>>7498930

What about a character seeking relief and it's less about pleasure and more about the release.

you could frame it more like an illness i guess, but have them acknowledge that they are "meant" to be healthy.

They know it's selfish but it's the only way to cope. Still might be a bit to pretentious.

Make them on the good side. Make them a good sociopath.

Have it so when they talk to the protagonist they come off as unhinged or distant, or if they ARE the protagonist then everyone else doesn't like the looks of them or tries to get away from them or is disturbed.

I remember reading something about how some sociopaths are better soldiers because they feel no remorse, however they still have a compass of sorts and don't want to torture or shoot innocent people because it wouldn't be constructive. Write someone like that. A constructive sociopath. Someone who only sees people as useful tools rather than playthings, and who only sides with the good guys because of his own preconceptions of efficiency and progress.

>>7499023
this is being done all over though. that's the whole james bond series dude.

write every single person in your world as an extreme sociopath and have your main character be normal and desperate to hide it. As he does more and more brutal and disgusting things he is constantly struggling internally with it, not to show or let anyone know that he is actually not like them. Eventually this massive guilt and self-revulsion leads to his saving the life of a young girl about to be routinely disembowled and consumed for a work place ritual.

Then you can just a budding sexual romance between them, make sure you state clearly over and over that she's underage. Because its just art, bro.

>>7499027
But people love James Bond. He's charismatic. My point is make a totally uncharismatic sociopath that's still on the good side.

>>7498930
Study sociopaths and sociopathic behavior. In person would be best, but idk how you'd pull that off. Just read up what you can in medical literature. Old timey medical descriptions are the best. You'll probably find something in there that will inspire a sociopathic character.

>>7498930
Do you want to write a sociopath or a psychopath?

Honestly, it'll probably come off as edgy no matter what you do.

>>7498930
Prolly by delving into their psychology and displaying their motivations in their manifestation in the subtle quirks of their behavior. Sociopaths aren't the usually the sorta people who do shocking shit like go on kill sprees; they're the sorta people who might subtly insult a person who just told them they'd been raped because they were annoyed at the trouble of having to console the victim.

The peculiar thing about them is the vacuity of their inner lives. For most non-socially deviant sociopaths, this usually gets displayed in things like their blandly apathetic reactions to emotionally stimulating situations compensated for by acting which ends up seeming a bit phony as a result of small inconsistencies (accidentally saying something emotionally tone deaf, for instance), or their casual willingness to break minor social rules (e.g. misrepresenting themselves to someone they want something from with a stunning lack of guilt or discomfort, or drunk driving). Only the really stupid or the really successful ones ever do anything that you'd think is shocking.

Source: am diagnosed. lol

>>7499532
Or .... is drunk driving a minor social rule?

...you can get arrested for it so that I guess not. That wasn't the best example. Whatever.

>>7498930
Dont write characters with set traits in mind. Just write what would feel natural for them

Don't write an incredibly intelligent, suave sociopath who effortlessly manipulates everyone around him, it's been done to death. Look up the downsides that come with this personality disorder, like a lack of impulse control, a need for stimulation, a history of delinquency, a parasitic lifestyle or trouble achieving long term goals, your character will be much more interesting if he actually has to overcome his disorder instead of writing it as a superpower. Don't make him a genius either unless it's necessary for the plot, it does not correlate with intelligence and it's boring when every autistic or sociopathic character is from the minority that have above average intelligence.

Have the other characters respond to his behaviour realistically and not perhaps with the melodrama that he's hoping for. They don't scream in terror when they find the bodies, they go quiet and grim-faced and call the police. He's not a monster, he's just a problem that needs dealing with.

>>7499044
Nigga that ain't the point. A character GOTTA be charismatic, even if he a motherfucker or behaves in a kinda annoying way. Niggas like Sherlok or fucking Sheldom cuz they find em charismatic although I cannot stand Sheldom. Same shit goes for, dunno, Verkhovensky or the cat from Master and Margarita. At less you wanna build a sociopathic ridiculous, abject character (in which case he cannot be the main one) you cannot take his charisma away. Niggas wanna read about a (main) character if he's charismatic, even if he has has annoying shit.

>>7499043
Minus the romance bit this sounds like an interesting exercise anything like this exist