How to turn a bad guy into a good guy, with Damon Salvatore

Here’s the next post in this series where I discuss TV shows and movies and the knowledge that we can gain from watching them. We can apply that knowledge to our writing. As always, I never pretend to be an expert. I just like exploring my own thoughts on the matter as I write these blog posts! I welcome all comments and would love to hear what you think about this topic.

Make sure you check out my previous post, titled, “How to write a dynamic character arc, with Caroline Forbes.”

It’s been a couple of months since I’ve written anything in this series, but it’s always been one of the more popular ones, and I figured I should probably get back into it! Not only is it fun to discuss our favorite characters and see how their stories can relate to our own writing, but I really just have a good time talking about them in general.

Especially Damon Salvatore.

See, I figured something else out. You guys like it when I talk about Damon. He is consistently (I may as well just use the world “always” here) the top search term people use to find my blog. The previous post I wrote about him (“How to write about guilt, with Damon Salvatore”) was the first post in this series, and still gets hits each and every day.

And, hey. Who am I to argue with statistics?

Besides. Just look at him.

Damon is, of course, one half of the Salvatore brothers on The Vampire Diaries. When we first meet him, Damon is not a good guy. He kills people without remorse. He revels in the fact that he’s a vampire. He manipulates people. And he does everything he can to steal Elena away from Stephan, just to get one up on him.

But here’s the thing. Damon slowly becomes a good guy. We’re into the fourth season now, and he’s still not quite there. Sure, he’s loads better than he was back in season 1, but he still messes up. He still goes out of his way to annoy people. He still tries to take Elena away from Stefan. Except now he’s not doing it to get one up on his brother. Now he’s doing it because he loves Elena.

Now he cares about her.

And that’s the key. You can turn any bad character into a good character by giving them something to care about. It doesn’t matter what they’ve done in their past, as long as they’re willing to change and as long as they feel remorse. For Damon, the catalyst to his change was Elena.

It happened subtly. You saw him stop trying to manipulate her. You saw him (mostly) stop killing people. You saw him do things or not do things because he knew what she would say if she knew what he was up to. You saw him start actively being a better person, because he knew it was what she wanted (even if she didn’t know it yet herself!).

And in our writing, these subtleties must also be present. Girls love the bad boy, and I’ve read plenty of books with an MC like this. But the change can’t happen all at once. For most of these tragic, damaged characters, they’ve been living their lives like this for years. Most likely since they were kids.

I’m sorry, but no girl is going to make a guy drop his personality and change at a moment’s notice just because he has feelings for her. He’s going to screw up. And he’s going to keep screwing up. And he’s going to screw up again, until he figures out that he actually wants to change because it’s not only the best for the person he’s in love with, but also for himself.

It’s a beautiful story arc for any character – guy or girl. Damon is a perfect example of it because he’s still not all the way there. He’s not Stefan, not someone who automatically thinks of others and tries to do the best thing for everyone just because it happens to be the best thing for everyone. Damon isn’t as selfish as he once was, but he often doesn’t care what happens to a majority of the other characters, so long as Elena is okay.

He’s flawed, but he’s allowed to be. He should be. You don’t go from being a merciless vampire who doesn’t respect pretty much any human life to a fuzzy bunny of a vampire overnight. Life doesn’t work that way, and art is an imitation of life. We must reflect the flawed, complex, contradictory nature of humans (or vampires!) in our writing in order for it to be realistic.

Is your MC a bad guy (or girl) gone good? How did you pull it off? Do you like the new Damon, or did you like him better in season 1?

How to Write about Guilt, with Damon Salvatore

As much as I try to explain it to family and friends, they just don’t understand that watching TV and movies is research for us writers. They scoff, they laugh, they even roll their eyes. But it’s true, isn’t it? It’s just like reading a book (albeit in a more visual format). We can study characters, setting, and dialogue to learn what works and what doesn’t.

What I like about TV and movies in particular is that we have to translate the action of the characters into words. Whereas we can read a book all about how someone is lying and see in our minds eye via the words that they wring their hands, don’t make eye contact, and have a nervous twitch in their leg, the visual representation of this is a little harder to pick up. There are subtleties actors use that are almost beyond our perception when we’re focused on the story they are trying to tell. We might not catch their leg twitch, or the shifty eyes, but they’re definitely there. We just have to work a little bit harder to see them.

It’s great practice and not only helps you become a better writer, but helps you become a better sleuth and figure out who the bad guy is a little bit sooner.

I had an idea for a new set of blog posts. I don’t want to call them a series, because they’re not going to be all that related. (I swear I’m getting to Damon soon.) The challenge is to pick a theme and a character and write about how the actor brings these two things to life. I’m not writing this necessarily to teach you guys anything (I won’t pretend I’m an expert on any of this stuff), but I’m writing it to better understand it myself. And, of course, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

I’d like to kick it off with the stunning Damon Salvatore. I’m a little The Vampire Diaries obsessed right now (thanks Debra), and I’m almost done with season 2. (If by any chance you know when season 3 is coming to Netflix Streaming, PLEASE TELL ME.) Damon’s my favorite Salvatore brother (and probably my favorite character) for a variety of reasons I won’t get into here. (Actually, if you check out Debra’s post, her thoughts basically reflect mine.) I think Ian Somerholder is a fantastic actor and his portrayal of Damon is extremely well done. All he has to do is quirk an eyebrow or squint his eyes and you automatically know what he’s thinking. It’s brilliant.

Right, enough gushing. Sorry.

Anyway, one thing that I really like about Damon is that he struggles with guilt just about every day of his existence. If you’re unfamiliar with the show, here’s a quick recap on his character: Damon is a bad boy vampire who just happens to love Elena (who’s human and is going out with his brother, Stephan). He also loves the act of killing. He struggles between his vampiric nature and being the man that Elena knows he can be. Talk about a conflict of interest.

A few episodes ago I saw Damon finally break down. We knew he’d been struggling with the fact that Elena would always choose Stephan over him, as well as the fact that, well, he’s a vampire! He kills things. It’s in his nature to hunt and prey on humans. He’s relished in the hunt for centuries. But, at the same time, he doesn’t fall in love often and when he does, he falls hard.

In episode 12, entitled “Descent,” we see Damon confess a secret to a total stranger (I won’t spoil it here because it’s a beautiful moment) and finally give into his cravings. From now on, he’s hiding the guilt that is slowly eating at him. As writers, we need to see how he portrays this so we can use it in our own writing.

It’s obviously hard to do if your story follows in one character’s footsteps (depending on who is the one being guilty). Television has a little more leeway in that they can jump POVs without it having the same consequences that we would have to deal with.

In terms of Damon, his guilt stems from the fact that he’s hiding a secret. He’ll go to any lengths to keep it a secret because he’s ashamed of it. He particularly doesn’t want Elena finding out. In the following few episodes, he starts acting out of character. He’s a little bit moodier, less sarcastic, more angry than usual.

For Damon, a lot of his guilt is shown away from the other characters. He starts dating a human who he has compelled (brainwashed) to keep his secret: he’s killed a human and has been feeding on (but not killing) this new human. He breaks down at several points and says how badly he hates the fact that he is this way, but that he just can’t help it. He rationalizes his nature – he is a vampire after all. And, because of that, he continues to feed and continues to keep his secret.

This is just a small snippet of what Damon portrays. Ian’s acting is so subtle and the writing is so well done that I’m even having trouble translating it into words.  I guess you’ll just have to go watch the show.

There are other ways to show a character’s guilty conscious. The more direct ways aren’t nearly as enjoyable, like saying, “He looked guilty,” or “She twisted her hands guiltily.” These tell us what’s happening, but they don’t show us what’s happening. When the clues are more subtle, the readers will either be completely shocked by the big reveal or proud that they were able to figure it out for themselves. It’s a much more rewarding experience.

Think about when you’re feeling guilty – you’re overly conscious about how you’re acting. Are you acting guilty? Are you not acting normal? So then you usually overact. You’re cheerier than usual, maybe more helpful. You’re out of character. If you’re audience is familiar with your character, this will set off an alarm – and you didn’t even have to directly tell them what was going on!

What are some of the subtle things you’ve seen Damon do on the show? What are some good examples of how to portray guilt without being overly obvious about it? Have you ever written a character who had a secret and felt deeply guilty about it? How did you portray that?