In my story, which I have talked about before on here before. Now that I have made a lot of changes, I was wondering how the villain should be portrayed in this way... She is a serial rapist/killer and the reason of how she came to be that way, is because she is lonely and treated inferior by men all her life growing up, to the point where she snapped. There could be more to it as well, but since her character is more mysterious, the entire backstory is not disclosed to the reader, like many villains. But she targets men she cannot get, who reject her. So basically she will do all she can to get a guy, fail, then that sets her off, to target him. But I am sure how to write her failed attempts. When it comes to a woman getting a man, they do not have to try very hard to get a man interested. I am not saying that to stereotype, but it's kind of true to a large degree. If a woman goes to a night club, and asks any guy to come back to her place, I bet she would have not go through more than five, that capture her interest, for example. So with this in mind, does anyone have any ideas as to how can I write it so that she fails in a plausible way, in which the reader will buy into it, for when she reaches her breaking point?
Maybe her issue is she fixates one particular target because she's a bit romantic? Sometimes the darkest things are corruptions of compassionate places. It would explains why she's so pissed off.
Ok thanks. But involuntary celibacy places a big theme in the story, so if she fixates on one particular target, that doesn't really count as involuntary celibacy does it? Will theme be changed around too much then?
Well, celibacy is no sex, and she wants sex doesn't she? So fixating on one guy doesn't change the fact she's being denied. And it makes it more emotionally powerful, workable, and fits with what seems to be her personality type. Fixation is quite common amongst high-level sociopaths, especially ones with sexually motivated issues.
I think she'd have to be pretty unattractive to fail at getting guys. Now, there is the theory of sex rank (SR). On the usual 1-10 scale most couples that pair up don't get together if they are more than 3 SR points apart. A hot #8 guy probably won't do a #3 girl. A #8 girl definitely won't have sex with a #4 guy unless sobriety or mental illness is a factor. There's much more to it but I am pressed for time. You can google and study the theory yourself.
You raise a good point, is she supposed to be be notably unattractive? Though, you don't have to physically ugly or plain to be denied. There are many ways to fail, or even be unfairly rejected.
Ugly women are just as pretty as pretty women, it takes months to tell the difference, in my opinion. like this, maybe
She doesn't want an "easy" guy - she wants someone who's going to take some work to seduce. But when she talks to those guys, they see something in her that turns them off (it could be anything, really, from the perfume she wears to a hint of her insanity). She takes it as "they think they're too good for me!", which makes her go crazy.
Okay thanks for the suggestions. Those can work. I am not sure if she is suppose to be unattractive physically. I have been concentrating so much on how I want her to be, plotwise, that I have put her flaw on hold, so to speak. Maybe she has a facial disfigurement that turns guys off... Maybe she is an autistic savant, who is really poor at social skills, but is a savant in the sense that is is criminally masterminded enough to keep getting away with for a long time? Whatever her flaw is, I want her to appear innocent at first to the reader. Innocent as in not a killer or a person with hostile intentions, because I don't want the reader to suspect she is a sociopath, until she actually reveals it when she snaps later. So whatever the flaw is, I don't want her villainy to appear obvious, because of the flaw, if that makes sense.
Here are two articles that may help with the psychology of a serial killer. Article 1: How serial killers come to be through a mental disorders or imbalances in brain. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-superhuman-mind/201212/the-making-serial-killer Article 2: How serial killers come to be through past traumatic events/psychological horrors. http://www.businessinsider.com/psychological-evaluations-of-killers-reveal-5-surprising-lessons-2015-6 Hope this helps!
Though I suggested considering SR which is mostly based on appearance I also think this is an easy way out for you as a writer. Its almost too predictable. With further reflection I now think a psychological problem would be a better way to go. I picture a girl who is of mediocre beauty...not ugly, not fat but not with a SR that would easily snag guys above a 7. They become interested in her at first but then see a side of her that is troubling. Your task is to figure out what that is and how to make it visible and off-putting without it being too easy (she talks about killing and skinning cats in her spare time and making quilts from their pelts, for example). If you can hit upon the right gimmick it should make for a great story (sort of like Stephen King's Misery). I keep picturing Crazy Girlfriend memes when thinking of your character: http://www.relatably.com/m/img/memes-crazy-girlfriend/CRAZY-GIRLFRIEND-BREAKING-UP-LOVE-YOU-TEN-MIN.jpg
I'm imagining a Harley Quinn kinda character when you say insanity...so maybe, she is just too much for these men...comes on too strong, thinks they should want her yet can't handle it when they reject her, so she lets loose and takes it anyway. Psychotic but will the readers love her? Is she kinda likable? When one man turns her down does she set him as her target, or does she let out her rage and uncontrollable lust on another, innocent man who was out of the picture?
'I'm a writer, y'know, stories, erotica,' he said through full lips, undressed absolutely everybody in the room, his eyes were fire-juice. 'I work business administration,' she said, gained his attention, finally, her tongue shivered on the shun of 'tion,' like a friction, he thought. 'How 'bout you me find a corridor?' he said. ...and she melted to his seduction, umm, umm, I'll be back, have to go frame paragraph, oooh, mmm...
Okay thanks for the idea. I do not know much about Harley Quinn. Typically my villain gets revenge on other guys, cause she figures if she gets revenge on the same guy, then the police might be able to find her out easier, if the victims knew who she is. For the main character, who wants revenge on her after, she makes an exception for him cause she figures she can get away with victimizing someone who knows her, once in a while, just not often enough so that the police will nail her, if that makes sense.
But the thing is, is that she doesn't always have to go after 10s. Wouldn't she try going for guys in her own league like 1s, before being pushed into going on a serial killing rampage?
No, because remotely sane human beings don't decide that they're entitled to go on a killing rampage when they don't get what they want. That's not plausible. Whether we're talking about involuntary celibacy, or involuntary-non-wealth, or involuntary-non-Porsche-ownership, or involuntary-didn't-win-the-Presidency, or involuntary-didn't-win-American-Idol, normal humans don't "break" under those circumstances. Merely failing to get something that she wants is not going to turn her into a serial killer. Something else has to turn her into a serial killer. Brain damage, or severe abuse in childhood, or something else. Am I the only one whose head is exploding here? Yes, I posted earlier and deleted earlier. Let's see if I leave this one up.
Entirely possible. My vehement objection is to the idea that people declining to give her sex has driven her from a normal person to a psychopath/sociopath. Just, no.
Well if it was ongoing since childhood that is treated as inferior by others, could that cause her to become a sociopath? I read that sociopaths become that way as a result of how society treats them, instead of just being born that way. So if society treats her that way, from the start and it builds up over the years, could she one day snap, and become a sociopath?
Ever seen the show Love Lust or Run or it's British counterpart Snog, Marry, Avoid? Some crazy outfits and crazy attitudes can certainly turn a man off.
Okay thanks. Couldn't being rejected by the opposite gender over many years cause a person to feel psychologically abused though? I asked a psychologist in my research and he said that it's possible, that a person can snap, if they obsess over the issue. So as a long as it becomes an extreme obsession for her, then she can kill retaliation, or at least that's what the psychologist told me. He said it was unlikely, but not impossible.
