Thread:Mesektet/@comment-3581997-20160615160106/@comment-3581997-20160707074749

Lets work backwards for sake of simplicity. Complete Monster shouldn't be. There are a very clear set of parameters for it. However it has been abused many times, their are people who claim snuffing their favorite cartoon characters makes someone a Complete Monster, so I suspect it is to curtail abuse only.

Don't remove anything that is essential to your story. But do no add them either. Do what feels right for the story don't worry about if you are either going too dark or being a pussy. Narrative comes first, what works best for the picture you have set? Can the behavior be validated, does the story hold together because of it? If so, keep it. But don't remove a part or thinking about upping the stakes if it does not sync up with story beats.

As for Idealistic or cynical I would suggest player to one then up ending the other, check out the Trope Angst what Angst for more examples. In Final Fantasy VIII Squall Leonhard is a constant cynic, he doesn't like socializing, he focuses entirely on what is to be done and keeps his own observations to himself. And most people can't stand Squall. Yet, the story itself upends this. As cynical as Squall is, his friends are adamant on trying to counter his cynicism and constantly deflect his moping about with either jokes, realistic points of view to give him levity. In truth the thing that fights this most is when others hopes are destroyed. Quirky manic pixie girl Sophie is constantly trying to perk Squall up, it never works, eventually her home is destroyed. Squall tries to empathize with her when he sees that the optimist in his inner circle is actually in her breaking point. In this way the main character is reformed, not through others trying to pressure him to cheer up, but rather through seeing that sometime others need him to be their for them. You can go the other way too, like Reality from South Park. Everyone is patting themselves on the back for being so progressive, then Reality marches in and reminds them of how useless they all are.

A good character is not just one trope, try character evolution, like where he starts out as a nominal hero but slips into Jerk with a Heart of Gold or starts as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and over time is pushed into the role as a nominal hero. Again, go through the points of the story and figure out, in that moment what would a person realistically do in the face of what they have gone through.

And as for lighter v darker and edgier. Do not try either, that leads to the Dark Side, that leads to Twilight levels. An author should never try to edit their own work for appealing to an audience, not unless being commissioned by an outside source. If Alfred Hitchcock pays you $1,000,000 for a macabre tale of woeful depression and he wants you to go darker and edgier, you do it, if Disney is signing the checks and they think you need to be more crowd friendly, you owe it to them to do so. But in your own story, do not worry about what the kids are goings to say. You do you, it is up to others to say how dark or light your writing is. Check your own privilege and don't let your feelings at that moment sway you, read and re-read your work. There are numerous free-writing forums clearly written by mopey goth kids who think talking about the blackness of a character's soul makes them sound deep, or perky upstarts who don't want to give anyone a bad feeling. Don't make up your mind to do either, do what works then check and re-check it to see if it works as a story, not a statement.