Excuse me, /lit/ but I'm in the middle of writing a short

>>8820872
what have you tried thus far anon?

have you tried making the character a psychopath?

Find the letter "a" on your keyboard. Press it, then press the spacebar. Then do the same for the letters p, s, y, c, h, o, p (again), a, t and h, in that order (IMPORTANT). If you do this correctly you'll have successfully written a psychopath.

>>8820920
I've tried random rambling, which didnt really have the feel i was going for. I've tried the character switching between a high, sing-song voice into a normal voice into a low voice, with each voice having a specific way of speaking. I've tried having the character talk about something totally unrelated (i had him reciting some like chinese philosophy) There was also a version in which the character was just completely silent, but it didnt feel right.

>>8820960
edit; this is a play more so than a novel

>>8820960
what role does he play? is he the protagonist, antagonist, minor character?

>>8821140
he is actually a minor character, although he does kill two of the major ones.

>>8820960

Have you tried having him rub shit in his hair, and then smash his balls with the window pane?

>>8821160
thats more comedic than scary

>>8821157
what will help is by making him unfamiliar and in charge.
Don't make him a cackling moron with a bunch of quirks. if you want him to be scary, he has to command everything while on stage. He has to be the center of focus and in charge of everything that is going on. all other characters react to him.

Total silence is a bad move, I agree. but he should speak sparingly. Only have him speak when it is necessary. speech patterns will have to be uncanny.
>unfamiliar accent
>disinterested tone
>short sentences.

considering this is a play, a lot of this will fall to the performance of the actor as well as the scenery, stage blocking, and costuming.

source: Major in English and Minor in Theatre Arts.