I am writing this cozy mystery. I have plotted the whole thing. It's a nice puzzle with red herrings, and a meandering thread of clues that point towards the real killer. Themes are also sorted out for all the subplots and they all revolve around the main idea - self-realization leads to violence. The protagonist is a woman and she is helped by another character Sanket in the investigation. I am finding it very difficult to characterize Sanket. There's no character arc for him. He is a flat character. He is incredibly competent when in the moment and very quick in thinking but he is also very impulsive. The setting is rural country, so I am not sure there are many places where he could be. Professionally he is an out of work journalist. Later on in the plot he becomes the protagonist's helper/driver. Right now, I need to set him up as an interesting character before the plot sets into action. He loves to upset people, knock them off their sanity. He is artful in doing that. He does not do it out of malice. He just wants to have his share of fun. His mother is troubled with him because he does not take their family dispute about land very seriously. This is what I thought about setting the first scene that introduces the rural setting and Sanket as a character: Sanket is at a family celebration for the naming of some child. He is mocking people relentlessly. Some people are annoyed. Some are angry. Some are amused and some are rolling on the floor. There is a wild energy here that goes on and on until the mother intervenes and curses Sanket for acting like a clown all the time and not taking matters seriously. She brings him down with resolute strength. The land dispute matter turns up and the opposite party starts taking serious offense. The party turns into a family feud. Sanket leaves. I have been going over this scene for a month now. I have no clue how to write this scene. Can someone suggest anything other than "just write". One of these days I am going to try "just write" as well. But some other advice would be nice. Thanks for reading.
It sounds like this is a good junction for Sanket to deliver his philosophy, in so many words? A chance for him to explain why he doesn't take it seriously? Even if it is just to himself. Some of these questions might guide you: https://homeschooladventure.com/blog/philosophical-questions/
He gets attracted to a woman he assists in investigating a local murder, later on in the story. His motives are primarily sexual in the narrative. She never allows him near her. He acts desperate and shameless throughout the narrative. However, the woman has not yet appeared in the story. I have to show he is nihilistic. He does not take himself very seriously. He has lost his job as a journalist in remote rural areas. He is in early twenties and wants to have fun at other people's expense.
This didn't answer my question. I'm going to rephrase what I was asking: 1. What does he want? 2. Why does he want it? 3. What is keeping him from getting it? Let's play with this for a bit. What does he want? You said his motives are primarily sexual in the narrative. So, he wants sex for fun without the consequences. Okay. Why does he want it? Does it make him feel better as a man? Does he have a sort of "love them and leave them" rockstar sort of attitude? Is he conflating sex with love? Did he peak in high school so has a Peter Pan syndrome? Is he a tinder boy? Maybe he's a virgin who wants to know what it feels like? What's his deal? What is at the root of this drive? You don't have a root problem for him to work through or choose not to work through. What is keeping him from getting it? Does he come off as creepy to girls and doesn't realize it? Is he surrounded by women who are goal-oriented so aren't going for this nonsense? Does he normally get them but this girl is just numb from a bad break-up.
This is a wholly different cultural context. Premarital sex is a taboo in this place. People don't talk about it, except among men as crude jokes. The only premarital sex is rape, which happens occasionally. This is rural country. An urban woman has travelled to these parts. Personal tastes govern her sex preferences. Our guy (Sanket) is too brash, too crude for her taste. He is sex-starved in his mid twenties, which is true for most bachelors in this rural country. Sanket isn't a virgin. He has visited prostitutes in a bigger city nearby. He liked it. No such services are available in his village. All his sexual experiences come from his own hand. He is not too imaginative. Masturbation is not fun. His need for sex has become desperate. He cannot think beyond his desire for sex. There is nothing more there other than animalistic urge. Mina (the woman) tolerates him because he is the only one who could help her free her boyfriend, who has become wrongly accused of a murder. In the course of the investigation, he makes aggressive advances towards her that she handily refuses. With plot progression he grows mellow and somehow also sublimated of his sexual desires. To answer some of your questions - Having sex would relieve him of all the sexual pressure and frustration that has built up in his body. Having sex with someone who he has not paid for it would also bolster his self-esteem. He hasn't had enough experience of sex to know what "love them, leave them" means. There's no idea of love for him. None. He peaked as a journalist a few years ago. But then he lost his job and has not had a stable income ever since. Economic conditions are bad and the novel reflects them in other ways. There's no tinder here. Girls are highly protected in family and feudal community systems lest they ruin family name. In Freudian terms, the root of this drive is pure ID. He wants that experience because he is healthy and his body biology demands it. Other rational ideas of how a cultured individual should behave are not on his mind.
He is a flat character, as I mentioned in the OP. The character with a character arc would be the woman investigating the crime. Detective characters in mystery stories are often flat characters.
What I was getting at is that if you want to make him have a story arc, then you need a different character setup. What you have here is a character who you have narratively pardoned and excused of all responsibility for his actions by "He wants that experience because he is healthy and his body biology demands it." You can't fault a creature for acting on instinct. So, for starters, you need to tear up this Freudian hall pass to do whatever he wants. He's not acting because "his body demands it", but because he chooses to. And then you have to present this character with a choice or opportunity to change. There has to come a moment somewhere where he has an opportunity to do things differently. Now, whether he does or not is up to him, but it needs to be a CHOICE and not this "oh his body demands it."
Okay, instead of 'just write' I'll say 'just don't write.' It's a mere development scene. One month is far too long to spend on it without moving on. Write the rest of the book then come back to it with more ideas. As far as how to write it, that's a broad question. Given this is the character development forum, are you unsure of how he would act and his general mannerisms? Or are you having trouble identifying what component is missing? Either way, just move on and write everything else first.
One idea occurred to me as I was reading the top post. You wrote: The thought that occurred to me, and I think this would make him interesting, is that he discovers while messing with people that it helps him see things about them that he wouldn't otherwise, and he suddenly realizes that this could help solve a case, by discovering secret motivations of the suspects maybe. I'm thinking of people like Jim Morrisson of the Doors, and the character Gregory House on House MD, both of whom like to test people in various uncomfortable ways, to find their limits they they don't even know about yet. House does it partly just because he enjoys pushing people and making them uncomfortable, but his reasoning, if someone asks, is along the lines that when he learns deep things about them it can help him solve the medical mystery they were sent to him to solve (he's basically the Sherlock Holmes of medical mysteries). Maybe it's before his mother gets mad at him, or maybe not until later, that he realizes his natural desire to push people and test their limits might help him solve a case. I don't know if that counts as a little bit of character growth, or maybe a step toward maturity, but from that point on he could remain a flat character. I think readers seeing that moment of growth would make him interesting.
Thanks for that. I needed to hear this. How about this: He is down and low. He once had a job in a bigger town. Now he is stuck in a rural place. He has grown bigger than the place. People don't understands him here and he understands that. Lack of money drove him back to the village. He cons people for money. He mocks the smallness of rural life and resents that he was once satisfied in this setting. He thinks people around him are like cattle and they need to be shocked to wake up to their social and economic realities. When he sees Mina, he understands that she would not help him professionally. But if he could woo her romantically, who knows what might happen. You are right, sexual desperation is a rather limited way of looking at the character. I was not able to think about him at all. But this still leaves my question unanswered. He is irritated with rural life. And he talks a lot. It is hard for him to hold back his talking. This will be a part of his character development later on. How do I show that? How deep do I have to dig in the lives of people around him to make him look like a nihilistic disruptor of life?
I am unsure how he would act and his general mannerisms. The break-up for the scene's action is Sanket makes people laugh at someone's expense. Then another person, then another person. He also laughs at himself. His mother intervenes, publicly complaining about him. She is unaffected by his antics. Sanket gets annoyed and leaves the place. Someone offers him a driver's job for two tourists from a metropolitan city.
To get the ball rolling, you might want another character to incite the jester. This conceited instigator will posture or make a demand at someone else's expense. He could come across as offering either well-meaning or demeaning charity by means of a job to the unemployed Sanket, something like that. After Sanket hurts the big man's ego, someone else decides to chip in a mild admonishment. Sanket offers a biting retort. This pleases some and annoys others. It could spiral out of control from there almost like a bar fight (or a dramatic Thanksgiving dinner). I think you're on the right track here. Open secrets: x is having an affair with y, z clearly doesn't have the talent to be an actress, a is stretching his ground beef with mystery meat, b is going to lose his house because he sunk all his money into a stupid business opportunity that's "just about to take off." For the sake of social lubrication, we know not to bring these things up, but Sanket is different. As far as how he acts and speaks, that will come as you write his scenes. You can just prototype his lines for now. Put something lame but serviceable in, then update it as his character becomes more established in your mind.
I like your idea that he discovers things by making them uncomfortable. However, he is also trapped in his social class. The people to investigate belong to a higher social class. He proves himself stupid there. It's a learning experience for him but it does not change him.
