How to Write a Psychopath
American Psycho
Psychopaths are incredibly fun to read in books and watch on the big screen and have been popularised by some very infamous and somewhat controversial films and books, from American Psycho written by Bret Easton Ellis, Hannibal Lecter by Thomas Harris and even James Bond by Ian Fleming.
But why is it that these characters have captured both love and fear in our hearts? What is it about them that makes us want to know more? Is it their propensity to violence? Their ability to be cunning and manipulative without feeling any remorse? Is it their self-confidence and being able to think under pressure? Whatever the reason, our hearts have a soft place in them for psychopaths in literature.
In this blog, I am going to tell you how to create your very own in your fiction, and it will maybe help you spot these same traits in other characters you enjoy.
Hannibal Lecter
Traits of a psychopath –
Most Psychopaths are male, with them making up approx. 1% of the population, and are estimated to make up 50 – 80% of the prison population. Women that show high traits of Psychopathy are more likely to be diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, which along with Psychopathy, is a ‘Cluster B’ personality disorder along with Narcissism and Histrionic Personality Disorder as outlined in the Diagnostical and Statistical Manual Version 5 (DSM – 5 for short) of the American Psychiatric Association.
Psychopathy lends itself to having many different traits, all of which are useful in certain situations, and can even benefit those in certain careers (below). Most people can dial these traits down as and when they need them, but a psychopath can’t and would always have these traits on the high setting in their brains.
These are low empathy, impulsivity, calm under pressure, manipulative, charming, ruthlessness and emotionally detached and show a lack of remorse for their actions.
James Bond
This list can make for some fantastic characters and even make for some fantastic story arcs. Maybe a character is charming and loving, and then later down the line, we see that it was all manipulation to convince someone to give up their life savings, and then abandon them. Tinder Swindler, anyone?
Or maybe we have a character that is a military soldier, a warrior, who is ruthless and can cut through the enemy without a shred of remorse? A police officer who will do anything to crack the case, or a surgeon who has the steadiest hand to make that vital, life-saving cut with everything on the line?
Psychopaths make for excellent characters. They make incredibly fun heroes to write about, and add a lot more depth to the ‘bad guy.’ We can look into their childhood, in that a psychopathic person would have normally come from some kind of abusive childhood, and uses psychopathy as a way to navigate the world based off of that. It gives the character more back story. More depth.
Professor Kevin Dutton
According to psychologist Professor Kevin Dutton, most psychopaths are split into two categories. Those with high traits and a low propensity to commit violence, and those with high psychopathic traits and a higher propensity to violence.
Those that are of lower violent tendencies are more likely to be characterised by high-pressure positions, such as politicians, CEOs, police officers, lawyers and high-end athletes. These could make for some great characters and some side characters, and maybe even a villain or two in there? Maybe the villain is a top businessman of a rival company that is trying to sabotage the hero’s chances at getting their foot on the corporate ladder? Or even a detective that drinks too much and is emotionally vacant when around other people, but is ruthless and driven to catch the bad guy?
Jack Torrance - The Shining
The psychopaths that are high in psychopathic traits with a higher level of predisposition to violence would be our classical villains such as serial killers, a criminal mob boss and even a soldier that has gone rogue.
Psychopaths make for great foreshadowing opportunities too, as they can be very manipulative. In your story, you can have the psychopath dropping hints and leaving clues for the rest of the characters to find, and then when the big reveal comes later in the book, the reader can connect the dots and have the ‘Oh my god!’ moment that we all love to create when they figure it all out.
Lorna - By Jay Darkmoore
In my dark romance ‘Lorna,’ the main character in the story ‘Christian’ is a psychopath, and he will stop at nothing to not only win the heart of Lorna, his new infatuation but also kill and destroy the lives of anyone that dares stand in his way.
Order it here on kindle unlimited today.
Psychopaths are so much fun to write and can offer a lot of depth to your characters and the story. Even just highlighting certain traits outlined above and giving them to your characters can make a lot of difference to your writing.
Have fun with it and thank you for reading.
But what about other writing ideas? What about being able to break through writer’s block?
