: Re: Thoroughly Despicable Characters I'm midway through a Masters in Creative Writing. My tutor recently told me (something like): each character deserves a chance to be liked by the reader. I didn't

There is a phrase that I picked up somewhere and integrated into my life. It helps tremendously with interpersonal relations, but it works for writing as well:

Nobody is the villain of their own life story.

Everyone, even the outwardly most evil person, has some internal logic behind their actions, and could probably explain to you why they are actually the good guys. It doesn't matter which Hitler, Stalin or today Warlord, Terrorist or from history, tyrannical king, child-abusing pope you pick - inside their own minds, they have good reasons for what they do and the best intentions.

This will be true for your unlikeable character as well. I believe what your tutor means is that unless that core belief shines through somewhere, your character will feel Hollywood-style one-dimensional. There is going to be some angle to his story where he can rationalize himself as being right, just or at least doing-what-needs-to-be-done-for-the-greater-good.

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: Re: Thoroughly Despicable Characters I'm midway through a Masters in Creative Writing. My tutor recently told me (something like): each character deserves a chance to be liked by the reader. I didn't

More posts by @Candy753

: MLA-8: How to cite information with multiple sources No abstinence-only-until-marriage program has been shown to help teens delay the initiation of sex or to protect themselves when they do

: How should I respond to a supervisor/editor who thinks my technical writing is "too conversational?" My team and I are drafting a technical report to summarize the methods and results of a pilot

: Is it ok to reference something modern to give the reader a better idea of what something looks like if the book is set in the Middle Ages? This is a random example but would it be bad

: Is it Ok to make up places if I want the reader to think itâ€™s set in the real world? What Iâ€™m doing is making a story in the medieval times and I wanted to make up a village and

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