How hard was it to create a “dark” character like Richard?

Creating frightening attributes in a character isn’t challenging; the challenge lies in trying to make such a character original. There have been so many “dark” characters on television, in movies, and in other novels that it seems almost impossible to come up with something original, unless it’s incredibly far removed from reality. A person such as Hannibal Lecter falls into that category.

But I wanted a frightening character that was both original and believable. To do this, I created an obsessive character (not too original, I’ll admit), but that I made him obsessive almost immediately (original). Most stories that deal with obsession are centered around longer relationships – this story did just the opposite. This immediate obsession, to me, is very frightening – imagine going on one or two dates with a person, only to have them believe you can never leave them. It would be like a nightmare, albeit one that could happen all too easily.