An Evil Main Character? What to do when your Main Character IS the villain!

[virtualmayham]

Well, this isn't a strictly fantasy question, because I am not a strictly fantasy writer, but I just got this idea for a book about a sociopath guy who is a con-artist, has a wife and multiple girl-friends, and is basically living a triple life, which all begins to unravel. How do I write this? I don't have the experience to make the reader like the character despite his flaws, so help? This is what I have so far:

Joesph waltzed arrogantly out of the dull gray building clutching a wad of cash. He shouted behind him, “Pleasure doin’ business with you!” Then he lowered his voice and said, “Suckers.” He opened the door and swung into his black Cadillac. Winking at his chauffeur he laughed.
“Ahh, a sucker’s born every minute!” he said grinning. The chauffeur nodded. “Take me to Sally’s house.” Again, the chauffeur nodded, put the car into gear and began to drive.

 

[Shockley]

As someone who really likes writing villains (and finds heroes to be bland), this is something I sympathize with. The best advice I could give you would be to read some books where the main character is a bad guy. I'm not suggesting you plagiarize or anything of the sort, but it might put the limits of the character into perspective.

Just a few off the top of my head:

American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
Carrie - Stephen King (Your opinion may very on whether or not Carrie is 'evil.' She is, however, very unsympathetic for a protagonist)
The Talented Mr. Ripley (and the associated series) - Patricia Highsmith

 

[Ireth]

Another example of a story with a villain protagonist, though it's a musical and not a novel, is Sweeney Todd. You feel for Sweeney when you learn about what was done to him and his wife and daughter, but there's no denying that what he does as a result of that is evil. He's just as much of a villain as Judge Turpin, the antagonist.

 

[Rullenzar]

Well, this isn't a strictly fantasy question, because I am not a strictly fantasy writer, but I just got this idea for a book about a sociopath guy who is a con-artist, has a wife and multiple girl-friends, and is basically living a triple life, which all begins to unravel. How do I write this? I don't have the experience to make the reader like the character despite his flaws, so help? This is what I have so far:

Joesph waltzed arrogantly out of the dull gray building clutching a wad of cash. He shouted behind him, “Pleasure doin’ business with you!” Then he lowered his voice and said, “Suckers.” He opened the door and swung into his black Cadillac. Winking at his chauffeur he laughed.
“Ahh, a sucker’s born every minute!” he said grinning. The chauffeur nodded. “Take me to Sally’s house.” Again, the chauffeur nodded, put the car into gear and began to drive.

Well the first thing that pops out at me is you say he's married and has girlfriends on the side. This makes me think he's a grown man but the way he's presented is a little childish as if he was a teen on his first con. Mean no offense. I suggest switching the word suckers out for Marks. Another point would be that no sophisticated con artist would risk muffing up his whole art by lowering his voice and saying something like suckers while he's still at work. He'd wait until he was secluded and with someone whom he trusts and knows his double life before boasting.

Something more like: Bob smiled and waved like a good samaritan as he collected his cash.
" Next drink's on me fellas, have a good one." Fanning out his wad of money he picked out a dollar and threw it over his shoulder as he waltzed off, chest pumped out, head high. " And, pleasure doing business with you!" He yelled back in a condescending manner. Bobs work had become like clockwork so he enjoyed rattling the cage of his marks every now and again. He was too good to get caught and who'd ever see through Bob 'The generally savvy all around nice guy act'.

Something like that paints a picture of what I believe your after and hint towards your characters sinister inner workings. I could be way off topic as you only gave us a small bit here. I wouldn't take the cadillac part out I just didn't want to go any further as that part there gave the general idea I was going for. Hope this helps you out.

On the note of evil main characters I love that idea. There is so much potential there. A story where the bad guy wins, or of the bad guys rise and fall through his own eyes instead of a heros. On the side of making them likeable I'd suggest a past tragedy that in effect made him the way he is but also is the one thing that keeps him human. Or something along the lines of he is this badass but then sometihng happens during the course of your book that makes him lose a loved one because of his work and he starts to question if this life is even worth it, should he change? etc... And then say he decides he wants to change obstacles pop up that prevent him from doing so and he's essentially forced to be the monster he's always been.

Your call and gl with your story, hope this helps.

 

[Jess A]

Your character sounds intriguing. I guess as an old Buffy fan, I thought of Spike I do agree with Rullenzar, though; his 'badass' is a little blatant although you have the right idea. Perhaps people who know him and love him (his wife and his girlfriends) see a very different, perhaps 'normal' side - unless they, too, are criminals or there for his cash/using him (and have a similar mindset). People are very complex. I think sociopaths have certain personality traits (I'm not sure exactly what) which can only be spotted by people who know what to look for? That could be fun to explore if you haven't already.

This is quite an interesting topic. I have a mix of characters in my novel. One of the main characters in the first book isn't at all evil (though his adviser certainly is), but he's a naturally arrogant and complicated sort of bloke and he is quite cruel in many ways. His marriage isn't good, and he resents a lot of things and people in his life. People see him as a national hero for winning various battles and for having a charming sort of personality. He has a bit of a dark heart and is slowly driven a bit mad by his fears and such. He eventually dies, but his country will probably remember him for being their shining prince. He has some good qualities and only his intimates see his bad ones. I must note that mine is set in an early modern Europe-type setting and some things he does may seem acceptable in that world's standards yet not in modern times/our world.

The help you receive will certainly help me, I am sure.

 

[The Dark One]

Well, this isn't a strictly fantasy question, because I am not a strictly fantasy writer, but I just got this idea for a book about a sociopath guy who is a con-artist, has a wife and multiple girl-friends, and is basically living a triple life, which all begins to unravel.

You've just described the premise of the novel I've recently completed and is currently with my agent. I'm not freaking out about it though because I don't think the premise is that unique - it's all down to how you execute it that matters.

I will tell you one of my secrets though (or at least, why I think my story works). I don't tell the reader straight away that the main character is the villain. By all means let your main character be 'evil' on some level but you've got to make the reader like the main character (or at least be fascinated by him/her), and then possibly be shocked when they realise they've identified with a character who turns out to be Hitler's evil twin. My main character is intelligent, wealthy, arrogant...a real arsehole and potentially guilty of unspeakable crimes. But all the guinea pig readers have loved him to bits because they can't help but identify with his good traits and get a guilty vicarious pleasure out of his bad traits.

But the really bad stuff...you don't find out whether he's the perpetrator until the last page.

But what exactly IS a good guy or a bad guy in a story? From the story's perspective the good guy is the character the reader is identifying with and wants to succeed and the bad guy is the character the reader wants to get his/her comeuppance. A fun by-product of my story was that all the 'bad guys' were the boring law abiding types with healthy attitudes. The reader hates them and it was so much fun writing about straight normal types being the ones that the reader would want to see cop a hiding.

 

[Queshire]

This might have been mentioned before, the other posts were too long so I didn't read them, but the important thing is that your character doesn't THINK he's evil. Nobody thinks they are evil. Hitler didn't think he was evil. They might consider themselves simply pragmatic, doing what they have to for the greater good, or they could justify their actions, taking money from those who don't deserve it, or teaching them not to be so trusting. If you make sure you can hit that point you'll have an easier time of it.

 

[Agran Velion]

If there's one thing I learned from reading the Malus Darkblade series (an amazing series by Dan Abnett), if you want the readers to sympathize with your anti-hero/villain lead, make the guys he's up against even worse. In the books, Malus was a horrible Dark Elf that lacked any redeeming qualities, but his father, brothers, and every other Dark Elf was just as bad. It's hard to hate someone when spits on a puppy when the other villain is kicking them.

 

[virtualmayham]

Well the first thing that pops out at me is you say he's married and has girlfriends on the side. This makes me think he's a grown man but the way he's presented is a little childish as if he was a teen on his first con. Mean no offense. I suggest switching the word suckers out for Marks. Another point would be that no sophisticated con artist would risk muffing up his whole art by lowering his voice and saying something like suckers while he's still at work. He'd wait until he was secluded and with someone whom he trusts and knows his double life before boasting.

Something more like: Bob smiled and waved like a good samaritan as he collected his cash.
" Next drink's on me fellas, have a good one." Fanning out his wad of money he picked out a dollar and threw it over his shoulder as he waltzed off, chest pumped out, head high. " And, pleasure doing business with you!" He yelled back in a condescending manner. Bobs work had become like clockwork so he enjoyed rattling the cage of his marks every now and again. He was too good to get caught and who'd ever see through Bob 'The generally savvy all around nice guy act'.

Something like that paints a picture of what I believe your after and hint towards your characters sinister inner workings. I could be way off topic as you only gave us a small bit here. I wouldn't take the cadillac part out I just didn't want to go any further as that part there gave the general idea I was going for. Hope this helps you out.

I actually bothered to research a bit on sociopaths for this one, and sociopaths actually do act surprisingly childish and immature. They often can be VERY arrogant, and believe that they can never get caught. Also, their lack of conscience inhibits caution.

 

[Rullenzar]

I actually bothered to research a bit on sociopaths for this one, and sociopaths actually do act surprisingly childish and immature. They often can be VERY arrogant, and believe that they can never get caught. Also, their lack of conscience inhibits caution.

Like all things there is different kind of sociopaths. Intelligent ones who can pull off cons for instance are not childish like ones who commit murders for instance. Then there are also intelligent ones that do commit murders. Example: Dexter vs. mentally challenged murderer. Dexter is intelligent but doesn't act like a child, the other is intelligent but acts like a moron. Can't classify all into one category.

 

[Shockley]

Yeah, the sociopathic spectrum is really broad. On one end, you have someone like Ted Bundy (very charming, very intelligent, never let anyone in on the fact how gone he was) and then someone like Ed Gein (who was just a step above mentally retarded).