{"id":7022,"date":"2024-07-09T14:25:40","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T13:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.novlr.org\/?p=7022"},"modified":"2024-07-22T20:52:05","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T19:52:05","slug":"how-do-i-write-a-morally-gray-serial-killer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.novlr.org\/the-reading-room\/how-do-i-write-a-morally-gray-serial-killer\/","title":{"rendered":"How do I write a morally gray serial killer?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’m writing a character who is a serial killer but not willingly if that makes sense. Like, she kills once she finds herself in a murder or be murdered type of situation.. just wondering if you have any tips for writing such a complex character who kills but feels bad about it before, during and after the fact. <\/em>

She doesn’t enjoy the act of murder. She doesn’t get off on it. She simply kills so she can survive.<\/em><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is a topic very close to my heart! I have a bachelor\u2019s degree in criminal justice and a master\u2019s degree in forensic psychology, both from accredited U.S. institutions. No fictional murder best-sellers under my belt, but it\u2019s a topic I know a lot about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, people kill for reasons that aren\u2019t nefarious. There\u2019s the cut-and-dry self defense (\u201cit\u2019s me or them\u201d), the culmination of years of abuse, or sometimes it\u2019s completely an accident (which is called \u201cinvoluntary manslaughter\u201d). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Murder mysteries and thrillers are top-notch reads and go hand-in-hand with pop culture\u2019s fascination with true crime. But what goes into writing an accidental serial killer, or one that\u2019s more upstanding than you\u2019d think? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Define your morals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In order to establish morally gray, you\u2019ve got to set the good and evil boundaries within the world you\u2019re writing<\/a>. Is it a modern-day story, where a cold-blooded killer is the evil one and a person defending themselves against an attacker is the good one? Or is it a more intricate fantasy or science fiction setting, where the laws and morals aren\u2019t quite the same?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The important part of writing a morally gray character, in general, is establishing the normal bounds of morality in your story world and then placing the character\u2019s values somewhere in the middle. They\u2019re not looking to hunt other people for fun<\/em>, but the act also wasn\u2019t a noble defense or socially acceptable resolution to the problem. I think that\u2019s the hardest part, building enough plausibility and setting up empathy for the character\u2019s actions while still writing them as a \u2018villain<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vigilante<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The easiest example of a morally gray killer is the vigilante. Typically, their motive comes from a righteous or judicial point of view, and they\u2019re killing the \u201cevil\u201d ones. These types are taking out drug dealers, abusers, or anyone committing what they consider to be egregious or immoral acts. They perform bad actions to do good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doing bad things for good reasons is often considered \u201clawful evil\u201d, wherein a character is still following rules but they\u2019re doing so in a \u2018bad\u2019 way. That circles us back to the beginning; there should still be a compelling reason for their actions. That\u2019s what pushes their assigned morality back from \u2018black\u2019 into the \u2018gray zone\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crossing the lines<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Consider what factors or events\u200c would persuade a character to act in a worse or better way as a one-off circumstance, or a trigger that sways their actions. Perhaps they won\u2019t kill parents, no matter what brought them into that position; maybe violence against women will often trigger a violent episode. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gray, on the moral scale, has the obligation to be interesting \u2014 so don\u2019t think too hard about staying within neutral territory. Swing one way or the other occasionally with good narrative build-up and support to really bring out the character\u2019s individuality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if it\u2019s always an accident?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Maybe your character is frequently caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, but they always manage to come out on top. What do you do then?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s first necessary to define a serial killer. Definitionally, a serial killer is a person that commits multiple murders. Murder<\/em> being the key word \u2014 it must<\/em> be on purpose for the act to fall on that definition. Otherwise it’s manslaughter (which is an incidental death where even if harm was meant, death<\/em> was not). <\/em>I can\u2019t stress this enough: by definition, you can\u2019t have a serial killer whose only kills were in self-defense or accidental<\/strong>. Your character must<\/em> progress to proactive murder on more than one occasion for them to be considered a serial killer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, that\u2019s not to say you can\u2019t have other characters (or even their inner monologue) refer<\/em> to them as a serial killer. Social knowledge rarely sees eye-to-eye with legal or academic terms and definitions. I just caution you against using \u2018serial killer\u2019 in marketing material or descriptive collateral, if this is the case. It is a technically inaccurate descriptor, and someone waiting for that switch from accidental to purposeful is going to be sorely disappointed when it never happens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It could, however, be a great plot device to start there and explore the character\u2019s evolution from unfortunate events to intentional murder. Maybe they were targeted for multiple violent crimes, and one day decided to be proactive and preemptively solve their problem (via murder, of course). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avoid the Angel of Death<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While a vigilante may be a good character type for the morally gray serial killer, the Angel of Death is not. This type of killer is looking for personal gratification by taking someone\u2019s life into their own hands. More often than not, the Angel of Death is looking to make themselves a hero by saving the day, and the deaths are secondary (and a sign of their failure). I\u2019ll admit that the line between \u201cpersonal gratification\u201d and \u201cjustice\u201d can be a thin one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The important distinction to keep in mind here are the moral definitions you\u2019ve created: I can\u2019t argue that an Angel of Death is serving any higher purpose than their own desire to cause situations where they might be a hero. It\u2019s like hiring a hitman to take out a target, but intercepting the hitman just in time to save the target. The entire situation is at the mercy of the character; there\u2019s no justice in the actions, no redeeming qualities. They don\u2019t feel bad for sending the hitman \u2014 the outcome was planned from the start. And if they can\u2019t beat the hitman? Oh well, better luck next time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Convincing the reader that the protagonist has a good (\u201cenough\u201d) reason for their actions is key to achieving the moral middle ground. A reasonable, morally upstanding person probably won\u2019t resort to the character\u2019s actions, but they understand how the thought process could bring them where they are. The Angel of Death is fabricating the entire situation; a morally gray killer should be working towards a goal, or acting on a strong reason. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The morally gray serial killer isn\u2019t looking to win anyone over, or get a standing ovation for their good deeds. They\u2019re killing for a reason \u2014 a reason that wouldn\u2019t normally drive someone to kill, but the reader can see how they got from point A to point B in the thought process. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m writing a character who is a serial killer but not willingly if that makes sense. Like, she kills once she finds herself in a murder or be murdered type of situation.. just wondering if you have any tips for writing such a complex character who kills but feels bad about it before, during and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":7060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"1280","footnotes":""},"categories":[108,24],"tags":[67,28],"class_list":["post-7022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ask-novlr","category-writing-tips","tag-character-development","tag-writing-tips","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nHow do I write a morally gray serial killer? | The Novlr Reading Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn to write a complex morally gray serial killer, including defining morals, motives, and evolving from accidental to intentional actions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.novlr.org\/the-reading-room\/how-do-i-write-a-morally-gray-serial-killer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How do I write a morally grey serial killer?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Got Creative Writing Questions? 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