: Re: Antagonist lacks motivation - where do I find it? My triller has an Antagonist who is classified as a sociopath and narcissist. He becomes infatuated with my MC who is an Ex-Army sergeant making

@Angela458

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Amadeus has a great answer about narcissistic sociopaths. I do think it might be valuable to consider an answer wrapped around a question though:

What kind of story do you intend to write?

It seems that you are going for a contemporary genre fiction type story where it is a really good idea to give the antagonist some motivations and try to highlight them, and if possible, even make the antagonist sympathetic in some way. This is a good idea for most stories. The more complex your antagonist, the more powerful they are going to drive your plot. Having a little realism in going beyond a two dimensional cartoon bad guy adds a lot to a story, and is admirable, so thinking about antagonist motivation is a great way to get going.

Unfortunately, you seem to want to do this with a narcissistic sociopath.

That's where I might suggest a change of course.
Unfortunately, I have a tremendous amount of personal experience dealing with a narcissistic sociopath in my own family. I also have experience writing a book with this person as the antagonist.

I feel strongly that it is a good idea to get into the head of your antagonist and try to find at least something relatable about them for the reader. This is usually a good idea in any story, and certainly in a traditional contemporary genre thriller. Unfortunately, I realized that the more I got into the head of my sociopath character, the more it slowed down the story and made it boring.

Why? Because sociopaths have incredibly shallow reasons for what they do. They literally do not consider other people to be "human". To them, other people are tools, pets, toys, and sometimes obstacles. They give no more deep thought about what they do than you would about stomping on a bug. Do you spend a lot of time thinking about how the bug might feel? No. Do you have flashbacks about that bug you stepped on last week? No. It. Is. A. Bug.
So, the problem is; there is really no way to make a real narcissistic sociopath both realistic and have ANY likeable traits. They went way over the line into fantasy with shows like "Dexter" to make the character someone viewers can root for. He is more like an Aspys case with an inexplicable compulsion to kill than anything else.

So: if you really want to write a good contemporary genre thriller, you may not want an actual narcissistic sociopath as an antagonist. Maybe a fanatic, someone who is a true believer in crazy ideas that can make sense (to them), an abuse victim who has externalized their trauma, or something else. Or, I might suggest that if you do want to go with a narcissistic sociopath, don't bother too much with getting into their head. The best way to portray them (which could give your reader real chills) is externally, with no window into their minds (since their thought process is so incredibly simple, direct, and transparent in context), but a very accurate depiction of their actions. To do this well, it might be a good idea to do some research about them, including stories from people who have had the misfortune to be sucked into their webs. There are support group forums, books, etc. If you can accurately follow the lies, vindictive behavior, selective memory, and pure, cold hatred a narcissistic sociopath will exhibit over the course of any typical chain of events, you probably don't need to get into their head at all, and they may even be more chilling this way.

Normally, I would always advise a writer to try to provide reasons for an antagonist. Not in the case of a real sociopath. You are almost no longer dealing with a "man versus man" plot: it's more like "man versus nature". Your antagonist is basically "Jaws the shark". We honestly don't need to know anything about what is going on in his mind. The more mystery you can keep around his incredibly simple thought process, the better off you probably are.

EDIT
I have been told by a big time fan of crime thriller novels that getting insight into the thought process of a psychopath can be a useful tool for the reader by reminding them just how different their thought process is, and is appreciated by most readers of the genre. I get that, and it is a valid point. I think it is very easy for a writer to make mistakes here if they haven't done proper research, and for people with actual experience with people with antisocial personality disorder, it will be a potential breaker of suspension of disbelief if they get it wrong. As with many things, there is certainly no one right way to do things.

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