It may seem strange, but when you write fiction, you can’t lie to your readers. I have started work on a new novel and I knew what one of the characters would appear to be, but I didn’t know what might motivate this character. I have been researching that particular character trait. I don’t want to talk about it because I never like to talk about the beginning of a project. However, I think I can illustrate it with the discussion of these types of character traits a narcissist, a psychopath, and a sociopath. Here is the definition of a narcissist – Narcissistic personality disorder(NPD) is a personality disorder with a long-term pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, excessive need for admiration, and a lack of empathy. Here is the definition of a psychopath – Psychopathy is traditionally a personality disorder characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits. It is sometimes considered synonymous with sociopathy. And finally here is the definition of a sociopath – a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience. The difference between a psychopath and a sociopath is that a sociopath is made and a psychopath is born that way. That may seem strange but consider someone growing up where everything around them was lawless and everybody was out for themselves. They would learn that this was normal behavior and would exhibit many of the same signs as a psychopath, but it was the environment they live in that made them into a sociopath.
Sociopaths can function very well in society. They have learned to get along they must be almost like a chameleon and fit in and be pleasant to those around them. They seem very pleasant and easy to get along with. They are like the typical stereotypical used-car salesman selling you a piece of junk. We have all met people with sociopathic characteristics. One person I remember was a woman who worked as a telemarketer. If you met her casually, she seemed like a nice person. You could even admire the fact that she was out the top of the sales list every time. I only began to realize that she was a sociopath when she started to have an affair with one of the managers. Even then I didn’t realize what she was until I overheard her remark that the manager was “just a stepping stone.” She went on to take him for everything he had. She would’ve had no remorse because she had been “trained to survive” in the world at all costs. Further, she would’ve had no remorse for using the manager because in her view of the world it was a necessity to survive.
Let’s turn back to the psychopath. According to all of the literature I have read about psychopaths say they are also narcissists. However, all narcissists are not psychopaths. As with the sociopaths, psychopaths can appear to be wonderful people but never cross them. Here is the story about one psychopath. He had dated a woman and for some reason she rejected him. He then turned around and convinced her to give him another chance and for one year he was the best boyfriend she’d ever had. After one year anniversary of their coming back together, he announced the last year had all been an act and that he didn’t love her or even care for her. He also announced that he was going to kill her but she would not know when it was going to happen. He did eventually kill her and we only know the story because he gleefully told it when he was captured. And true to the clinical definition being a psychopath, he had no remorse.
With all this background, I think you could see if I were writing about a sociopath that I would have to include their past history that turned them into a sociopath. A psychopath would exhibit those characteristics even as a child and might abuse other children or torture pets or kill them so that somehow had to be worked into the story. Honesty is important in writing, but you must have to have some idea of why a character does something and then make it plain to the reader why they might do something.
