Would a sociopath make a good character?

BlueLucario · May 22, 2008

In the SYW forum. (Look for it.) It seemed that my MC came across as a sociopath. She's not exactly a villain, and she's not the type of person who would save the world from great evil, like any cliched superhero would. She would do things to achieve goals of her own. She can be sympathetic, but only to a few who 'deserves' it. She can't empathize with others, she's never loved or been loved. She's never met her parents, and she was raised by someone else to being a sociopath. She never had friends, and had difficulty making any. She'd only kill if there's a justified reason for it. She may be a sociopath, but she's not a cruel person.

I guess I'll stop the lecture here. I just wanted to know if a sociopath would make a good character.

If anyone wants me to explain my post, please let me know.

Dragonquill · May 22, 2008

She doesn't sound like a sociopath, but yes, if you can pull it off, a sociopath would make a great character. The real challenge would be making the character sympathetic. If you can do that -- awesome!

NeuroFizz · May 22, 2008

Earl Drake of Dan J. Marlowe's The Name of the Game is Death (good old-fashioned pulp) is a nasty fellow, but he becomes likeable to the reader because he runs into people who are even nastier (with some good writing to get us into his head).

Jeff Lindasy's Dexter stories feature a mass murderer who really enjoys killing, but he is extremely likeable because (in part) he only murders bad people, and again, the window into his head is so intriguing.

Kitty Pryde · May 22, 2008

NeuroFizz said:
Jeff Lindasy's Dexter stories feature a mass murderer who really enjoys killing, but he is extremely likeable because (in part) he only murders bad people, and again, the window into his head is so intriguing.

NeuroFizz makes a great point, that Dexter is great sociopathic main character. Why can we like him? He only kills killers, for one thing, so in that way he is decreasing the overall number of people killed. For another, he didn't just wake up and decide to be a killer, he had a mysterious traumatic experience as a young child that "turned him" into a killer. Besides that, he is amiable and friendly in many situations. To conclude: sociopath, has many charming characteristics--people CAN RELATE to him.

I read the scene with your character. I don't think the problem is that she's a sociopath. I think the trouble is that she's a sociopath AND WE CAN'T RELATE TO HER. If she was rude and condescending and mocking to the old man, that gives us insight into her character and we can start to see why she would do it. If she has to torture an old man in order to, say, save her baby brother from terrorists, that's also sympathetic. But to torture him for no reason into thinking he was dying, we can't see why anyone would do that and so she fails to be sympathetic. Unsympathetic characters don't compel readers to read on.

What can you do to make us care about the character? Once you achieve that, it won't matter how sociopathic she is, readers will want to read on because they are invested in her.

zegota · May 22, 2008

American Psycho? I've not read or seen it, but it's apparently good enough to be well-known.

Zoombie · May 22, 2008

I have to third Dexter. Fantastic book, fantastic T.V show, fantastic idea and fantastic excecution. He's the only serial killer I want to hug.

maestrowork · May 22, 2008

Great sociopaths make for great stories. There are many examples and some have been mentioned (Dexter, American Psycho, Hannibal...)

Staroffurby · May 22, 2008

If you can achieve developing a great sociopath then i would say its a must, they always seem to attract an audience. The problem is making a reader relate and care about the character. I have tried this in the past and i am not ashamed to say i failed, but i had a great time trying.

jennontheisland · May 22, 2008

Who wouldn't like a sociopath?? Much more interesting reading.

geardrops · May 22, 2008

I'm going off the TV/film stuff here, not books.

Part of what makes Bateman (American Psycho) a great character is that he's meant to be a hyperbole of modern man, where instead of hunting physical weaknesses we are reduced to hunting weakness of brand and consumerism, which can cause our primal need to conquer and destroy to manifest itself in strange ways.

Hannibal (Silence of the Lambs) was great partly in and of himself; he was so far removed from society yet so mild-mannered. What also made him great was what he drew out of Clarice. (What also-also made him great was... I mean, damn that guy sent chills down your spine.)

Dexter (duh?) was a bit different, because he was keenly aware of the fact that he was divorced from society and within him you saw glimpses of a longing to be a part of the human race. Moreover, he channelled his dark needs to socially positive ends, which made it very easy to cheer him on. His relationship with Rita also reveals an emotional vulnerability that makes him a very sympathetic pyschopath.

So it's not just a matter that these guys are sociopaths and therefore great characters. It's the handling of the sociopath that makes it great. And they're all handled in different ways, used for different reasons.

IMHO anyway.

Jake Barnes · May 22, 2008

Tom Ripley.

BlueLucario · May 22, 2008

Hey, i liked psychopaths. and I thought I was crazy for that.

maestrowork · May 22, 2008

Jake Barnes said:
Tom Ripley.

Ooh. Now that's one conflicting sociopath.

hammerklavier · May 22, 2008

maestrowork said:
Great sociopaths make for great stories. There are many examples and some have been mentioned (Dexter, American Psycho, Hannibal...)

Hannibal wasn't a sociopath, he just didn't like Rome.

Charlie Horse · May 23, 2008

I think the question is: "Would a sociopath make a good writer?"

Toothpaste · May 23, 2008

I also worry a bit that you had no intention to actually make your character a sociopath, and now that people are telling you she comes across as one, instead of taking the time and doing the work to correct the impression, you are instead taking the easy way out and going, "Okay cool, now she's a sociopath." Writing a sociopath is just as difficult as writing any other complex character. Just because she is one, doesn't mean she isn't a three dimensional character. Nor that you won't find challenges in writing the character.

Writing a sociopath is not your license to be a lazy writer. Not saying you are, but it is something to be aware about.

KTC · May 23, 2008

I believe Ignatius Riley to be a sociopath. I still think he's one of the most loveable creatures in all of literaturedom.

Hear that, Iggy... you rock, baby!

CaroGirl · May 23, 2008

Toothpaste is referring to the "writing by committee" trap.

Real-life people with personality disorders have very few redeeming qualities (is Ted Bundy's "charm" a redeeming quality?). They're frightening in their disregard of others, lack of empathy, lack of insight and self-centredness.

Fictional characters who are psychopaths or sociopaths (there's a difference) can be complex and intriguing. But it's not easy to pull off.

DWSTXS · May 23, 2008

maestrowork said:
Great sociopaths make for great stories. There are many examples and some have been mentioned (Dexter, American Psycho, Hannibal...)

exactly! These were all very well written though.

ANY character can become a great character if written well enough.

BlueLucario · May 23, 2008

Toothpaste said:
I also worry a bit that you had no intention to actually make your character a sociopath, and now that people are telling you she comes across as one, instead of taking the time and doing the work to correct the impression, you are instead taking the easy way out and going, "Okay cool, now she's a sociopath." Writing a sociopath is just as difficult as writing any other complex character. Just because she is one, doesn't mean she isn't a three dimensional character. Nor that you won't find challenges in writing the character.

Writing a sociopath is not your license to be a lazy writer. Not saying you are, but it is something to be aware about.

I know my character. I don't intend be a lazy writer. I have an idea of who she is, but I don't know what kind of person she is, I mean I can't describe her in words. If they call people like her sociopaths, then maybe that's what she is.

DWSTXS · May 23, 2008

BlueLucario said:
I know my character. I don't intend be a lazy writer. I have an idea of who she is, but I don't know what kind of person she is, I mean I can't describe her in words. If they call people like her sociopaths, then maybe that's what she is.

If you can't describe her in words, then she's not a charcter, she's an IDEA.
You CAN describe her in words, and you WILL. Don't get hung up on knowing what her persona should be labelled as.

Just write her. She will help you too.

Melenka · May 23, 2008

It can be incredibly difficult to create characters who do bad, bad things but are also engaging and likable - or so fascinating that you don't care how squicked out you are by what they do. Some things are harder to justify than others. Torture, rape, killing of the helpless/innocent/cute animals, pointless abuse, etc. will turn most people off in a way that a bullet to the head will not. Death doesn't bug most of us nearly as much as pain does.

Toothpaste · May 23, 2008

See Blue, the thing is, just because a few people look at your character and see her as a sociopath, doesn't mean they are right. YOU have decide if indeed she is a sociopath. You need to read up on the condition, decide if that was indeed what you are going for. You can't just trust your betas blindly like that. "Well if that's what they call her, then that's what she is." They may think she has sociopathic tendencies, not that she is entirely a sociopath. There are so many variables. In the end, you have to know your character best. You have to understand her.

CaroGirl · May 23, 2008

BlueLucario said:
I know my character. ...but I don't know what kind of person she is, I mean I can't describe her in words.

Okay, so what do you, a WRITER, plan to describe her with then? Kumquats? Words are all we writers have.

DWSTXS · May 23, 2008

CaroGirl said:
Okay, so what do you, a WRITER, plan to describe her with then? Kumquats? Words are all we writers have.

Like I said, if you can't describe her with words, then she is still just an IDEA.

Start writing her, and she will come to life.

Would a sociopath make a good character?

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