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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/43098
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/43098
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Others have said Internal Dialogue, and I second that. But let me also offer an alternative. If the "demon" is a sufficiently separate entity that the character can talk to it, negotiate with it, argue with it, that's easy. The demon is then like another character, it just happens to reside in the first character's head.

But what if things are not so cut-and-dry? What if, instead, **the "demon" is no more a separate entity than your 'ego' is separate from your 'id'**? You don't talk to your id, do you? Then, every time your character acts, there's this doubt - is it his action, or has it been suggested by the "demon"? He himself doubts, and examines and re-examines his own actions. And maybe, at some point, he is sure he is acting on his own choices, and it is a friend who notices and tells him he is not quite himself, that an action is "out of character" for him.

If that is the way you choose to go, your character would be going through a process of developing a heightened awareness of his own thinking process, meta-thinking, if you wish. Over time, he would have to learn to recognise what thoughts come from him, and what thoughts do not.

A characteristic of such a structure is an "othering" of some of the character's urges. His struggle is with himself, with something that is part of him. He doesn't like that part, he works to overpower it, he defines it as "this is not me - that is demon", when he could have chosen otherwise. This "othering" is his tool towards being better than he could have been. Compare this to the little voice that suggests "just another ten minutes of procrastination". You accept it, and allow yourself to procrastinate. Or you don't accept it, you "other" it, and do something useful instead. Only for your character, the struggle is on a grander scale.

An interesting wrench in the system would be if the "demon" needs to be "fed", or else both the character and his "demon" would die, and the "demon" would of course act to survive. As a simple example, consider a vampire: he needs blood to survive. He can get by on animal blood. But if he's hungry enough, he would no longer be able to control himself, and take an blood available. If you choose to build your character along this structure, one of his constant concerns would be keeping the "demon" sufficiently fed.

I recommend you read Jim Butcher's _Dresden Files_ series; throughout the series, Butcher explores several different forms of "internal demons". You might find the varied examples helpful.

Original score: 2