Character Secret Thesaurus Entry: Being a Serial Killer

What secret is your character keeping? Why are they safeguarding it? What’s at stake if it’s discovered? Does it need to come out at some point, or should it remain hidden?

This is some of the important information you need to know about your character’s secrets—and they will have secrets, because everyone does. They’re thorny little time bombs composed of fear, deceit, stress, and conflict that, when detonated, threaten to destroy everything the character holds dear.

So, of course, you should assemble them. And we can’t wait to help.

This thesaurus provides brainstorming fodder for a host of secrets that could plague your character. Use it to explore possible secrets, their underlying causes, how they might play into the overall story, and how to realistically write a character who is hiding them—all while establishing reader empathy and interest.

For instance, let’s see what it might look like if your character…

Being a Serial Killer

ABOUT THIS SECRET
By necessity, a serial killer would need to hide their activities to keep from being caught, jailed, and possibly put to death. But a character may also harbor this secret to protect the important relationships in their life and maintain a facade of normalcy. While there are some commonalities between serial killers, they’re also driven by different motivations, fears, personality factors, and mental health considerations. So if this secret pertains to your protagonist, build that character carefully to make sure all the pieces align.

SPECIFIC FEARS THAT MAY DRIVE THE NEED FOR SECRECY: Being Separated from Loved Ones, Failure, Losing Autonomy, Losing the Respect of Others, Not Being in Control

HOW THIS SECRET COULD HOLD THE CHARACTER BACK
Not receiving help that could improve their mental health
Desiring relationships with others but being unable to relate to them emotionally
Always feeling isolated because no one truly knows them
Prioritizing flying under the radar, which could keep them from pursuing certain professional or personal goals
Being paranoid about getting caught, always looking over their shoulder

BEHAVIORS OR HABITS THAT HELP HIDE THIS SECRET
Adopting normalizing habits so they’ll fit in with others and won’t stand out
Feigning empathy and other emotions that aren’t natural for them
Creating a fake identity (a new name, false paperwork, etc.)
Compartmentalizing: keeping their desires and criminal activities distinctly separate from their day-to-day life
Creating cover stories to hide where they’ve been and what they’ve been doing
Using charm to disarm people

ACTIVITIES OR TENDENCIES THAT MAY RAISE SUSPICIONS
A loved one catching them in a lie
The character always being “out of town” when killings happen
A stash of trophies being discovered
The killer having knowledge of the crimes that they shouldn’t have

SITUATIONS THAT MAKE KEEPING THIS SECRET A CHALLENGE 
Increased scrutiny (being a witness in a legal case, achieving success that garners media interest, a suspicious spouse hiring a private investigator, etc.)
An injury or illness that makes it harder for them to successfully subdue a victim
Being questioned by police
A growing subconscious desire to get caught

Other Secret Thesaurus entries can be found here.

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While this thesaurus is still being developed, the rest of our descriptive collection (18 unique thesauri and growing) is accessible through the One Stop for Writers THESAURUS database.

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