: 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

@Jennifer354

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I was going to comment but am not yet allowed to so I'll pour it into an answer instead. Let me know if it's not useful so I can remove it if necessary.

You could try to do this by describing the character as a sweet girl (or however you want her to appear) whenever a description is called for, but then when it gets really down to it have her make harsh decision that are backed up by her being or feeling forced to make those decisions.

If you manage to convince the reader that she was in the right or the situation was indeed dire enough for harsh measures they might not view her as the sociopath you'll reveal her to be eventually.
This might even make the reader agree and side with her, also turning the sociopath reveal onto the readers themselves, which could be a cool effect.

The downside of trying to hide the true nature of this character until the end of the book is that it would force you to write and portray a 'fake' personality for her.
This could be picked up by the reader or make the character harder to relate to, causing them to not really care when she gets 'revealed' at the end.
Another effect this could have is when the reader does relate to the character in the way you describe her throughout the story but then see the character is suddenly someone else entirely, changing almost last minute.

Unless pulled of really well or in an original way, this might feel gimmicky just to get a surprise ending or cause the reader to feel betrayed, either by the character or by you as the author.

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