Ok, got one charecter I'm building that has me kinda perplexed. I'm pretty sure what I'm doing is coming off correct, but I also feel that I'm not totally avoiding some really bad pitfalls I shouldn't be touching with a ten foot pole. The charecter has a rather painful past. Lotta things he blames himself for, things that went wrong and such, and things that he's at fault for and feels guilty about. He's very level headed, cool and collected, loves to laugh and have fun, and has a LOT of experience to draw on when dealing with most any situation. However, these little demons of his past come back to haunt him periodically and he tries to deal with them the best he can. Sometimes he's sad, sometimes he's mad, sometimes he's impartial. But he never, or at least tries to never, loose his cool or his composure in front of others. He'll only let down his guard a tiny bit in front of really close friends who already kinda know about his past. On a couple of occations you can tell that something's bugging him, but he won't tell you what that is. He just kinda avoids or sidesteps the questions or the situation.
Now, with that stated, am I doing this right? And what pitfalls or things should I avoid to keep from going the wrong way, maybe making the charecter too shallow, cliche, unbelievable, over acted, etc. I want him to be someone you look at, latch onto, feel for, relate to, feel sorry for in a way, and still be somewhat suspicious of them at the same time. This might sound like a silly question coming from someone who's already gotten published. But most of my charecters before this were simple and in the ways they were used, simple worked great to do everything I needed and made an enjoyable story. But these guys in my new story need to be far darker or deeper in one way or another. This guy especially. The story will stand as it is, but the deeper I make it, the better I think it'll become. Kinda like adding a little more meat to the bone so to speak.
