I enjoyed a few things about it, but I think what brought it all the way from “oof, that was well written but I’m not sure I enjoyed the experience” to having some fun reading and mulling on it is that, as a writer, I’ve spent a long time trying to build out my repertoire for writing actually “bad” antagonist characters. (I think this improves the conflict in stories – when I succeed, it clearly increases beta reader engagement even if that engagement consists entirely of “WOW I HATE THEM SO MUCH” – and also, like, writing any characters at all who aren’t unbearably earnest Hufflepuffs was a challenge for me).
This story was a very vivid and memorable depiction of a way a person could be shaped that definitely isn’t anywhere near my current character repertoire, but feels self-consistent enough that I could imagine booting up my own version of a similar guy and writing him “in character” for a whole story without running into too many blank spots where I can’t model him at all. I’m on the lookout for more unlikeable antagonist archetypes to introduce in my current fiction project, so it’s good timing. It also felt...deep? Rich? Like I could dig into this imaginary person’s psychology and find more there (part of me is going “wow, who hurt you? what backstory can I give you so I feel a little sympathetic that you’re like this”, because I can write hateable antagonists a lot better if I manage to feel a little sympathetic to them).
...Apart from seeing it as inspiration for my own writing: it does feel like it captures a piece of reality and pins it down where I can look at it, and I appreciate that even when I don’t enjoy looking. (It’s plausible it might help me model real life people who aren’t earnest Hufflepuffs?) It’s speckled with in-jokes and references that entertained me a bit. The prose and metaphors were also, IMO, really well done and vivid, including some that made me laugh out loud. (In general I think making a character’s internal monologue funny is a writing strategy that makes them more engaging/readable even if they’re not likable, so I’m taking notes on that too.)
I enjoyed a few things about it, but I think what brought it all the way from “oof, that was well written but I’m not sure I enjoyed the experience” to having some fun reading and mulling on it is that, as a writer, I’ve spent a long time trying to build out my repertoire for writing actually “bad” antagonist characters. (I think this improves the conflict in stories – when I succeed, it clearly increases beta reader engagement even if that engagement consists entirely of “WOW I HATE THEM SO MUCH” – and also, like, writing any characters at all who aren’t unbearably earnest Hufflepuffs was a challenge for me).
This story was a very vivid and memorable depiction of a way a person could be shaped that definitely isn’t anywhere near my current character repertoire, but feels self-consistent enough that I could imagine booting up my own version of a similar guy and writing him “in character” for a whole story without running into too many blank spots where I can’t model him at all. I’m on the lookout for more unlikeable antagonist archetypes to introduce in my current fiction project, so it’s good timing. It also felt...deep? Rich? Like I could dig into this imaginary person’s psychology and find more there (part of me is going “wow, who hurt you? what backstory can I give you so I feel a little sympathetic that you’re like this”, because I can write hateable antagonists a lot better if I manage to feel a little sympathetic to them).
...Apart from seeing it as inspiration for my own writing: it does feel like it captures a piece of reality and pins it down where I can look at it, and I appreciate that even when I don’t enjoy looking. (It’s plausible it might help me model real life people who aren’t earnest Hufflepuffs?) It’s speckled with in-jokes and references that entertained me a bit. The prose and metaphors were also, IMO, really well done and vivid, including some that made me laugh out loud. (In general I think making a character’s internal monologue funny is a writing strategy that makes them more engaging/readable even if they’re not likable, so I’m taking notes on that too.)