Implied Mental Instability, too much vs. too little

[Jester85]

So I have a character, eventually the primary villain (or at least the endgame "big bad" whose defeat climaxes the series essentially), who is unique from my other villains in that he basically starts out decent and normal (for the most part) and has a gradual descent into madness and evil over the course of the series.

This also makes him a tricky and complicated character.

He starts out a family man, wife and son, who truly loves his family a huge amount. My view of him is he always has underlying "issues" (hinted abusive childhood, love/hate relationship with Dad, suffers from depression and takes part in extremely dangerous canyon races after Dad's death with hinted subconscious death wish), but it's all underlying and on the surface he's a fairly normal and decent guy. Truly loves his wife and son to death, etc.

Through a tragic series of events, his family is wiped away in a way that leads him to hold my race of reptilian militarists responsible. To keep it a fairly short synopsis, he has an arc of brokenhearted aimless wanderer who comes across some people and through a series of events evolves into a rebel helping the oppressed fight for freedom from the reptiles, but again through a series of events, he ends up going way overboard and losing the moral compass (albeit a slightly distorted one) he started with and just ends up a psychopathic terrorist who cares about nothing but his obsession with vengeance and is using the people he once really wanted to help as his cannon fodder and chess pieces.

I want the reader to feel his journey, to sympathize with his initial loss, to root for him for a while, to feel sorrow when he goes down his dark path, and to be able to still semi-sympathize with his increasingly warped behavior until he's just too far gone to be on his team anymore.

A "tragic villain", you could say.

My question comes back to the earlier family scenes fleshing him out. Like I said, the idea is there's a couple wires crossed down in there, under the surface, but he's a fairly normal decent guy until the loss of his family brings the underlying mental instability bursting out.

Any tips on too much versus too little? I don't want him to seem too kooky to where you don't get the transformation he goes through and reduce the emotional effect of him starting as a fairly good guy, but I also want the reader to be aware he has ways in which he's not 100% "right" all along, and this madness doesn't totally come out of nowhere.

Specifically, he has anger issues, if that gives a clearer idea. Like, he can flare up into hot anger at the drop of a hat sometimes, beyond what the provocation was worth, and his wife is always the one who can easily soothe him and calm him down (until she's not there to be the anchor for his sanity anymore). This later evolves into full-blown psychotic blind rages where he does horrifying things at times.

I know this is a little vague and rambling. I guess I'm just seeking any character development $.02 and do's and don't you guys can offer.

 

[RoninJedi84]

I don't have a lot of experience to draw on (still hammering away at my 1st novel attempt), but I've heard it said many times that the best villains - especially tragic villains, as you say - genuinely believe they're doing the right thing.

Think Anakin Skywalker...with a better actor, of course.

As far as developing the character, there are many here more well-versed than me, but as I reader I would say flashes of his anger, hints at early trauma that brought on these issues, etc., would be one way to go. The flashes and hints could then slowly build in frequency and intensity, I'm sure you get the idea.

I'm not much of a Stephen King fan (blasphemy, I know), but I'd recommend picking up Gerald's Game if you don't have it - you can find it at most book stores for around $7. I'm currently reading for the 2nd time after about a 15 year gap, and...







********SPOILER ALERT************







...while the situation is different from what you're describing, King does an excellent job of presenting us with a normal, decent, middle-aged woman on a retreat with her husband. We then get to watch as circumstances lead to the accidental murder of her husband, as well as the madness that unfolds within her mind - some of it in brief, intense flashes, and some gradually throughout the novel, with a nice ebb and flow across the spectrum.

Apologies for not having more to offer. Hope that at least got a few creative juices flowing. Good luck!

 

[alchemist]

Sounds like you've got it covered, Jester. If you are going to show anger, maybe make sure he's aware of the effect it has on others, and regrets it, so the reader doesn't lose sympathy for him.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I think a lot of it is about how close you write to him. If we're in his head, we'll be more inclined to understand. Ronin's point about King is a good one - The Shining is another example, and one that King talked about recently in terms of how Kubrick portrayed the characters in the film (cold) against how King wrote them (warm and close). The horror in the Shining book isn't the axeman etc, it's the disintegration of the mind and how close we're held to that.

 

[mosaix]

I think you could emphasise simple things that irritate him that other people wouldn't think twice about. 'drop of a hat' is the way you describe it but perhaps you could give some examples in the story. Often this is seen as OCD in people - things have to be 'just so'. Some examples from every day life (these may not be relevant to your story but may give you some ideas) - shoes have to be exactly in a straight line, he gets dressed exactly in the same way every day (lots of us do this BTW) so his clothes have to be in exactly the same place each morning, his food has to be prepared in a specific way.

Other OCD traits relate to cleanliness - obsessive washing, can't stand the slightest dirt (especially relevant if he's got kids), obsessive about his health.

These are just some ideas, the point is to take fairly normal day-to-day activity and turn it ever so slightly into something that makes people think twice about the character.

 

[hopewrites]

I heard an amusing anecdote from someone's childhood.

While they were quite young, their father worked with some rather rough characters. When he would get frustrated he would say "I'll rip your lungs out and wear them for a hat" He said it so often that one day this little girl, all prim and proper, saw he was getting frustrated and before he could growl out his usual catch phrase she said "Yes yes Daddy. You'll rip my lungs out and wear them for a hat. I know." then finished up what she was about, gave his stunned face a kiss, and went about being a child at play.
He never said it again.

I think if you show it in little things like that. Letting the roughness of those around him infiltrate his language and then thoughts and then actions.
I mean, suppose the man from my anecdote didnt have a daughter to show him what he sounded like? When the phrase became worn out, so part of him that it held no more meaning, would it be discarded? or taken to the next level? Would he eventually wear hats made from lungs, or more probably rib-cadges? This is an extreme example, but I think it roughly sketches out the kind of decent you are looking for.

 

[monsterchic]

I'm going to echo Mosaix. There's another thread about character description and the same thing is said there. I'd write small details--big enough people would notice, but small enough it doesn't overwhelm the rest of the story. Depending on what type of mental illness he has, there are many ways to show it. If it is a diagnose-able illness, of course. If so, psychology textbooks are great resources (I recommend Experience Psychology by Laura King). If not, just small details to show he's off.

 

[Tecdavid]

Springs makes a good point regarding closeness. We, the readers, will be able to see how his madness affects him if we can to see into his thoughts. While an omniscient narrative might describe a madman's actions for what they are (eg: insane and monstrous), a close narrative will essentially reflect a madman's thought process, and describe his mad acts in a way that attempts to justify them. The way he would attempt to justify them. That's much better for trying to keep him sympathetic.

 

[tinkerdan]

I've seen this done well and I've seen it done poorly.

The path to insanity is open to everyone. And with that in mind there need only be a few character flaws and some horrific experience or at the very least a perceived horror.

And once again I can recommend:

Castles: A Fictional Memoir of a girl with Scissors by Benjamin X Wretlind

as a fair example of a decent to madness.

or:

Brain on Fire:My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

For a real account of the insidiousness of how madness might creep up on anyone.