: Re: Picking a good story goal for a morally neutral character A blogger with the name of Glen C. Strathy said the following: The first and most important element of any plot is the Story

@Angela458

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A purely self-interested character may be morally neutral, or morally evil, depending on how that self-interest is expressed and acted on. But there are other ways to be morally neutral. A person devoted to a particular cause may be morally neutral. An artist, say totally devoted to his or here art, or a critic devoted to exploring somne genre of art. An engineer devoted to maximizing the efficiency of the devices s/he works on, or a scientist devoted to explicating some puzzle in nature, and not caring at all how this is funded. The character Krug, in Robert Silverberg's Tower of Glass is morally neutral, but not primarily self-interested, for example.

Interesting stories might be told about such a neutral, devoted or even obsessed character. For the matter of that, very interesting stories might be told about a person who is purely self-interested and amoral. How does this self-interest affect others. Does the character's view of life change. Does s/he achieve his or her self-interested goals.

The character Parker , protagonist and viewpoint character of a series of 24 novels by Donald Westlake is completely amoral and self-interested, not at first caring even for his close associates, nor expecting them to care for him. At timers he even appears to be a sociopath. Yet many readers are absorbed by the stories, and may well sympathize with this anti-hero.

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