Dynamic characterization: How do you show development/change in an inherently flawed character, like a psychopath?
I got an idea for a short story recently following a traumatized boy who has developed antisocial tendencies and lack of empathy, and ends up in a psych ward.
I want this protagonist to have a meaningful story arc, involving some change. The obvious change would be to make him begin to care for people, though I think this is unrealistic and impossible.
So, anybody have any recommendations for making an inherently flawed character a bit more dynamic?
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Robert McKee maintains that people don't change, and that a story arc is not about them changing, but about showing how far they will go. A story arc, per McKee, consists of a character with a desire meeting a series of increasingly difficult challenges to that desire until they are pushed to the edge of their capability and we (and perhaps they) discover who they really are. They don't change, but their true nature is revealed.
I'm not sure I agree with McKee on this, but I do think he points out something important about the nature of story. In some sense, at least, it is an exploration of the character by the application of increasing shocks to their system. Revelation may be sufficient payoff, rather than change.
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If the character is drawn starkly enough, even very small changes can be very noticeable. The best example I know of is in Nabokov's Lolita. The narrator is an unrepentant molester, who is basically wholly focused on his own wants and needs. Late in the novel, he gains what amounts to a single moment of clarity where he senses, no matter how dimly, that what he has done is wrong. It's a significant moment because of how completely selfish he has been up to that moment.
You might also compare the main character in Remains of the Day. Although not at all sociopathic, he is very emotionally constrained. On the surface, not much happens in his life, but the writer gradually helps you understand that he has strong emotional attachments of which even he himself is unaware.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/25944. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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