Haha, I think we all have a few of those in our past drafts! I think one really interesting component is the ability to change. What will cause someone to cross that moral line? What will cause them to cross it again to come back? Stories that make things uncertain in this regard are the best stories, because they make us think.

That is terrific. I am not a fan of good vs evil in the traditional sense. Villains or antagonists who have complex and real motivation are always so much more interesting and compelling. Being able to convey the unique yet skewed filter through which they see the world to readers in a way that they can understand it yet not agree with the same conclusions--I love that.

Our characters can definitely be their own worst enemy sometimes!

Morals are learned first and foremost, and then through experience, they can shift. So if a character grew up with corruption being the norm, to them this IS normal. Something needs to trigger a moment of clarity that there is more than what they were taught or originally believe. some never get there, others do. It's always an individual journey though--even within a regime or group who adopt a certain ideology. Everyone is shaped by individual experiences.

I know. there's always so much to juggle. But the deeper we think about it at the outset, the easier it is to convey deeper motivations through mannerisms, behavior and choices.

You know what one of the big differences is between my previous manuscript and the current one? The current one has antagonists, but not a villain. Certain characters make the protagonist's life difficult, but none of them are necessarily "bad guys." And as a result, I've had an easier time thinking of them as human beings, just like the less antagonistic characters. And their emotional wounds and life experiences have made them who they are in the story.

I think part of this difference might be genre. The former WIP was YA epic fantasy, which is typically plot-driven and often has the "good vs evil" trope built in. And the new one is YA magical realism, which is more character driven and requires you to treat your characters - including the antagonists - more realistically. So I'm glad I noticed this early on, because it's changed the way I look at characters. It's reminding me how important it is for everyone to be sympathetic, relatable, or human in some way - and understanding their emotional wounds helps.