Asian cyber agent with military background and gangster flair

If I want to make an asian bad guy that has a military background, but he's now like some kind of cyber agent with a gangster looking flair since he now works for a corrupted agency, could this make sense? And there is nothing wrong with him being asian right?

 

Have you thought of maybe having just one single thread about your characters since all your threads seems extremely alike, and sometimes even about the same characters.

You also seem to have an issue making any decisions yourself. Asking for advice is ok, but a lot of the time you seem to ask more for permission rather than advice. Or the replies just gets your head in a spin and things get a new layer of confusing.

Make your characters. Trust your gut. Then if needed: ask advice.

 

I'm sorry! You're right, I should of just kept it all together in one topic, my fault. And yeah I might of had some difficulty making decisions only because my character ideas could seem a bit controversial, even story wise which I'm concerned with. Everyone here seems to be so good at just making simple ways to come up with fantasy characters, whereas mine get so complex because mine seem like archetypes based on ethnicities based on their origins where I probably do better at making up completely different races and places of origin that don't exist. I guess I'm better at making a complete fantasy world were none of it is based on anything real, I'm horrible at creating realistic characters for some reason.

Hope I didn't upset anyone here

 

Realistic characters take practice. The expectations are lower when the characters are from imaginary races, species, and cultures, because the reader has no real life frame of reference.

Just keep at it, and observe humans in their native habitat. The better you become at capturing humanity, the better your non-human characters will become also.

If it were easy, there would be no satisfaction of accomplishment.

 

Don't stress so much about offending people. Write what you want to write, but do your research. Just because you are white, I assume, doesn't mean you can only write a book full of white characters.

 

Thanks guys!

So if I make a yakuza bad guy, they won't be offended? What country are violent ex patriots from in Asia? I pirate from the Phillipines might be interesting.

Do I need a tonew of research or just enough to get a small plot going?

 

Just get the plot going and write the character as you see it in your mind. Then you can always vet it with some people of the same race after to see if anyone finds it offensive, if you want to go that route.

 

Okay true.

I just thought of an idea. Maybe since I have some sci fi and fantasy elements, maybe I could have it that he was a ruthless samurai from the edo period but was transported into the future, working for the bad guys and now has a yakuza like flair to himself with a katana but with some updated tech. that way he could be like a modern day samurai like fighter with a yakuza style to him. That way it won't seem as cliche of him being an actual yakuza member. Could that work easier and less offensive?

 

You can say whatever you want. Why don't you try writing the character out a few different ways and see which you like best. I don't think it is any less offensive, but I didn't think it was offensive to start with. Having the character exist is not offensive, it is how you portray them.

 

For the first question, only you know the answer. It's your story.

For the second, I'm an outsider, but Japanese media seems to have zero issues with characters being Yakuza members, whether romanticised, fantastic or presented with gritty realism. It might be worth doing a bit of research on the actual Yakuza and their fictional depictions in Japanese media, so you can add more detail that will make this character feel 3D. In general, if you make this person feel like a real individual (even if they're dealing with fantastic situations in an exotic setting), that will be the most important thing

 

Probably not such a big deal 'appropriating' scum gangsters/bad guys/violent thugs/drug dealers, whatever the culture. Can't see anyone getting too upset and protective about that. Religious icons, things of beauty, history yes.

 

Thanks guys so much. So it would be okay if I romanticized on a yakuza villain? Even if he was wacky over the top like having Mr Chow's personally from the Hangover?

 

I'm not familiar with the Mr. Chow character, but I think any time you can draw that clear of a connection between your character and character developed by someone else, you should probably be a bit concerned about originality and possibly about borrowing a stereotype.

Honestly, though, I'd suggest writing something out, seeing where you get, and adjusting from there. Trying to pre-plan too much may just make you overthink everything.

 

1. Don't think about background or backstory.
2. Start with motivation. What does that character want.
3. After you know what he/she wants, you must figure out why he/she wants that. What is the need behind want.
4. Now you can start thinking backstory. What could create that need which creates that want.
5. Now you are starting to get a psychologically consistent character.

Five easy steps. Here you are.

 

Sorry, I edited the title of the thread 'cause it read like one of those emails where the sender is cramming the message into the subject line, hope that's ok!

 

What? See, there you're getting into problem territory. What Asian country has the violent ones? All Asian countries, all European countries, all African countries, all countries in the Americas have violent people, and some of them have expatriated themselves (note: "expatriate" is someone who is living outside of their home country. "Ex patriot" is someone who formerly supported their native land but has since had a change of heart and no longer does. Such a person might move out, or they might still be living where they were born and just hating their nation).

If you're looking for people who are more likely to have obtained military skills, sure, you want to look to countries where there has recently been military action. The Philippines has some ongoing insurgencies, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos are all still dealing with the aftereffects of European colonialism, and both Koreas are in a constant state of military tension, but even Japan has contributed to the "violent expat" community in the form of one Akihiko Saito, who joined the French Foreign Legion before become a "security consultant" who was kidnapped and killed by an insurgent group in Iraq in 2005.

Japanese love their yakuza dramas.

This sounds problematic to me since you'll need to do a lot of research on samurai and the Edo period, not to mention the assumption that anyone transported from the past (especially an insular time and place like Edo Japan) would survive let alone thrive in modern society. My dad, for example, worked his entire career in IT, but things like smartphones can be a struggle for him. Imagine someone for whom a telegraph would be black magic trying to cope with the internet.

ETA: Shit, apparently I forgot Australia in my first paragraph. Australia has no violent people at all. Ever.

 

thanks, could help me out a lot.

It's okay

I think I want to go with this idea the most, I get what you are saying before about conflicts and violence happening all across the world and I agree. Sorry that I worded it kind of wrong. What I was really getting at was to make it believable into todays world and conflicts so it;s easier to write about say a war criminal from an Asian nation. But I think I could get a good backstory of a crime warlord from ancient Japan. Yes it would seem kind of silly and difficult for such a character to be dealing with a modern societies technology. But I could always say that he was an immortal samurai that plagued the region secretly with crime and evil behind closed doors living into the future right?