One of the greatest things about writing, is that you have the chance to try and understand a wide variety of people. The heroes, the villains, the interesting side characters. Why do people act the way they do? Make the decisions they do?
Asking these questions is important when writing, and even in real life. People rarely do things (unless they're just being silly or zany) without a purpose or reason. Bullies are often miserable with themselves, or their lives. They don't go around trying to make others miserable because they are happy people.
In my opinion, the best written villains are ones who are passionate about something they believe in, but have lost their ability to clearly see when they have crossed the line. These characters are believable because they exist in real life. It's difficult at times to see where a line is between what's right and wrong. People have different perspectives about things, and once you find out about both perspectives, it makes you think more. Areas seem to be more grey instead of having a clear-cut easy answer.
Writing reminds me a little of being an actor. A writer needs to be able to understand the motivations of their characters--good and bad--in order to do them justice. When you know what your character wants or needs the most, what they are afraid of most, and what they are willing to sacrifice to attain or protect their needs/wants, your characters can start almost taking on lives of their own. You'll have a better idea of how they would act and react in certain situations because of those three pieces of knowledge.
People are complex. Imagine that people are a 20-sided die, otherwise known as a D20. What people see of you at any given time is just 1/20th of you as a person (just an estimate for visualization purposes). The same is true for everyone around you. You've probably seen people behave differently around other people. Sometimes those people seem fake, other times it's just that they are showing a different side of themselves. Written characters should also have multiple sides, though perhaps not 20 since that could be confusing. We only usually show a few sides at any given moment.
Imagine your characters are a D20. Which side of themselves are they showing, and why? This is applicable to writing as well as real life. Everyone has a story, even side characters, or the quiet people at school who keeps to themselves.
Do you have the heart of a writer? What's your favorite thing about writing?
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