Why is it that a villain is always
more easily crafted than a convincing nice protagonist? I find my own
protagonists are generally unlikable, if interesting and potentially
admirable in some ways. They're rarely nice; they border on the
villainous.
Grey, the main character in my
novel Behind the Ruins is an example. Admittedly I spent the entire
writing of the book striving for realism in characters, action and
setting, so discovering the kind of man that could survive the
apocalyptic destruction of the modern technical world isn't outwardly
warm and fuzzy shouldn't be a huge surprise. He's a killer, tormented
by the memories he carries but still willing to kill again if he
deems it necessary – or even convenient. He's loath to lead,
emotionally cowardly and ruthless, but he's still more interesting to
me than your average white-hat good guy. Snape always interested me
more than Harry Potter did. Voldemort even more, to use a
best-selling example. To be a bit more literary, Ahab is the
fascinating character in Moby Dick, not good-natured Ishmael or the
ebullient Stubbs; so what draws me to antiheroes?
I think it has to do with a
writer's or reader's personality. I'm an analytic, and I like my
stuff real, A to B to C. I believe there is no such thing as an
absolutely good or absolutely evil person, and thus fictional
characters have to be an amalgam of conflicting urges and traits. I'm
sure at least once in a while Saint Francis cussed out a novice, and
even Hitler painted roses.
See, this is what writing a
thriller with a serial killer/blackmailed cop set of main characters
will do to you – now I'm trying to make the bad guy likable, and
the good guy slightly repulsive.
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