I just remembered this scene from Jurassic World, tinkering with real-world species’ DNA to the point they become alien(ish).
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I get where you are coming from given the whole lot of redemption arcs out there (some, perhaps forced like in Star Wars)
The deeper question behind my question is more about realistic “near redemptions”. So, they don’t become “good”. They just become better or get on track to becoming better. Or are put in their place. But, since they are the main character, readers have to be able to connect to them in some way. Readers won’t want to read from the POV of a terrible bully, right? So, how would I make them connectable in a way that readers will want to see how far into “becoming better” they would go?
Me, too 
Fun question for you: what stereotypically good fictional character out in the world would you like to see become corrupted?
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Idk if I would like it if a character’s reason for being evil was “oh well, it’s just my brain was damaged because I hit my head as a kid” XD Or, “I wasn’t born with the chemicals for empathy”. It feels like an easy out to me 
That being said, did you have something specific in mind for how to reveal fictional villains that are born with brain damage?
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You have returned! 
Missed seeing you here and hearing your opinions 
I think I saw that going around, but I didn’t look into it. That’s problematic
Definitely. 100% agree.
Interesting take. The underdog could turn into a bully after achieving victory.
Reminds me of this Japanese manga about bullying in which the victim girl got her “victory” but then ends up turning into something of a bully. This led to the bully girl hitting rock bottom and then her father trying to take accountability in her place.
the story in more detail
The bully girl’s mother was extremely abusive and the father was turning a blind eye and refused to believe his daughter bullied another student. Daughter also insists she was not bullying. The mother ends up being extremely harsh on the bully girl (it was obvious bully girl’s home was abusive) because of reputation.
As the victim girl goes on to relish in her victory and eventually turn into something of a bully. The bully girl ends her life. Now the victim girl is looked at as a bully but she tries to justify herself because she was a victim. Eventually, she moves away from the school.
What ended up happening after was how she and her family then deal with the bully girl’s parents, and how the father of bully girl finally steps up to try to make things better. First, he divorces his wife who was only concerned about reputation. Then he tries to understand why his daughter was a bully, what happened at school, and tries to help other victims of bullying as a way of taking accountability.
Since I only read a sample, Idk what happens after (do the two families find peace?) but it was an interesting take on bullying.
What if you don’t want to save them, but you want to point them toward a better path? Whether they take that path or not will be uncertain and up to them. They might not even see a reason to because they believe they are not wrong.
How would you point them toward that path, I wonder, while also helping readers relate or understand the character, and without victimizing the bully? The aim is to not make readers think “oh, the author just wants us to feel sorry for bully?”
I suppose that Overlord is mythological, then, even though finding a purely good person in that series is like finding a needle in a haystack.
@J.L.O
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Yeah, I needed a serious break, which is about as long as burnout takes me to get over, so I at least avoided the stress of that.
As far as “underdog” is concerned, irl, underdog often enough subjective. In a story, less so because we can’t afford a plothole.
For this, in writing, there’s got to be a reasonable risk of failure being noted in the story, and maybe even outright failure following the warning (generally would be that low point where someone dies or “all is lost”).
One of the easiest ways is to make sure the bully ain’t unscathed. A scar for their foolishness, but not the total consequences of their actions leading to a horrible ending for them.
A harsh version of this is in God of War Ragnarok. Kratos convinces Thor to change his mind in a tough battle, so his father Odin stabs him and kills him, robbing Kratos of the ally he just converted. It could have been done with just an incapacitating injury at the right time for the story.
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I’ve not really been on the market for something for a while now. lol
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There’s a popular anime/VN that does this with one of its characters, but I don’t want to name it and spoil it.
Basically, one of the characters knows he “just ain’t right” and does everything he can to distract himself from it.
He’s specifically wired to enjoy other people’s suffering and he knows it is wrong; he even marries and has a child in the hopes to avert this, but ends up feeling nothing for his wife or child.
His dilemma on whether or not he should give into his true nature is compelling and I always think of that specific character whenever I see discussions about “Can everyone be saved/good”
So I think that how some of us turn out does not just come down to environment, but also our own personal experiences and maybe even wiring. Some of us are naturally good, some of us might have to work extra hard at it, and some of us may simply have no desire for it.
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If it’s in a game, I come out chaotic neutral or chaotic evil–which means that’s my baseline inclination when there are no stakes to the matter.
But I’m also rigidly moral (believing in cause-effect), so I can’t do what is natural to me because the consequences are plain unnatural and an anathema to me.
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You mean like if they don’t at least try to be better, some terrible bad thing will happen to them or to someone they deeply care about?
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Here’s an interesting study of a science fiction character who is naturally or intentionally evil.
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Nope, nothing specific. Years ago I wrote a book about a US president who has a brain tumor no one knows about, which turns him into an autocratic tyrant. (Gee, this sounds familiar. (>‿◠)
) But I’ve never thought about creating a villain who’s born with some kind of brain damage. Maybe I should do that with my current villain, though…
Hmmm…
That’s actually a great idea!
* starts rewriting wip *
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So true! ( ˆ◡ˆ)۶ ٩(˘◡˘ )
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That, and even doing better doesn’t magically cure all consequences.
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Sigh.
Did a vent post.
I think some people are from a different universe or something.
I don’t understand.
I just don’t.
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Topic: OG YouTubers, who did you used to watch but not much anymore?
For me, OG YouTubers are Grace Helbig, Jenna Marbles, Zoella, Hannah Hart, Mamrie Hart, Tyler Oakley, Lily Singh, Connor Franta, Good Mythical Morning, Prank vs Prank (watched them sometimes), Colleen Ballinger/Miranda Sings (
never again), Merrell Twins… I watched a whole ton of OG YouTubers which I hardly watch today either because they’re not on YouTube anymore, or, I’ve moved on from their kind of content (or I found out they were actually problematic).
Sometimes I might go back to see what they’re up to. Sometimes.
So, who did you used to watch but not much anymore?
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I used to watch a bunch of writing advice channels like Jenna Moreci, Abbie Emmons, Natalia Leigh, Sarra Cannon, Ellen Brock, Reedsy, etc. but I don’t watch them anymore. Also book review channels like Jack Edwards, Leena Norms, Shawn McComb, and several others. Either they’ve gotten sponsors and I hate the advertising, or else they don’t give me useful information anymore. And Leena Norms has totally changed her focus. She used to talk about books, but now she only talks about sewing clothes, and I just have no interest in that. ¯\_(ﭢ)_/¯
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I go through phases where I watch a whole bunch of his videos at once XD I usually just have the video on while I draw something 
That happens. I saw this booktuber and thought her content was fun, and she liked to talk about old books, so I subscribed because I didn’t have anyone like her in my list. Bad timing because soon after she moved into a house and started house-renovating content and hasn’t gone back to books since 
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Onision.
He was my “favourite” youtuber in 2013. Although that doesn’t mean much because back then I picked things to say were my ‘favourite’ because my peers had favourite things and obviously I had to have favourite things to flesh out my •☆~persona~☆•
no signs of autism here. nope.
In a super ironic twist of fate I got actually obsessed with Onision lore during his downfall 
I watched every Repzion, Repzilla, Strange_æons, Sinatra_says, Alizee, Omegon, Neg_reacts, ect. video and live on him as they came out, every deep dive, I was in every Chris Hansen live stream, and I still watch and rewatch critiques of his books and own a (thrifted) copy of an original cover Stones to Abbigale. Which is way more than I ever did when he was my “favourite”. Suck on that, onion rat.
Also Shiloh? The underage Canadian pop star he divorced his first wife for? Lived in Saskatchewan growing up. 
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For me its mainly gaming channels, especially Minecraft Youtubers back in the day: the Team Crafted members, Slyfoxhound, and CaptainSparklez
Other channels: Vanoss and his crew, who are still very active last I checked; the Fine Brothers, Northernlion, Cryaotic (yikes…), Jontron, Game Grumps (every once in a while I watch em), and Vsauce
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