I just have a simple question when it comes to making villains

So does this make a difference? I can still have the bad guy having a bit of personality and similar features to this guy?

 

No, I just mean that everything I thought through and presented was based on a false premise.

 

The thing is, I've been deciding between a fictional graphic novel and writing a book. I could always end up doing both, but right now I was leaning toward a graphic novel but it doesn't mean that I wouldn't also strive for making it a full book. Sorry for any confusion.

Also I'm a little confused what you mean by being based on a false premise? Do you mean the real person and events that really happened that I'm basing my fictional ideas from being false? Or that you assumed I was focused on writing this as a book and there would be no visual presence? Sorry for any misunderstandings.

 

Correct.

 

Okay, that is fine. I should of been more clear before. I was planning to do both but I want to focus first probably on the graphic novel as it might be easier for me to flesh out the characters more for myself. So their visual appearances will matter. But I've been told here that as long as I don't make it so apparent that I'm making a carbon copy of this guy but just using some similar physical traits and maybe even some of his persona I should be fine.

But say him or one of his friends or lowlife family member makes the connection from my story revealing his sick past and he goes to complain saying that I'm making him look bad or accuses me of defaming him? If this person who in real life who's had this record and matches similar descriptions to my fiction character like being a pedophile and a physical and sexual abuser to children and women with a small penis reference thrown in as an added bonus, who looks a little like him but has a different name, different dress style, location and so on and he brags that he feels I'm making him look bad and says it's all lies? Would he have to prove it somehow? Would he only be making himself look bad and cause himself embarrassment? Or would he get away with getting me in trouble to of course protect himself?

 

I think that it is likely to be much better for you to write this work, as an exercise in dealing with your feelings, and NOT publish it. Write it, in all the detail you want, put it aside, and think later about whether you can ever create a version that can be safely published.

 

Okay I understand, thank you. I think I will do that first. As long as I can eventually create it and mix it in a way that it becomes it's own unique character that only I would really notice the similarities and so him and no one close to him would be able to catch onto it. I know there are some good writing tips on here to practice on doing that. There are authors who have done this very successfully. I'm just not that skilled yet at doing so.

Everyone on here has been very helpful and understanding so far which I appreciate.

But is it okay if I get just these last questions in? This will help me figure out what to do in the future for these ideas one day. What are some other good advice and tips I can take to create this character so it's not so noticeable by certain others? Besides by just changing the name and location he's from?

Thanks again.

 

I think that it's dangerous, in terms of vulnerability to lawsuits, to deliberately, consciously, model this character after an actual person. I think that seeking specific tricks for reducing the resemblance isn't going to give you the safety you want.

That's why I'm suggesting that you write the story with all the resemblance that you want, and NOT publish that version. Maybe write it again and again, in different variations, and keep each of those private.

Eventually, I believe you'll have a clear notion of the core meaning of this character, and you'll have un-tied yourself from things like physical resemblance. At that point you could create a truly fictional story.

 

Okay. So if I write in in many variations until I come up with it being something entirely new on it's own ...with maybe just a little tiny itsy bitsy resemblance to his features that he or anyone would have to squint really hard to notice? Maybe just in my mind or where his inspiration came from. Like JK Rowling had done like how she created Severus Spade who was based off her mean professor, even down to his physical resemblances? Which she managed to be a success with.

Like with this

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/teacher-who-inspired-professor-snape-1847172

But she made him resemble her teacher almost identically. I would not do that and mix his appearance up a bit and the way he'd speak.

I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually, but I'd be less noticeable than what she did.

 

Rowling had an essentially infinite amount of money that she could use to fight a lawsuit. I wouldn't assume that it's safe to emulate her strategies.

 

1. A new never-heard author writes a book. Who will notice that?

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_monkeys_(psychology)



3. In what area?

Juridical? Change some things and you are safe. Place, names, some traits, cars, some parts of they life situations...

Social? Keep distance to both abusers and their flying monkeys.

4. If an abuser feels that someone attacks him/her, you are not safe from false or other accusations. And it does not matter have you done anything or not.

Make distance in every way you can.

Seek professional help if you need.

And seek good information about PTSD, C-PTSD and victims of narcism. You can start from Youtube with "Surviving Narcissim" and FOCLOnline with Diane Landberg, Jordan Peterson.... In literature Robert D. Hare is good place to start.

Stay away from narcs who pretend to be narc pro's. YouTube is full of them. In literature (and tube) Sam Vaknin has identified himself as one of them. Concentrate your information seeking to the pro's who have solid academic background combined with solid clinical background. They have they both feet in the ground.

5. You are wellcome.

Take care of yourself. Remember that aggressive upper body exercise burns stress hormones. And even walking burns them in some amount.

(My personal experience tells me that that burning starts to feel a little after 6000 daily steps. But between 10 000 - 16 000 steps it helps clearly with me. If you try walking or training I recommend that you pay attention to your body's messages about stress levels and seek the type and amount of exercise that helps you and can be integrated to your daily life.)

I really hope that something I write helps you.

And I remind you that I am not any kind of professional in these things. Don't believe anything I say before thinking and checking it yourself.

 

Take care that there is no connections between him/them and the knowledge that you are interested about writing.

 

Wow! Thank you for that amazing post! I find all of this really so helpful. Especially that info about narcissist and flying monkeys, which pretty much describes this person to a T and those who would go out of their way to support or defend him.

Yes I will take your advice and avoid getting my information from those who mean wrong or who are narc's themselves. And will take those steps and get the right info like from those who had the experience and help I can get when keeping all this in mind for my story. If a problem ever arises due to him or anyone of his flying monkeys, I'd be sure take those precautions you mentioned.

Absolutely, anything will just be purely coincidental. I'll make sure of it. I appreciate all your help and everyone here has been very helpful in giving me the best tips and have been completely understanding.

 

Unfortunately there was this other writing website, who have not been so helpful and quite insulting in many ways. Sure they have given me some good advice and may have led to some misunderstandings, assuming I was going to write a book about an exact replica or write that exact persons name, address and real life story of the things he's done, but more importantly a lot of them even made jokes about my situation like "hey why don't you use my face and make me the bad guy instead" or "you have no right to create a bad guy based on bad experiences if you probably never experienced them yourself " and "you don't no for sure if this man did these horrible things and you might be judging someone making them look worse than real life" or "maybe he didn't mean it and is a changed man" and one that really stood out for me was "if it bothers you so much just call the police instead" and "I disliked my ex husband and thought he was bad yet I'd never base a bad person on him" and "your abuser has feelings too you know"

From my assumption, these people from that site did not experience what I have personally, know this guy better than I do to make judgment whether I know him well enough and to already assumed I was going to make him an exact copy of his real life counterpart. I think the comments they shared with me about just go run to the police, when they don't know my situation is not that easy, since it is happened so long ago and that I don't know the real him and might make a nice guy that I really dont know enough about look bad was very hurtful to me, since me and a few handful of others know him very well and know the bad things he's done from our own personal experiences because of him.

I won't ever go using that site again. I find this site much more helpful.

Has anyone had any similar experience with this? Or any unpleasant feedback from that Fantasy and Sci Fi Chronicles website? Or is it just me? They seemed to jump to conclusions way to fast and not be very emotionally understanding about this.

 

And now I try to be more helpful than until now...

If your writing does have therapeutic tendencies I suggest you this:

In therapeutic writing it is very important to be as honest to yourself as you can be. So it might be good to write your first draft as honestly and truthfully as possible. Don't chance anything or nearly anything in your first draft.

That first draft is for you and only for you. If you ever need to show it to someone, you can do it if you want and need to. But it is not for publicity. That first draft is your private therapeutic draft. And use all the time you need to use among it. It's main function is to help you recover.

And then you put it away for few weeks so that you can get some distance to the text.

After that you can write your second draft. You change things you need to change. You can use "replace" function if you want to. That second draft is your first literary draft, your SFD. (SFD = Shitty First Draft.

After you start to work it better. "Writing is rewriting." You rewrite as long and as much as needed.

When you can't make it better, you give it to your beta readers. After you have got their feedback you can make last corrections and polishing.

If your writing has therapeutic tendencies, it is important to keep your personal draft and your literary drafts separated.

And if you do it like this, you don't need to worry about anybody or anything else before your therapeutic, personal draft is ready.

I suggest that you think about it.

 

They can be a bit insular. Very British.

 

I definitely will and do these exact steps. This should be a perfect way for me to slowly develop between getting out my therapeutic writing and by the time I reach my final drafts I should have a better understanding how I want to develop my certain characters. Thank you all for your help.

Indeed they are. Which is why I didn't find them very helpful at all.