: Re: Needing Help Fleshing Out Male Character So He's Not Just a Stock Character I have been working on a fantasy novel for the past twelve years, during which time there have been drastic changes.

@Holmes449

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If you opt for the absent option, you could make the father both idolized and despised.

The child could be immature enough, or naive enough about the father issue to alternate between idolizing: "Your are my only hope" and despising "It's your fault my life stinks". Every chafing at a restriction, especially one issuing from the mother, could put our protagonist into idol mode. If the child and mother are doing the you and me against the world thing, the father is despised.

The father could be idolized until a rare return makes him despised.

The father could have cast a love spell on the mother which backfired, leaving her aloof, and him obsessed.

The father could be near-suicidally depressed (think Richard Corey), without being consciously guilty.

Just a few trial balloons, not all mutually compatible.

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