writing characters I don't relate to is lowkey a biblical trial
i'm not a white man, but my oc is!
this is my boy, Pan, yes, pan, not like the kitchen utensil, more like the greek god of the wild
for a guy named after the god of the wild he sure is a corporate shoelicker!
so here's my dilemma
i've had pan for years now, but he is the brother of the main- and my favorite oc, so I never really came to develop him until recently, but I always had a vague idea of what he is
to make it easier for you people, picture, a mix between achilles, specifically the achilles from song of achilles, AND mr peanutbutter from bojack horseman
generally he is a good man, a good friend a good brother, on the outside he looks like the ideal man, he's attractive, smart, like REALLY smart, he's hardworking, he's loving he's rich, what's the issue? well the issue is he lacks absolute and complete emotional awareness and accountability, I like to call it the cishet man phenomenon, he's got everything going for him EXCEPT personality, like he's not a horrible person! but you can immediately tell his problems run too deep for him to worth being a lifelong partner to
i'm saying this because part of his lore is the fact that he is a virgin at 40, yes he is a wizard
the first ever showcase of his flaws was with his brother, the main character, Pan wanted to leave to japan to study, and instead of telling his brother and working on a plan together, pan just decided, yeah, i'll drop this on him final notice! and i'll fully expect him to just run along with my plans
and obviously his brother didn't he got upset, even lowkey resented him for treating him like a to-go package, but pan never realized that was a problem yaknow? pan assumed his brother just didn't want to leave (which he didn't) but beyond that it's the principle, the respect the treatment, pan assuming, he is the main character
that flaw continues to persist
it's overbearing even, I think that's why he struggled so much in keeping friends despite being charismatic, my question is, how does one right a struggle like that ?
because I sure as hell am not charismatic, Idk what it's like to always be sought after and admired the way pan is, to constantly have his ego inflated, and always be so praised that he never realized what he was doing wrong, because in instances where he WAS called out for his behavior, he always, like the idiot he is, assumed that was a one time wonder, instead of it being a problem at his core. like mr.peanutbutter, Pan is loving and optimistic, and he struggles to listen to people, to give them the space they deserve, and because of that the people in his life never stick around long
how do you write that sort of loneliness? that mindset? how does he never, for a SECOND stop to think "wait maybe this is my fault?" because that is such a bizarre notion to me
because I don't want him to be the type that ends up resenting the people around him he is nothing like that, so what is the other option? him just thinking he is different? he's special? i'd imagine so
what ends up breaking his rose coloured glasses view of himself is a girl he met and fell inlove with, no she didn't fix him, quite the opposite really, she got engaged, and he got rejected without her even having to say anything, causing my boy to spiral, and sleep with like the first girl that offers it to him, now THIS this girl calls him out for his shit
but once again- HOW DO you write that?
this girl, scarlet, will play an important role, but here's the thing, this place takes place in the cyberpunk universe setting, scarlet is poor, bottom of the barrel, a cog in the machine, while pan is a penthouse dwelling pig, how do two characters with SUCH different backgrounds get along, because- from what I witness often in media, this is such a princess and the pauper type of dynamic, it's hard to sympathize with the princess in situations like this, especially considering pan is being serviced sex on a regular basis by her
neither of them are meant to be villains in each others story, just a reactor to their circumstances, I struggle to write that, especially with a character as posh as pan, who, again, initially, assumed he could buy both his brother, his exes and now scarlets affection, not in the way you usually see rich people buying poor people, more in a "oh you have a problem? I can pay it off i have the money" so in a way, buying them life changing favours, he, personally has no ulterior motives! I believe pan lacks emotional intelligence so deeply he cannot really manipulate people
how do I go about this? any ideas? advice? similar characters I can extract from?
(I think this is important to mention, pan didn't start off rich, hell he lived in the middle of nowhere in a small governally independent town, he got to the rank he is through sheer determination, so, I do expect he had a history of stepping on people without even realizing, or even unintendedly, just the subsequent of his field of work )
