think about it, the story that Ive been working on for a long time has some scenes in it that are probably unaccaptable for this site just because they are so dark. Hmm. I never really thought about it.

Edited October 4, 2008 by Nerotorb

[Krista]

I don't really think too much about the "evil" tendencies my characters may not have. I don't think any of them are evil, they're just human. Some people are conceited or self-serving, so they use people.. lol.. So I write a character that suits that quality and they may or may not redeem themselves. Likely - since I am female and a hopeless romantic, they do redeem themselves. Some stories I may write or am writing right now will have characters that won't redeem some of their flaws and that's fine. Some people function better in ways that aren't all that honorable... It's just human nature. But as for actively writing an evil character I don't do that... because there isn't any room in my stories for that.

[David McLeod]

I like heroes that look like villains and villains that look like heroes. It confuses the hell out of people and much more akin to reality.

 

 

"...akin to reality." Excellent point and a good lesson. Even the most noble paladin probably has some character flaw (that makes him seem much more real) and even the most twisted demon may have some redeming feature (ditto). I've been writing scenes that include a demonic Gnome stalking the heroes, and had completely overlooked the need to give him (it?) some depth. Thanks.

[The Pecman]

I like heroes that look like villains and villains that look like heroes. It confuses the hell out of people and much more akin to reality.

You must be watching new episodes of the NBC series Heroes. They seem to be trying that gimmick right now.

 

I think the reality is that there are pieces of the author in every character they create, good and bad. I think it takes some time and talent to delineate the characters and make them distinct from each other. And I think Krista above is correct: the villains rarely think of themselves as evil. I'm sure on some level Hitler thought he was a hero. People can justify anything if they work at it long enough (and are crazy enough to believe it).

 

No question, though, the characters with flaws often wind up as the ones who are most memorable and most interesting. The first novel I wrote had no bona fide villains at all; the villains were circumstantial, and one of them got redeemed later on. The second one had three villains, one of whom we didn't know was a villain, but turned out to be a lying, manipulative weasel (loosely inspired by The Bad Seed).

 

My new novel has a different structure -- three different sections, three different parts of the country. One villain for the first part, and a half-dozen major, memorable, historical villains for the end. So it runs the gamut for me.

 

I think the key more than how you create dark villains is how they conflict with the heroes. I think a lot depends on whether your writing is more plot-driven or more character-driven, so I'm not sure there's a rule of thumb that will work for everybody and every story.