Hi. I have this idea for a short story. It'll be a bit of a gross horror about a weird / macabre character. I've been thinking about what's going to happen in the story on the way to and from work in the car, and now I've just realised that all my pondering has been based around using the bad guy as the MC. So, this is kind of a bad thing to do right? Because aren't we supposed to have empathy and get to like the MC? Yet, I feel that I need to show the MC's motivations for the sick experiments he's going to be performing in the story, each one getting gradually worse. Also, is it too cliche if the MC dies a horrible deserving death at the end? MC's aren't supposed to die are they? Or is it okay in horror & if this is the bad chap?
Thanks all.
Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :
YOu can have an unlikeable MC -- but typically we will be rooting for him to fail and expecting that he gets what he deserves in the end.
Also, my personal feeling is that I don't want to spend too much time in an unlikeable character's POV. I therefore suggest only using such a POV for a short story or for part of a novel (not the whole thing).
On the other hand, others really get into despicable characters so you may do ok even with a whole novel full of it!
Go for it!
Posted by dee_boncci (Member # 2733) on :
You could probably do it, especially if your villian has at least a few traits that could be considered positive. I don't recall the name off the top of my head, but there was a movie out a few years ago that was vampires vs. werewolves, and the heroine was a vampire. Seems to be Edgar Allen Poe did a couple with the bad guy as the main character, if I remember correctly. Maybe Tell-Tale Heart and Cask of Amantillado (sp?) were the titles.
But I'd guess it is easier to scare the reader if they see the story though the eyes of a character that is terrified.
Posted by JamieFord (Member # 3112) on :
Hannibal Lecter is good example of a "bad-guy" protagonist. Of course in the book Hannibal, there was another bad-guy set in opposition to Lecter.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
There are some writers of whom it could be said, "They have no villains." Somebody might oppose the hero for reasons of their own but they don't come across as a "villain."
Then again, there are some who then "have no heroes." Everybody in the story is to some degree rotten.
I've usually found it hard to work with unlikeable characters---unlikeable to me, that is---and I usually wind up with two or more characters who are just in opposition to each other. I'm hopeful for the future, though---certainly the lead characters in the thing I'm working on right now seem unlikeable (to me)...
Posted by authorsjourney (Member # 3569) on :
One option that may or may not work for you is to have him be the viewpoint character, but not the main character. It's an option that is frequently overlooked. On the other hand, there is absolutely no reason why your MC can't be the bad guy.
I wrote a horror/fantasy novel last year from the perspective of a man who kills repeatedly to achieve his goals. He is definitely bad, but he is still someone you can empathize with. He did not set out to become a monster, but he became so obsessively focused on his goal that he no longer felt any qualms about killing people to achieve it. He felt the terrible pull of overwhelming emotions, and rather than fighting it, he gave in.
We do not have to like the character to empathize with him. We have all felt rage, envy, lust, and any other emotion that leads to violence - even brutal, methodical violence. We have simply felt weaker versions of it. Your character only needs to be more enraged or envious or determined to be willing to do terrible things. We might not be able to relate directly to the act of cutting someone up, but we can relate to the emotions that drive the character.
In your case, it sounds like an important part of your story is the motivation that leads this guy to do bad things. Telling the story from his perspective seems like the logical thing to do. Just be sure you know how he justifies his actions to himself so you can really bring him to life.
Personally, I don't think it's too cliche to kill the MC at the end. Again, just because we empathize with him doesn't mean we have to like him.
Posted by Kadri (Member # 3402) on :
If a guy's just generically "not likeable" because he's boring/annoying/a bit of a jackass, people will get frustrated. But if he's really evil, people love that. I mean, why do you think that the History Channel earned the nickname "The Hitler Channel"?
And yeah, "Tell Tale Heart". Awesome horror story with the villain as narrator.
Posted by rcorporon (Member # 2879) on :
Not a horror story, but Martin fills "Song of Ice and Fire" with characters that are detestable.
I think that you can have a bad-guy as the MC, but it's a little trickier than a "good guy" MC. Readers may want them to fail, or simply not get involved with the story.
Good luck either way.
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
If the MC's death is a logical (and ironic) extension of the events already presented, then it's a pretty well established device for horror.
Posted by Garp (Member # 2919) on :
Read Clive Barker's "Dread" before you even try to write this story. It's in one of the first three BOOKS OF BLOOD.
Posted by Zoot (Member # 3176) on :
I recommend reading The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks. The MC is a rather sick and twisted individual, yet I found myself empathasising with him all the way through the book, which is unnerving in itself, let alone the gruesome narrative. I credit this to the authors meticulous research into obsessive behavorial patterns and his flare for characterisation - and perhaps those darker reaches of my own mind which are best left undisturbed Posted by kings_falcon (Member # 3261) on :
You can do it but you might want to check into another thread - "redeeming an unlikable character" to see what people thought about how it could be done.
It's going to take a lot of very skilled and compelling writing. Good luck!
Posted by wetwilly (Member # 1818) on :
Is it cliche to if the MC dies at the end? Well, the alternative is having the MC live at the end, and I can't tell you HOW many of those stories I've read.
Is it bad to have the bad guy be the protag? I've definitely never heard a rule that says so, and I can't think of a reason why it couldn't work. You won't have the reader's sympathy for the character (unless you play your cards JUST right), but just don't make it a story that depends on liking the MC.
Posted by Sara Genge (Member # 3468) on :
If you're writting from a bad-guys perspective don't let it on right away, after all most people think they're good. Start telling us about his "normal" thoughts and then just drop the other shoe at some point. Gradually the piece gets darker as you realize that the MC, the guy you felt so identified with is a bad bad person. The tone never changes, he has the same kind of justification for the bad stuff he does as for the kind loving stuff. To him it's all the same, because, typically he should think he's doing the right thing.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
I was just thumbing through King's "Everything's Eventual" collection...no, I didn't read every story, but it seemed just about every character I encountered was, er, slightly scuzzy...
Posted by Garp (Member # 2919) on :
One more thing . . . make sure you're writing a horror story and not a noir story. On a certain level, I don't know if there's a real difference. Stephen King writes about a psycho cop and it's called horror, but when Jim Thompson wrote about a psycho cop and it was called hard-boiled crime fiction. But the point is this: there is a genre of fiction in which nearly every MC is a bad guy, and it's called noir fiction, or hard-boiled fiction. Read that, too.
