Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Do you think all story plots are basically about the struggle between good and evil? I don't think anyone is purely one way or the other, do you? Aren't there some redeeming qualities about even the most rotten of characters? Tell me your thoughts.

I don't think anyone is pure evil. Anyone who is 'bad' has an excuse, valid or not, and that's what makes it more interesting. A pure evil character doesn't have any dimension. A pure evil character is boring...

I suppose two of the most evil people of our time were Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler. I'm not sure about redeeming qualities, but Hitler was a landscape artist; still pondering Stalin...

Oh well... I mostly meant it for books... not for real people... although I am sure neither of them considered themselves evil. Sadly, they certainly considered they were doing it for the good of human kind. :/

But still, if you're writing about an evil villain you'd want something at least as bad as you'd find in real life. I think Hitler thought he was right and doing it for Germany--the Fatherland; he just had issues. I'm not sure about Stalin. I think he was doing it for his own aggrandizement.

saw this had to join the group to add my say in it haha

to me every hero needs a flaw of sorts, that guilt that says am I doing what's right or out of my own greed? for example I got a character, bum killed a child, crooked cop, he's the hero
to me every villain needs that thing that says they're doing it for a good cause, twisted or otherwise, OR be completely wicked because they love to watch shit burn.
also as to the original question, I think stories, especially now-a-days, is about redemption. an anti-hero developing into someone who avoids temptation. but yeah there are stories still about good vs evil like always.
but if there ever was any redeeming qualities it would be for the villains who believe they are doing right, and their argument for it.

I dealt with this in a few of my stories. In fact I even wrote and published a story called "The Villain." In this story, I argued that the labels "villain" and "hero" really did depend on viewpoint. Most Russians at the time loved Stalin, and I think almost all experienced writers know that it's never good to write about a villain who is just a mean guy for no reason, just as no good guy is flawless. Unless, of course, you're going for comedy or symbolism, and even then you'd better be a damn good writer.

wow Ken you did better than what I could at explaining it haha but pretty much how you described it is pretty much how I think it should be
as for real life, well I've known bad people and they all got this different way of thinking even against each other, but the most common I've seen was, survival. and in real life there is no good people, only flawed.