There’s something fascinating about a character who makes the wrong decision.
Not the villain who wakes up every morning determined to ruin someone’s life. Not the hero who always knows exactly what to do. I’m talking about the people somewhere in between. The ones who love deeply, make mistakes, keep secrets, hurt people, and sometimes spend the rest of their lives living with the consequences.
Those are the characters I find myself drawn to.
Because people are complicated.
And I think our stories should be too.
The Problem With Perfect Characters
I’ve never been particularly interested in writing perfect people.
Perfect people don’t make for especially interesting stories. They always say the right thing, make the right choice, recognize their mistakes immediately, and somehow manage to navigate life’s worst moments without doing anything they’ll regret.
I don’t know many people like that.
Real people make decisions based on what they know at the time. Sometimes they’re frightened. Sometimes they’re angry. Sometimes they’re convinced they’re doing the right thing only to discover later how wrong they were.
And sometimes they know they’re making a terrible choice.
They make it anyway.
Those are the moments that interest me most as a writer.
Not because I necessarily agree with the decision, but because I want to understand what brought someone to that point.
Understanding Isn’t the Same as Forgiving
One of the things I love about writing darker fiction is exploring the difference between understanding someone’s actions and excusing them.
A character can have a painful history and still be responsible for the harm they cause.
They can love someone and still hurt them.
They can make one terrible decision that changes the course of several lives, even if everything they do afterward is an attempt to make things right.
I don’t believe every character needs redemption.
I don’t believe every apology deserves forgiveness
And I certainly don’t believe every love story needs to end with two people riding off into the sunset.
Sometimes the consequences are permanent.
Sometimes love isn’t enough.
And sometimes the most meaningful thing a character can do is acknowledge what they’ve done without expecting anyone to make it better.
The Stories That Stay With Us
Think about the books you’ve read that stayed with you long after you turned the final page.
Was it because everyone behaved perfectly?
Or was it because someone made a choice you couldn’t stop thinking about?
Maybe you understood why they did it, even though you wished they hadn’t.
Maybe you spent half the book wanting to shake some sense into them.
Maybe you loved a character you weren’t entirely sure you should have.
I think those uncomfortable feelings are part of what makes fiction powerful.
Stories give us the opportunity to explore decisions and consequences from a distance. We can step inside someone else’s thoughts, understand their fears, recognize their contradictions, and still disagree with what they choose to do.
We don’t have to approve of a character to care about what happens to them.
Writing the Uncomfortable Parts
As an author, there are moments when I know exactly what a character is about to do, and I wish they wouldn’t.
I’ve spent hours developing their personalities, understanding their motivations, and figuring out what matters most to them.
I know the consequences waiting on the other side of a particular decision.
But changing that decision simply because I want a happier outcome would sometimes mean changing who the character is.
And that’s where writing gets difficult.
There’s a difference between giving characters what they want and allowing them to make choices that feel true to who they are.
Sometimes those choices lead somewhere beautiful.
Sometimes they lead straight into disaster.
And occasionally, they leave me staring at my laptop wondering why I insist on doing this to myself.
Apparently, writing complicated fictional people is my idea of a good time.
Somewhere Between Right and Wrong
I don’t write darker stories because I think the world is entirely cruel.
I write them because I believe people are more complicated than the labels we give them.
Good people can do terrible things.
People who’ve done terrible things can still experience love, grief, loyalty and regret.
None of those feelings erase the harm they’ve caused.
But they do make them human.
And humanity, in all its messy, contradictory, occasionally infuriating glory, is what interests me most.
So I’ll keep writing characters who make questionable decisions.
I’ll keep exploring the consequences.
I’ll keep allowing them to be imperfect, uncomfortable and sometimes impossible to forgive.
Because the stories that interest me most aren’t always about good people defeating bad people.
Sometimes they’re about what happens when the difference isn’t nearly as simple as we’d like it to be.
And sometimes, the most important part of a story isn’t the choice itself.
It’s everything that comes afterward.
A Question for Readers
Do you prefer characters you can root for without hesitation, or are you drawn to morally complicated characters who sometimes make you question your own feelings about them?
I’d love to know.
Until next time,
— L.A. Keane ♥
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