: Re: Can I conceal an antihero's insanity - and should I? I have an idea for an anti-heroic sci-fi character whose character arc runs from spoilt rich girl, to a refugee in the rubble of human

@BetL639

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Personally I find this one hard to pull off. I - as a reader - would find this development at the end not satisfying (like the development of Daenerys in the last season of GoT).

The problem is that this can/will break the readers image of the character, but probably not in a good way. He might feel betrayed by the protagonist, just like any character in the story would feel if he was to find out she was lying and just pretending all the time.

Alternatively you still can pull this off with the reader knowing - not from the start, but for most of the time. Start your story with the empathic, lovable character you want her to seem and then throw her into a situation where her true self shows. You create a triangle of knowledge between the reader, the protagonist and the pawn character facing the cruel reality. The pawn, believing the fake good nature of the protagonist, is then killed, just leaving her and the reader and the unsettling feeling following you through the story. Now the reader feels with the protagonist and you create the omnipresent suspense when, where and how this charade will blow up into her face.

And just for the record: It is highly usual for sociopaths to be intelligent and self-disciplined. They just blend into society and afterwards you often hear "I'd never thought she was capable of doing something like that."

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