Writing [Tutorial] Building the DUEL-NATURED Character

[OokamiKasumi]

Coming up with a character such as; a werewolf who is human half the time, a half-demon, a half-turned vampire day walker, a half-fey, or other half-human-half-something else, is easy. Balancing such a character with the REST of your Cast and your Plot is something else entirely.​

Before you read further! Please read this First!

[Tutorial] When the Hero is NOT a Hero
Protagonist & Antagonist: A Different Opinion

Many of the terms I use, and WHY I use them, are explained here.


Art by Ayame Kojima

Building the Dual-Natured Character

DISCLAIMER: This is a trick I use to build my characters. If you don't want to use my trick, that's fine. If you Do, that's fine too. There are No Rules on how one should build their own characters. This is merely an Option you can use.
​

What makes writing Duel-Natured characters Tricky, is that half-human characters have Two Natures they must operate under -- the Human Nature and the Monster Nature -- each with their own Urges and Drives.

If you do your character right, those two natures OPPOSE each other, and either Compliment or Counteract the natures of your other characters.

THIS is how I do it.

There are Three Essential Characters in Every Story--​

You can tell any story with ONLY these Three Characters; perhaps not with any real detail, but you could still do the entire basic plot-line.

Adversary – The one causing all the trouble.
Proponent – The one trying to keep things the way they are.
Ally – The one trapped between them, (that neither listens to.)

--And each essential character is governed by
One of three specific Urges, or DRIVES:


MOTIVE: Driven by a REASON to get involved.
"I will make something happen."

ACTION: Driven by a need to ACT.
"I must do something about what's happening."

EMOTION: Driven by an EMOTIONAL Reaction.
"Something is happening!"

There may be any number of side characters, but in traditional Adventures and Romances of every stripe, the main conflict is always a triangle of these complimentary opposite DRIVES.

Just to make things Truly confusing,
the Hero, the Ally, and the Villain can be any one of them!​

EXAMPLES:

In ‘Leon – the Professional’,​

Leon is a very action-driven professional assassin Ally Hero bothered into taking in his motive-driven and Adversarial Heroine who was looking for a safe haven from a very emotionally-driven and impulsive Proponent Villain cop.​

​

In ‘Tomb Raider’​

Lara Croft is an action-driven Proponent Heroine with emotionally-driven impulsive Allies and Adversarial Villain-paramours that are usually, if not always, motive-driven.​

​

In ‘Robin Hood Prince of Thieves’,​

the Sheriff of Nottingham plays the impulsive Emotionally-Driven Proponent Villain to Robin Hood’s motive-driven Adversarial Hero. Maid Marian is an action-driven Ally Heroine.​

​

In ‘The Crow’,​

Eric Draven is the very motive-driven Adversarial Hero who goes after the action-driven Proponent Villain merely trying to keep his little kingdom of crime under control. The little girl Nell, is Eric’s impulsive emotionally-driven Ally Heroine, who gets caught in the cross-fire, like any other side-kick.​

Why does this matter?

A Dual-Natured character should possess TWO DRIVES.
One for each side of their Nature.

Man literally against Himself​

When a character is at war against their inner-nature, you treat both their likeable nature, and their unlikable nature, as separate drives, separate URGES that are damned near separate entities.

Pick any two drives: Motive / Action / Emotion.

Example: your typical Werewolf

• Outer Persona – Emotionally Driven to Protect (Likable)
• Inner Nature – Action Driven to Destroy (Unlikable)

Example: Honorable Villain

• Outer Persona - Motive Driven to enact his Revenge plan. (Unlikable)
• Inner Nature - Emotionally Driven to save his friends. (Likable)

Example: Evil Hero

• Outer Persona - Action Driven to be a celebrated Hero. (Likable)
• Inner Nature - Motive Driven to take control of the world -- because no one can keep control of things as well as he can. (Unlikable)

Additionally, to provide BALANCE to the story, the other two main characters should participate in bringing attention to the drive/personality split.

Companion Character:
Represents what the character Wants,
(and likes about themselves.)

Opposition Character:
Represents what the character Desires,
(but despises about themselves.)​

This technique however, is Not for the faint of heart.

You have to design the characters as a set, then arrange the plot to show off how the characters interact with each other.

Finally, by the End of the story, you have to find solutions to each of the characters problems -- not just the Duel-natured Character's.

This is IN ADDITION to the story's actual Plot Goal.

Art by Ayami Kojima

Duality =
Main Conflict in the Character Arc​

In a story where a character’s opposing nature (Outer Persona verses Inner-Nature,) is heavily pronounced -- enough so, that two opposing drives are necessary to express this split in personality, the character and his battle with his inner nature overpowers the story – and in fact BECOMES the story.

Regardless of what other Plot you have going on in the story, once you split their natures into Two Drives, your character’s “duality” becomes the story’s CORE ISSUE (the PREMISE,) Man vs Himself.

Resolving that “duality” that division in their nature becomes the story’s main conflict.

Hint: The Character assumes the THIRD DRIVE (Action / Motive / Emotion) to resolve their split.

Werewolf serum From VanHelsing

The CURE -- or Not?​

-----Original Message-----
What about finding a "cure" for the duel-natured character, like a serum for a werewolf?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can do that if you want to, but all your readers are going to scream "Cop-Out!" and "Deus ex Machina!" at you. This is because that's exactly what a miracle "cure" to Fix a duel-nature IS -- or any character half way to monster-hood, for that matter.

THIS is why you Don't wanna do that:

Duel-Natures in Fiction are symbolic of a Psychological Issue – Not a Physical Issue.
Especially if part of their duel-nature is that of a Monster.

​

Every monster you can think of is in actuality, a symbol of a Psychological Issue from the dark side of the psyche.

• Ghosts = Memories that ‘haunt’
• Cryptids = Victims that come back for revenge
• Vampires = Manipulative Male Sexuality
• Witches = Manipulative Female Sexuality
• Sorcerers & Scientists = Control: either loss of, or excessive control
• Werewolves = Passions that Consume
• Faeries = Inability to fit in with society. This is why Urban Faeries tend to have a ‘punk’ look to them.
• Demons = One of the Seven Deadly Sins
• Angels = One of the Seven Heavenly Virtues taken to extremes.
• Monsters in general = Destruction

What? So, I read a lot of Carl Jung, Wilhelm Reich, Robert Anton Wilson, and Timothy Leary.

One does Not CURE a Psychological Issue.
One learns to ADJUST to it.
(and seeks counseling for support with those adjustments.)
​

This is a Fact:

• There are No medicinal Cures for Psychological Issues.

Medicine and Prescriptions Can Not FIX psychological issues, they merely SUPPRESS the Symptoms.

Every single one of your readers that are on medication for psychological issues KNOWS THIS, and they will ream you in the comments if you get this wrong.

For example, I was pissed as all Hell when that damned serum showed up in the movie VanHelsing. I knew right then and there that I was about to be cheated of a strong and Satisfying ending.

There is only ONE satisfactory Answer to a split in Nature/Personality:
Acceptance and INTEGRATION.
The only other option is madness and death.

NOT a Cure. Says so on the bottle.

You can still have the characters search for a cure! ​

Just be aware that 'The search for a Cure' is a (symbolic) delay tactic – something the character does to Run Away from his ISSUE rather than face it.

A character’s “Dual Nature” should be written as
Two Necessary halves, that need to come together to defeat the bad guy.

In fact the two halves of a personality split MUST integrate
if you are to deliver a Satisfying ending.​

A CURE should be used precisely the same way a medical cure is used for any psychological issue: as a Delay Tactic to Avoid the Issue by Suppressing the Issue.

On the flip-side!

The application of a Cure can be used as symbolic proof of the character's FAILURE
to Control and Integrate their Duel-Natures.

However, readers will still complain. I definitely would.

VanHelsing

FAILURE and the CURE​

In the movie “Van Helsing” the Premise: “Man vs. Monster” demanded that the answer be: “Control”.

Gabriel was changed into a werewolf; a symbol of a complete lack of control over himself, plus everything Gabriel suppressed within himself.

He went from Action-Driven Hero to Emotion-Driven Monster, which was necessary to defeat the Motive-Driven Villain, a vampire.

Logically, (plot-wise,) Gabriel should have gained self-control over his second nature; becoming Motive-driven to maintain control over himself, and thus remained a werewolf, albeit able to transform at will - gaining the prize of Controlled Fury -- and the girl.

However, after his battle, he was unable to come to terms with his “emotional” nature.

He failed to gain Control over his Temper, and Killed his Heroine, symbol of everything he Could have had – acceptance and love.

She forgave him, (as a ghost,) but that did not change the fact that he had Failed to Accept Himself.

The movie’s writer had no intention of killing off his character, so a remorseful suicidal cliff-dive was right out.

Instead, Gabriel was given the Werewolf Serum and cured. This “cure” being a blatant flag that Gabriel needed to face this same issue again, later in the story.

However, the movie Ended THERE, with Gabriel exactly the same way he was at the beginning, remorseful and REPRESSED.

I was Not Pleased. 0 Satisfaction. I do Not recommend.


Just to keep things rounded...

The Old Man & The Sea by Hemmingway

Man against Nature​

A “man against nature” tale, is in fact a “man against himself” story.

The Nature elements, that the character is “in opposition” with, are Symbolic Representations of the Opposing Drives within the character.

Case in point: ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ by Hemmingway

• Old Man – Motive driven to fish.
• Ocean / Weather – Constantly in motion, this is the Symbol of the man’s opposing drive of Action. (Fishing takes inaction and patience.)
• Shark – This is the Symbol of the old man’s impulsive Emotional drive to Survive. This is the drive he must adopt to live.

Man against Man​

When you have two opposing Duel-Natured characters: Proponent, and Adversary, you give each character opposing Duel Drives and additionally, opposite aspects of the third (left-over) drive as a Sub-drive.

The movie, Ravenous is about Cannibals in the mid-1800's. It takes place in a remote cavalry post in the desolate Sierra Madres mountains shortly after the Mexican-American War.

Proponent – Captain Boyd
-- Labelled a war hero, but in fact a complete and unashamed coward. Boyd pretended to be a corpse to escape being killed on the battlefield -- like everyone else in his platoon. It worked, he lived, but he had to crawl out from under a pile of corpses to do it. Filled with unknown and unexpected strength and vigor, he picked up a gun and shot every man in his path. Accidentally conquering the Mexican base all by himself.

Unfortunately, he came back with a terrible craving for human flesh.

• Emotion Driven: Ruled by Fear of his Appetite.
• Motive Driven: Determined to Control his new Appetite.
  • Sub-drive: Action Driven in the aspect of Refusal to Act. He refuses to eat any kind of meat at all.

Adversary – Calhoun
-- On first appearance, he is a survivor from a group of settlers that got lost and trapped in the mountains by the deep snows while trying to cross them.

"I said, we ran out of food. I didn't say there was nothing to eat."

Calhoun is a cannibal by choice -- a wendigo according to Native American lore. He originally ate to cure his Consumption, but enjoyed the effects so much, he continued to so. However he's at the point where he can't control his appetite at all.

Calhoun then discovers that Boyd has the same appetite he does, and becomes determined to make Boyd surrender to it.

• Motive Driven: Creates lavish plans to Feed his Appetites.
• Emotion Driven: Ruled by Loneliness. Wants companions to Eat with.
  • Sub-drive: Action Driven in the aspect of taking every opportunity to Act. Will kill and eat anyone he can catch.

The post commander hears Calhoun's sob story about lost settlers in the mountains, and becomes determined to go rescue them.

This turns out to be a trap.

Calhoun was not a lost settler, but the Colonel who led the settlers into the snowy mountains -- to eat them.

To survive, Boyd is forced (by starvation,) to switch his drives around.

• Emotion Driven: Ruled by Fear of Death
• Action Driven: Acts to survive and escape. He finally eats -- a dead soldier that was trapped with him, and gains the strength needed to escape.
  • Sub-drive: Motive Driven: Determined to Save Others. He was determined to report the truth about Calhoun.

However Calhoun made it back to the post long before Boyd did, and already contacted Boyd's superiors. Very soon the post is going to be filled to the brim with new soldiers and wagon trains full of fresh new juicy settlers.

Calhoun even discusses with Boyd how he plans to be choosy about who he eats.

Realizing that absolutely no one would believe him about the well-liked and influential Colonel, Boyd decides that Calhoun has to die. Unfortunately for the coward, no one at that post was even close to being capable of overpowering the powerful cannibal. Boyd has to do it himself.

To kill Calhoun, Boyd switched Drives again.

• Motive Driven: Motivated to kill Calhoun, Boyd creates a deadly trap.
• Action Driven: He Acts to kill Calhoun and himselfat the same time.
  • Sub-drive: Emotion Driven: He is terrified of becoming the monster Calhoun is, but there Is No Cure for this appetite he has, and it's getting more uncontrollable by the day. Death is his only escape.

To set a trap for Calhoun, who is stronger, smarter, and faster than he is, Boyd uses himself as bait.

Calhoun did not switch Drives to deal with Boyd.

He didn't see any reason to because he simply couldn't see Boyd as a legitimate threat. He figured that Boyd was too much of a coward to even try.

He was convinced that if he force-fed Boyd enough human meat, Boyd's appetite would take over and he'd see things Calhoun's way. They could even be companions!

He never realized that Boyd's growing appetite had made him suicidal, so never saw Boyd's trap coming.

The Villain's Inability to Change
is why the Villain LOSES to the Hero.​

In Conclusion:

I originally created this technique to mesh my Duel-Natured Character with my other Characters then my Plot. Hopefully, this will give you ideas on how to work with your cast of characters too.

 

[PancakesWitch]

okay, we get it, you like castlevania