Mean/Evil Characters
I grew up in San Diego, California and went to college in Worcester Massachusetts. This proved to be a big change including weather, fashion, food, and geography. It turned out that the biggest change was the people.
A good example is what happened when my roommate’s two tires blew out one winter evening. He pulled to the side of the road and five minutes later, a police officer stopped to ask why he parked there. The officer proceeded to yell at my roommate for not avoiding the pothole that took out both tires, having a dirty car and not having the foresight to carry a second spare tire. (What poor college student driving a Honda Civic caries around two spares?) The officer then drove my roommate and both tires to a local garage and waited while they were repaired. Afterward, he drove him back, again yelled at him for not parking his car in an appropriate location and helped put the tires on.
To the people who grew up in Massachusetts, that story makes perfect sense. The officer acted mean, but he did not have a mean soul. This extreme personality contrast took me a long time to get used to.
In life, we encounter many mean people. This might include a parent who demands their child to maintain a clean room, a boss who is upset at a worker who arrives late, a friend who insists we pay owed money or a driver who is upset at being cut off. Of course, people can cross the line like when a parent has a rough day and yells at their well-behaved child.
What about that mean boss who is always in a bad mood? Let’s take a step back and look at the big picture. Managing people is difficult and a large part of their job is to ensure profitability over other concerns. This sometimes translates to the boss overcompensating their negative persona.
Taken to the extreme, a business leader might eliminate an entire division because it was unprofitable. Is this mean behavior. No, it is impersonable behavior. If the leader decided to keep the division, it would consume the profits from other divisions resulting in less money for development and bonuses. If the unprofitable division became too bad, the entire company could fail.
Occasionally, this mean personality becomes evil like the parent who enjoys punishing their child, the power-hungry politician or the vindictive neighbor. These people are unpleasant for no reason and some enjoy inflicting harm.
My reason for discussing this topic is that it is important when writing to create a clear distinction between a mean and evil character. Readers like one-dimensional evil characters. Why? Why cares what they are acting the way they do. The most defining trait of an evil character is they never get better. This way, the reader does not bond to them.
A mean person must have a backstory. Losing one’s job is a perfect motivation to behave poorly. Thus, we have a multidimensional character that the readers can relate to. “Hey, I lost my job once. So, yeah, I know this character was going through some things.” This bonding allows the author to connect the character with readers.
for his actions. For the rest of his life, he will need to live with to consequences of all his decisions.
Is it bad that evil fictional characters do not require a back story, can always get away with atrocities and have no consequence? No, it is wonderful. This helps normal people to overcome real-life and cope with horrific events. It gives authors the freedom to quickly enter a story and get out without explanation or consequence. Even Darth Vader gets a break when he blows up an entire planet. His only real concern is improving ticket sales.

You’re the best -Bill
December 18, 2019 Updated November 01, 2024
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