Which is easier for you: writing kind characters or writing cruel ones?

[Kann]

Both kind and cruel characters are equally easy/hard to write for me. The real struggle is when I have to write a character, who acts totally emotionless.

[Noorie]

Truly kind characters are really hard to write, because I myself would never be able to care so much about everyone

[nathanKmcwilliams]

Cruel for sure. I love writing villains, especially ones that are over the top. But even my heroes can have cruel streaks too, they're mortal after all.

[Leverance]

I prefer to write grey characters, for me they feel often as the most humane and reletable for my readers. Take for example Tyrell from my fanfic His Obsession, he means good with what he does but he executes it in a more cruel manner (in ways I can't speak of just yet since they're major spoilers for my story).

On the other end of the spectrum I'm writing Christian Grey from Fifty Shades of Grey, he is toxic by the way he controls, stalks, and boderline rapes. Though, in my Fanfiction, Tyrell will be guide a for him.

[azzy-m]

I think they're both difficult to write for me, but writing kind characters is slightly easier. Mostly because I feel like there's a small slippery slope where your cruel character can easily become the villain, or just generally unlikable.

Cruel characters are more fun to write though. Bring in the bloodshed and angst.

[DiegoPalacios]

Those are really fun to write, the lack of emotions can lead to hillarious and/or creepy situations.

[IndigoShirtProd]

I think it's hard to write either because it's hard to make either character come off as genuine. Not only genuine but believable too. How do you write a cruel character without them coming off a hilariously antagonistic? How do you write a kind character without them coming off as duplicitous or sketchy?

I'm writing a pretty cruel character right now, and while I do think reader will dislike them, I don't know if the character will be believable.

[aqua03]

I think nice people are easier for me to write. I always get a bit uncomfortable when writing "mean" characters, especially when I need to write my protagonists. I always worry that I might go "too far" and make them come off as unlikeable and abusive in a way if that makes sense. It's something I've been trying to get better on when it comes to writing, but it's still something I'm working on.

[HarryM]

It's 1,000% harder for me to write mean characters, or even have my characters do mean things. I'm supposed to be writing jerky (ignorant of others' feelings might be more accurate) teenagers and it's just... oof. It's hard enough where I wonder if it's a failing of mine as a writer. I'm constantly grappling over whether it's punchy enough.

I always play good guys in games w/ choices, too. I just don't find being evil, "fun"?

[NickRowler]

I put cruel mostly because I like to write character which are morally ambiguous. Them being seen as good or bad is based on how other characters view them. I don't think I have ever had a character who was just a "cinnamon roll".

[Iris-Grimoire]

Kind people are so much easier. I can write jerkish or unreasonable behavior fine, but writing a character that 100% wants to hurt or is convinced themselves that hurting the other person is the right thing to do brings a lot of bad feelings from my real experiences, and in general it's something I'd never want to do myself so it's hard to even identify if they're speaking like a real person. I usually try to reference from other works to stop myself from making the absolute a-hole too mild.

[AmysGames]

I voted for kind, less because I find cruel characters difficult to write (I love writing villains), but because cruel characters also tend to coincide with character types I find more difficult to write. Certain types of criminals, for example, I have a hard time getting into the right headspace for.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

Cruel, because it's like letting out our inner desires and frustration to a character. It is like projection and wish-fulfillment, no matter how shameful it is to admit it. Sometimes, we just really want to disembowel
punch that annoying person and assert our dominance, right?

We are obligated to be nice, acceptable, and moral all of time no matter what kind of frustration and inner struggles we have. Sometimes we want a break, want a catharsis, in an appropriate way that will not get you in trouble; writing cruel character is one of the way.

To write a good kind/cruel character is its own problem, though. It needs research, empathy, and social observation skill, which I cannot do the first and lack the latter two. It is hard.

[Bree_Mana]

Lets just say theres a reason theres only 1 'cruel' character in my comic TLC, and even then I made sympathetic parts of him. I think I just have too much empathy and it seeps into my characters lol.

[Ardelvion]

Neither of them is easier to write.

Sometimes when I want my characters to be mean, I tend to turn them mean when they're not really 100% mean (I dunno if that makes sense ). The same goes for making kind characters. Sometimes I'd turn them kind when they're not really 100% kind.

I'm trying to achieve the right balance of mean and kind aspects in my characters so that they come off as authentic.

[rmdooley]

When I write villains, I'm internally saying, 'Oh, don't do that, that's mean!'

Fortunately, those characters don't listen to me

[surenlicious]

I used to be very good at writing cruel characters, but I am finding my kind character writing skills have drastically improved over the years, haha.

[Seaby]

To be honest, this thread kind of inspired me to take another look at a WIP of mine and make a character far more cruel, and it has definitely helped. I prefer to write cruel characters because I can understand their motivations better. They are selfish but open with their desires, and there's something about writing a character who is cruel not for revenge or arrogance, but because making others suffer makes them happy like nothing else.

[themerrytroll]

This is interesting.

[gmaximin]

A friend once told me:”You do good thing, but always in a way to make sure that everyone will still hate you”. Kind/cruel? Hard to tell... self centered probably.
Characters are extensions, so it’ll always be easier for me to portray characters close to my logic, and more fascinating and challenging to explore characters that are coherent, yet completely different from me.
So what I do, is I generally have my main character close to my own mental logic, and get a second role with traits I notice in others and that I don’t understand, so it keeps me engaged in my work and forces me to study that, to question and improve my writing...