Young Writers Society

so, im writing a story, or making heavy notes on what could be a story, and I have a question. The world is not black and white, it comes in all sorts of grays, and I want to emphasize that. Most importantly I want the readers to get the feeling that the hero is not always right in what he does, without making him seem like a monster. I realize that this is going to be hard to do, but I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to go about it. I can also go a little more in depth on the story in a PM if you need it.

Ah, yay! Sounds like you have a good set of characters, then. It really irks me when I read a story where the hero is all good, or the villain all bad. Grey is the way to go.

One idea for developing it is to imagine the story/scene/chapter from the villain's point of view. Remember, no 'bad' guy thinks they're being bad -- it their mind, what their doing is the absolute right thing to do, and all those trying to stop him/her are evil; they're the bag guys. With Hitler, he's painted as a bad guy, but he really thought he was doing the right thing. At first, it was raising Germany up so the world would stop treating them like dirt and more like people, then it was to go beyond that. Forget equals, what Germany needed was to be superior for once. In the past, it had almost always been shoved down, treated like nothing. Then it would start to rise again, start to rebuild, only to be stomped down. But if Germany was superior, it would launch into a golden age, and if Germany was superior, it wouldn't be crushed again so easily. So Hitler was good at first -- he really was. But once he got Germany up to level ground, he got ambitious. Even though he was only trying to ensure a better future with a perfect race in Germany, his actions are largely viewed as monstrous, cruel, unjust, etc. References to him are not compliments, things to be proud of, but insults.

Do you think he set out for that? Just woke up one day and said, "Hey, you know, I really hate Jews, so lets go out and start killing them. Then I can make the world hate me, and my life's dream will be complete."

Everyone knows the 'good' guys' story, that/those of the allies; every one knows about those who fought against Hitler and Germany and won, but very few know Hitler's story, Hitler's point of view. As he's written in most textbooks, it's almost as if his side wasn't really considered. It makes him seem like less of a human, more flat.

Basically, consider your villain's point of view, where the hero is the bad guy. If you do this right, it makes it impossible to have an all bad villain or an all good bad guy. Make it so you could write the story either way, and have the characters/their sides believable.

I just got done reading "The Child Thief" by Brom. It's a retelling of Peter Pan, but more of the original Peter Pan than the Disney version. In it, you see Peter's side, the side we all know. The pirates are the bad guys, they're off to kill Peter and his gang, etc. Except in this book, they're also destroying "Neverland" and trying to kill The Lady who guards it, keeps it safe and hidden in the mist, and is the source of its magic.

So they sound really bad. But then you hear their story. They fled England for America for freedom of religion. At the time, "Neverland" had drifted off to the coast of America somewhat and the mist had been taken down, since the Native Americans were for the most part pretty peaceful and almost magical themselves. So the Captain and his crew land on Neverland, hoping to restock their supplies, get some fresh food, etc. and move on. Event leads to event, they think they're being attacked and so fight back, defending themselves, then try to leave. But before they can launch the ships, the mist comes back, hiding Neverland once more and trapping the 'pirates' there forever. Their only goal is to get home, and when they learn about the 'witch' who is responsible for the mist that prevents them from leaving, about the one responsible for all the demons trying to suck out their souls and who come out of the forest to attack them, they set out to kill her.

The book ends in an awesome way, bitter sweet, but in a way where, if Brom were to then write a sequel for it, the same story from the Captain's point of view, the story would be equally good. If you haven't read it yet, pick it up sometime. It's a really good story -- Peter Pan for those who have grown up. And even if it's not your type of story, it's great for developing your writing. Just look at it and see what he does, because he does exactly what you're talkng about here really very well.


Aaaaand I think I'll leave it at that. Two examples, there you go.

thank you so much!! i will consider both of those.

If you're interested in seeing how others have gone about this kinda concept: Sergei Lukyanenk's The Night Watch Trilogy is brilliant !!!

Ah, gray characters. Gray characters are wonderful and I'm glad you're being courageous enough to work with them. I'm working with a largely gray cast myself right now so here are a few things I have found to be extremely helpful:

1. Say things as they are. Readers are not heartless. A reader does not entirely depend on your denunciation or glorification of an action to form an opinion on it. No matter how much the writer tells me that his character's levelling of an innocent city was completely necessary and right, I'm still going to judge the character myself. Readers do that. So don't fret over emphasizing the bad things your character does and don't fret over glorifying your hero too much. Say things as they are; write what happens. Write what your character does; give window into motives, but do not take pains to account for every questionable thing your character has done. His or her actions will speak for themselves without your writerly intervention. Write what happens.

2. Round development. Develop all of your characters. By this, I do not mean expounding upon minor character to the point of weighing down the story. I mean don't favor a character who you may have labeled as a 'protagonist'. If he or she is your main character, yes, he or she may require more development, but do NOT shirk on the development of other characters who oppose your main character. Dehumanizing a villain is such a traditional way of designating evil that you want to avoid it at all costs. Dole out your attention and developemt in a way that befits your story and character-intentions, but avoid dehumanizing or shirking your development of opposing characters at all costs.

3. The confronting characters. This is the most helpful thing that I have used in my story to establish the gray-ness of my main character. Secondary characters are blessings. The main character in my work in progress is a puzzle and he lies to himself compulsively, so if it was all from his POV and he got to do what he wanted, the reader might label him as clear protagonist and hail his surface-level 'good' actions. However, the secondary confronting characters kill that. I have about three secondary characters and one main character who can read into my main character's actions a little more clearly than he likes... and they confront him time and time again with his own flawed motives and twisted perception. They speak the truth, and, though he may deny it, it adds a shade of grayness to his character. Now I'm not saying you pull down some all-knowing creature to guide and mentor your character. Secondary characters that play this kind of role need to have roles and motives of their own to make them believable and powerful, but writing confrontations between characters who have no clear side but see things clearly and the characters you want to make gray is an extremely effective tool at tangling up the reader's feelings about what your character is doing.

Hope that helped! I wish you luck with your gray endeavors. It can be hard sometimes, but it's a great adventure, and it's exhilarating to write when you get it down. Keep writing and good luck! If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

For an absolutely marvelous example of this, take a look at Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. Besides the fact that it is my favorite fantasy novel to this day, Hobb establishes her main character as extremely gray while writing in first person while still making you sympathetic towards the character. It's a great read.

ive read it, its actually what got me thinking. thanks again for all of the tips!

I only have one thing to say. Dreamer I like the whole villain's point. But Hitler is a bad example of this. Due to many problems he was crazy, in several ways, and had no intention of good. He instead knew he was doing evil, and manipulated Germany to full fill his goal of killing the Jews and taking of the world.