Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/42194
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I hadn't thought about it before, but today I came across a writing prompt that involved hate. My mind kept running up against walls. It's not a skill I have ever worked at fostering. I can't think of a reason good enough to hate someone nor can I think of hateful things to do or say to someone. As a writer I know that I will eventually have to write characters who have this problem (there are villains after all) and I'm concerned that I won't be able to when the time comes.

Has anyone else had this problem, or **do you have suggestions of what I could do to help me write these future characters?**

_Edit: Adding the villains bit was mostly just a silly thrown in statement. I know they are not the only ones to feel hate, but I've noticed that in some fiction the emotion is thrown on them. Sum up of that: it was a silly, superfluous, parenthetic statement._

_A lot of good points have been made, and I appreciate all of them. The idea that hate is just dislike blown out of proportion (due to various contributing factors) makes sense, and I believe that I can build a character that hates something/someone using that knowledge._

_I have noticed that even when I was very young I tended to be unwilling to make concrete decisions about certain things I disliked because there were too many variables in play to make a definitive decision on it. The upshot of that is that I am saddened by actions and occurrences that cause harm to me and mine. I know that these types of things end up hurting the harmers -sometimes- more deeply than the harmed. I have not experienced the hurt of being a harmer myself specifically, but -being an observer- I watch it happen to them. It's hard to watch, and I hope that they can move beyond it; forgive themselves, and make steps to be kinder in the future._

_To me it makes no logical sense to foster deception, harm, and so on since the long reaching ramifications are so horrid. Fortunately, you all have pointed out to me that hate is not necessarily logical so that helps as well._

_Thank you._

Original score: 7