The Big, Screwed-Up Family in your fiction!

[Qualeshia12]

Have you ever wrote a family in your own stories that are the very definition of messed up and jus plain crazy? Maybe your MC is a part of the family and wants to disengage from them. Still, it can be other main characters or supporting characters who hail from messed up yet large families that they rather not associate with.

These big families are either royalty, nobility, super rich, or something lesser yet still screwed up regardless.

Do any of you have families like that your own story?

My Turn:

Oh ho ho! I sure do have this!

Crazy families right here

The Steelcrest Dynasty are super extremist who love drama, being better than everyone and even each other. They are constantly trying to one up each other and branches scheme to to rise to the top in some way or form. In order to become the next head.

Hell, the Jackal Dynasty is way worse thanks to Krieg. He goes around screwing every hot woman he has his sights on just to breed more offspring. Krieg massive wifey harem collection is brought on by the LARGE amount of children he has. Every Jackal heir, much like the Steelcrest Dynasty, from whatever branch wants to be a part of the main house. Lower branches are mostly or rather always an after thought and Kreig NEVER acknowledges them since they aren’t from his Top 100 Amazing Wives. Taken up higher that some Jackal heirs aren’t even named and are viewed as less than the ones amongst the lower branches. The wives of Krieg don’t like each other and that is to be expected.

The Thornwood Royal Family of Necromancers, Alchemists, and Magecraft are all criminals who are psychotic in their own way. The eldest child, named Mephisto is the worst of the children, while Faust wants nothing to do with his horrible criminal family. Faust is considered the black sheep of the family, but it odd because he is genuinely talented though Mephisto is more than that. Honestly, Faust is the only Thornwood heir who is nothing like his crazy ass family members.

The Naivin Dynasty aren’t that bad as the Steelcrests, Jackals, Thornwoods, or even the wealthy Jarvis Family of high elites. Yet they aren’t totally excluded from the list, but it mainly depends on the branches, but not so much the main house.

The Veckendecks are the milder version of the Jackals and Steelcrests though not without exception. They have gruesomely bad blood with Jackals Dynasty and are forbidden date or marry or befriend a Jackal member. Aside from that, the Veckendeck are only bat-shit insane in the mid to low-tier branches.

So, what about you guys?
Thoughts and feelings?

[Qualeshia12]

@Churro
@alenatenjo
@TheTigerWriter
@J.L.O
@Akje
@SecretDurham

[J.L.O]

I’m stuck in effed up.

Rachael is the 2.0 attempt at the same fight between 2 goddesses.

That means her mother has slept with all R’s love interest’s fathers.

She was raised by an abusive aunt and uncle.

2 of mom’s old love interests have made a play for her.

And that’s just the start.

[Xelyn_Craft]

I want to contribute to this conversation at some point but I’m just too tired right now. Maybe I can tomorrow, because I want to read about yours and comment and ask questions, as well as talk about my MC’s “family” and how messed up they are. I’ll come back to it eventually.

[Qualeshia12]

Awesome! See you tomorrow!
Goodnight. LOL!

[Xelyn_Craft]

The families in your story remind me a lot of Game of Thrones, with all the politics, madness, and sleeping around. Makes for a lot of conflict and drama, which is great for any story.

In my book, Alma doesn’t technically have a family, because he’s a synthetic and was made rather than born. But, he views his creators as parents and the other two prototypes as siblings. His “father” is not a good person and ends up essentially kidnapping and torturing Alma at the mid point of the story. His “mother” struggles to see him as a person at all, so needless to say, their relationship is strained. His “brother” doesn’t have technological singularity like he and his “sister” do, so he’s not even really a person and just follows orders blindly. Alma resents him for not being like him and having sentience, because it makes him feel like his “brother” is an insult to all he is as a sentient being. His “sister” is perhaps the only one Alma can fully trust and rely on, but even then, she is extremely naive, even more so than Alma is.

So his “family” is kind of messed up, but still fun to write. It’s not quite like the different families in your book where there are multiple families fueding and negotiating with each other, but I figure it still counts.

[Qualeshia12]

@Xelyn_Craft

The families in your story remind me a lot of Game of Thrones, with all the politics, madness, and sleeping around. Makes for a lot of conflict and drama, which is great for any story.

Yeah, they be crazy as hell. LOL!

[Qualeshia12]

@Xelyn_Craft

So his “family” is kind of messed up, but still fun to write. It’s not quite like the different families in your book where there are multiple families fueding and negotiating with each other, but I figure it still counts.

I think writing chaotic and maddeningly mind-numbing big ass families where everyone is completely off their rocker in their own way to families of just a group of people who aren’t related that are crazy, but the type of crazy that is so endearing and fun is just super exciting to do.

[Churro]

@Qualeshia12

Maybe your MC is a part of the family and wants to disengage from them.

I hate that trope. “Normal” or “Opposite” MC dissengaging with them always makes the story boring. It always makes the MC out to be the boring asshole too, and people stay for the family only and get salty when the family is in it less.

Anyway, Ricky’s family is insane, but he loves watching the trainwreck, even though he regularly contributes to it. And they’re a normal, working-class family because I don’t like the Succession trope either (screwed-up famous family). It’s overdone like a charcoal steak.

[Qualeshia12]

@Churro

I hate that trope. “Normal” or “Opposite” MC dissengaging with them always makes the story boring. It always makes the MC out to be the boring asshole too, and people stay for the family only and get salty when the family is in it less.

I guess.

In Faust’s case, his family are psycho criminals and members of a royal family. Although Faust is talented in magical criminal arts, he isn’t keen on being with family members who are committing crimes unseen or mainly abusive towards each other in a way or more so towards him.

Faust wants to leave his family because the are crazy and abusive and doesn’t want to be a criminal.

I suppose he is “normal” and “opposite” mainly because he wants to escape his insane family members, especially his older brother and current monarch of the kingdom.

[Qualeshia12]

@Churro

Anyway, Ricky’s family is insane, but he loves watching the trainwreck, even though he regularly contributes to it. And they’re a normal, working-class family because I don’t like the Succession trope either (screwed-up famous family). It’s overdone like a charcoal steak.

Well, the good thing about this thread that the families don’t have to be royals or rich, but everyday people you see walking down your block doing ordinary things.

So, I will accept salty with pepper on the side, maybe a little paprika.

Thank you.

[Akje]

I agree! I don’t see that royals and nobility is written to any greater degree than ordinary common people. And a lot of readers love that trope. They love reading about characters who live lives they’ll never be able to live, so keep writing it! There’s a reason fairy tales are always about princesses, never milk maids. (*＾-‘) 乃

[Akje]

As to the subject at hand, nope! I don’t have any crazy families in my book, just a family that has one crazy member in it. But he’s not crazy in the funny, cute, endearing way. He’s abusive and cruel, although I’ll have him do nice things for his sons now and then so it’s not so inexplicable why they don’t want him executed when they discover he’s a murderer.

And all the families in my books are small instead of large because that would be sooooo much more work for me! Each member must have goals, obstacles, internal conflict, backstory, etc. and that’s just too much effort. ヽ(ﾟДﾟ)ﾉ

[TheTigerWriter]

The Facade of Quad in Nimrod is a story about a messed up high-class family. It takes place in a fictional country called Lwendolen modeled off of 1820-1830s England.

Some parts are blurred because they might be triggering or disturbing.

Here are the Quads in a nutshell

Mordecai is the CEO of a trading company, but he’s a horribly strict father who doesn’t love his wife anymore. He abuses his son (in his mind it’s discipline), adores his daughter but doesn’t give her much attention, and he’s addicted to alcohol. He’s able to hold back until things start to go downhill around him, and then he goes downhill. At some point, he will become addicted having opium with alcohol.

Georgina is Mordecai’s aloof wife who goes out to be with younger men in secret. She doesn’t pay any attention to her children and only cares about money and beauty. She’s actually jealous of her own daughter. Georgina also has an unhealthy obsession with the macabre and reads dark newspapers about murders. One day, she decides to kidnap orphans to torture them to death.

Henry is the eldest son and he’s addicted to gambling, so he writes fake checks and steals his father’s money. He has such high expectations of things that he takes ridiculously big risks and fails. He talks to himself a lot and argues with an imaginary “Brother”, often screaming his head off and wailing. He’s often the punching bag of his father and takes all of the abuse. When Henry snaps, he turns to organized crime and learns to kill people.

Valerie is Henry’s younger sister who rarely goes out unless to ride her horse or meet her rich fiance (a conniving, greedy man behind her back). She’s in love with love, reads romance novels, and doesn’t have friends. Valerie believes she is a damsel in distress who needs a kind man to save her. On top of that, she can’t do anything on her own and is so, so naive. Once she’s left alone for the first time in her life, she doesn’t know about moldy bread and eats it, only to make herself sick twice.

Henry and Valerie are estranged from each other. When Henry is thrown out of the house, Valerie is at first worried about him, but then she blames him for angering their father and thinks that she couldn’t have done anything to fix her brother.

[Churro]

@Qualeshia12

I guess.

In Faust’s case, his family are psycho criminals and members of a royal family. Although Faust is talented in magical criminal arts, he isn’t keen on being with family members who are committing crimes unseen or mainly abusive towards each other in a way or more so towards him.

Faust wants to leave his family because the are crazy and abusive and doesn’t want to be a criminal.

I suppose he is “normal” and “opposite” mainly because he wants to escape his insane family members, especially his older brother and current monarch of the kingdom.

Oh, I see.

Dos Faust have a lot of his own flaws that his family bring out?

@Qualeshia12

Well, the good thing about this thread that the families don’t have to be royals or rich, but everyday people you see walking down your block doing ordinary things.

So, I will accept salty with pepper on the side, maybe a little paprika.

Thank you.

No garlic?

[Qualeshia12]

@Churro

Dos Faust have a lot of his own flaws that his family bring out?

Being from a criminal family, Faust struggles to between going back and forth in trying to be more than what he was taught to be and trying to start anew/find a place for himself.

[Qualeshia12]

@Churro

No garlic?

Sure, why not?
Add some basil in there too, maybe even some cilantro as well.

I am really cooking up something flavorful aren’t I? LOL!

[alenatenjo]

I mean, the main characters are all one family (both biological and found) so things can get pretty crazy There’s 10 immortals living under one roof, and that’s not including when friends and other family members come to visit. Things can get a bit hectic

[Qualeshia12]

Sounds almost like every family gathering ever.
LOL!

[alenatenjo]

Pretty much Only these people actually like each other