A tenth planet in the solar system has just been located, and NASA is sending a team of five to discover whether it's habitable. Selena Namori, a psychopath and incarcerated felon, is chosen for the mission, along with four other distinctive and unu...
Favorite Quote: "Oh, sweetie, monsters are real. And they look like people."
Favorite Color: Black
Other Facts: Psychopath, pathological liar, often bored, felon, intelligent, dog person, seemingly incapable of love, believes nobody understands her, Slytherin, daughter of Hecate, Hunter of Artemis, factionless
Spirit animal: panther
Enneagram: 8w9: The Diplomat
MBTI: ESTP-A: Dynamo
Zodiac: Scorpio
Dream job: n/a
Author's notes: Selena is a complex character. When I initially began to write this story, I wanted to have five main characters: a sociopath, a murderer, a volunteer, a genius, and a psychopath. I ended up sticking to those five and did extensive research to portray them as accurately as possible. Predictably, as Selena is the protagonist and the character that we get the most insight into, she was the most difficult to write.
When I began to research psychopathy and its broader umbrella term, antisocial personality disorder (which also includes sociopathy) I realized how misrepresented psychopathy is in the media. Psychopaths are portrayed as insane, cold-blooded killers when in truth, they're more similar to the general population than you may think.
There are many definitions of psychopathy, but the most common define it as having shallow emotions, low empathy, and not much of a conscience or remorse. A few argue that it isn't that psychopaths cannot feel empathy and remorse, it's that they don't understand when they've crossed a line and cannot foresee when they will regret something. Whichever is true, I chose to show that Selena mostly exhibits the following psychopathic traits:
Irresponsibility, superficial charm, impulsivity, manipulativeness, selfishness, reactive anger, criminality, lack of ambition or tangible goals in life, and the ability to mimic emotion but not feel it as deeply as others may. For a long time during the editing process, I wondered whether Selena is truly a psychopath. She does not appear cold or callous and isn't quite emotionally shallow. Maybe she had another personality disorder or mental illness.
After a very long journey down the rabbit hole of Google and psychological journals recommended by my mom, I eventually came to realize that Selena is, in fact, a psychopath. For example, on the PCL-R, a scientific/psychological test commonly used to diagnose psychopathy, Selena scores a 75. This, among other tests, checklists, and articles, makes her a diagnosable psychopath, if only barely (75 is the official threshold for being considered a psychopath, scores below mean you are not).
She displays enough psychopathic tendencies, with enough severity, that she can be considered one herself. According to the PCL-R, she has 65.5% more psychopathic characteristics than average. I'd say that's plenty.
In this story and particular situation, Selena's motivation is unclear. She has no long-term goals or plans. Selena is serving a prison sentence for first-degree armed robbery, and, as she says herself, has been incarcerated for the last four years. Generally, armed robbery sentences carry from two to fifteen years, if the defendant has not been convicted of a separate violent crime (Selena has been accused, but not convicted).
What does she want from life? I don't think even Selena herself knows. Maybe she'd just keep committing felonies and end up with a life sentence. She can't and doesn't want to contribute to society. Selena may be an entertaining and funny character, but she is an inherently bad person. Of course, I did make her, so I could have her do whatever I want, but she's grown to become a real person, at least in my eyes. I believe there's only so much an author can do to change their characters' true nature.
In conclusion... I enjoyed writing Selena. I've never done so much research or learned so much from writing any other characters. It expanded my abilities as a writer. So, Selena... I know you don't care, but thank you.
