Cowgirl Contemporary Fantasy

My father loves to argue a point.  As most of the people he knew did anything they could to avoid engaging in an argument they'd never win, my sister and I got to debate with him as we were bouncing in the farm pickup's passenger seat. Photo by  cahdequech  from stock.xchng He strongly believed that all people are born inherently self-centered or evil, ourselves included.  He saw it in his animals, and most especially in small children.  (Think about it.  Most kids have to be taught to share, to take turns.)  I can't find any numbers to back this up, but it seems as though most folks I run into believe the exact opposite:  that evil people are made that way. There are a lot of misconceptions about psychopaths, most of which I've covered in a previous post .  I happen to agree with my father, that people are born selfish or evil, so I never thought much about how believing in man's inherent goodness could make one a victim.  One ...

I owe y'all an apology.  As I sit here on a picnic bench, using WiFi outside my tent, which has to be a crime in somewhere, I realize that I have not yet finished my series on psychopaths. I should explain.  The last segment, one that discusses good and bad fictional psychopaths, requires my reference materials.  After my house flooded in May, all of my books were boxed up and in storage.  I just got them back last week.  I'm right in the middle of preparing two reviews, one I hope to post tomorrow, and another that will go up at The Portal any day now. I will finish the series as soon as possible, as it is one of my most popular, except for  How I Lost a Chunk of Hair to my Grandma's Vibrator.   Copious apologies.

Tweet It's been a while since the last psychopathy post, so let's review some facts. Psychopathy is a personality disorder.  It is characterized by very predictable personality traits that can be  measured by a trained professional.   Psychopaths are born, not made , though environmental factors shape how the disorder is expressed.  Psychopaths are perennially popular characters in all sorts of fiction, but authors often incorporate common myths about psychopaths . Today, we're looking at psychopathic behavior.  Let me make something very clear.   Finding these characteristics in yourself or others does not a psychopath make, young Padawan.   It is incredibly tempting to want to diagnose those around you as a psychopath, probably because everyone has some of these qualities to some degree.  The psychopath has most or all of these characteristics to such an extent that it has to be seen to be believed. Think of it this way.  One of...

Tweet Note:  If you haven't read the  introduction  to "The Author's Guide to Psychopaths," you may want to take a few minutes and look it over. Most of us probably view psychopaths as the epitome of evil.  They very well may be, but despite the intense distillation of evil that seems to envelope the psychopath's personality, they don't have the corner market on evil.  I've always believed that all of us carry the potential to do evil. I'm not talking about telling white lies, fudging your taxes, or slacking off at work.  Under the right circumstances, the most ordinary, law-abiding person can make decisions that would result in pain or death for another.  I wouldn't be surprised if many of the upper level Nazis were psychopathic, but the horror that was Nazi Germany couldn't have happened without the active participation or tolerance of hundreds of thousands of non-psychopaths.  (If you need convincing, check out the  Milgram Experimen...

Tweet The Popularity of the Psychopathic Character The psychopath is a perennial favorite character-type amongst authors in every genre, though they are most often used in mysteries and thrillers.  Often authors get the very nature of the psychopath incorrect.  I'm not a criminology expert, but I've studied them extensively, both on my own and through my sociology coursework, and seeing a story with an unrealistic psychopath is an instant turn-off for me. I've long wanted to do more than screech incoherently at the television or book that portrays them as the product of abuse or other fallacies, but the topic is quite large and I've been hesitant to broach the subject.  Tonight, I'm fueled by enough caffeine to wire a moose and I'm trapped inside by yet another winter storm.  I've decided to do a series of blog posts based around the characteristics of a psychopath, and how we authors often get them wrong.  Myths about Psychopaths Wiktionary define...