Writing Tips and Reviews

Inmortality and Psychology

Every character gets hurt, whether mentally or physically. Making them brag about it is annoying but whatever floats your boat. Here's the thing, people make their characters immortal or unable to feel pain for a reason, is that reason is "I don't want my character to get hurt" get out of my house. And I don't want to hear "I'm mentally broken", if you can say that, then you're not.

Immortality:

So how do we do this trope right? Let's start with immortal beings, I take the Code Geass approach, they can still be hurt and feel pain, but they always survive and put themselves back together. Okay, that one is from Rin Daughters of Mnemosyne. That title. They're immortal because of experimentation or because they were chosen by a high source. I don't use them in role plays because their abilities transcend normality and they usually hide away.

C2 from Code Geass is quite distant, she speaks her mind but also likes to be alone at times. Unless she's exploring. Here's what makes her such an interesting character. She feels lonely, immortality, or even the ability to live longer than normal has it's causes, it's not there to be a bragging right. C2 has watched the world go by and has seen her friends and family all pass away while she still stands. Imagine how that feels, many like that close themselves off, others may seek joy in continuing to make new friends. Either way, even if it's not physical pain, they still feel emotional pain.

Addition: 

Looking at some works of immortal characters, it seems the concept is confused with invincibility. The two are completely different, immortality just means the character can't die, they can still be hurt, they can still feel pain. Invincibility is when a character can't feel pain and is immune to effects. Paralysis is an effect, therefore can still effect a character who is immortal. However, it can't effect a character who is invincible. 

Both combined without a real reason is just a "so no one can hurt my character". Which, if you're going for a character who's been through the hardships of life, that's the last thing you want your character to be. They become whiny, entitled, spoiled brats, like in real life, if they don't know the hardships of life. It's an excuse so that a child can live their power fantasy. Mary Sue.

Mentally Broken:

If you can say you're insane, you're not. Simple psychology. Characters who are mentally broken, one, don't know they are, they think they're normal, and two, wouldn't brag about it. What is with people and the "shattered soul" and "broken mind"? Is it cool? It's not, it's quite sad.

If you're going make a character this way, you should have a reason, "my sister said something mean to me" is not a reason kids, and how they act. They act out of the normal, lashing out, talking to someone who's not there, any signs of real insanity. Look it up, it's best that professionals in the field tell you what insanity really is.

Psychopaths are different. They're "a person suffering from chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behavior." And a sadist is "a person who derives pleasure, especially sexual gratification, from inflicting pain or humiliation on others." Wikipedia. These two are a bit easier to write, but if I'm being honest, a little kid who thought their OC saying "I'm a psychopathic murder", "I'm mentally broken", "I can't die" and the best "death and destruction" five billion times a second without doing anything, was cool, and killed it for me.

Reacting:

Some characters can take pleasure from getting hurt, (don't get me started with "stabs self", "why did you do that?" "Yes".) some can still stand and others will fall. Whether or not they get back up or not depends on the writer. Characters, especially Sora from Kingdom Hearts, usually react by crying then standing up to fight. The situation, how the character feels, and the others around them should shape the scene. A character stabbing them self because "I like gore" is meaningless at a story telling perspective.

Characters that break may hurt themselves, but it's not for no reason. They may want to relieve pain, maybe it calms them down, I don't know. They may just not be in a good mental state to even think about. But "because it's cool", as I've said, is a retarded reasoning.

Conclusion:

Putting an immortal character who gets hurt all the time, whether by themselves or others, just reminds me too much of the worst OC I've ever seen. "It's okay that it gets hurt, it's immortal, I like gore and blood" (but doesn't know what gore is).

I don't like this trope, I don't like it when people make their characters suffer just to learn nothing. Lessons need to be learned and making the character immortal is just an easy way to press the reset button. The character exploded, don't worry, they're immortal. It takes the tension away from bad things actually happening to them because you know they're going to be just fine. That's why I like C2, she's not the main character, she's a secondary character.

We can sympathize with characters who lead similar lives to us and can feel when they get hurt. Even if they're not likable or relatable, you need to feel their pain when they get hurt. Bragging about getting hurt is pathetic, because no one does it, unless they're attention seekers. Oh, so that's why.

Those who are mentally ill aren't to be shamed but they shouldn't be idolized either. If you make a character mentally ill, then don't make that their entire being. It was something they were born with or had happen to them, but that's not all they are. Like I said, Yuri Lowell is many things, and to only describe him as a "psychopathic killer" will get the Yuri fan base all over your ass. Including me.

Do your research on a topic as big as these. You can't write a character that has these aspects because "it's cool", make them brag about it, then doing nothing with it. They don't become good characters, they become egotistical assholes. And if that's what you're going for, then good job, is that's not what you're going for, do more research because you failed.