Depends on how you want them to be portrayed. Woobie? Badass? Insane?
You can make any combination of the above work and plenty besides.
Street Writing Man
Well, that depends...how messed up are you? And be honest here; what totally screwed up shit have you seen and done that provides inspiration for your totally screwed up characters?
IMO, you can't write about it effectively if you don't have some personal connection to it.
If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~
The culture you throw them in needs to be considered. If you've got a culture where being a loincloth-wearing, battle hungry berserker is a legitimate career choice that will result in a heroic burial and great honor to the family if you die, and vast wealth and beautiful women if you survive, then a perfectly stable person could weigh their options and decide the one involving a big ax in their hands is a good one. But if such a character came from modern America, they'd be considered completely insane.
Likewise, if a culture expects women to give suitors the cold shoulder until they've "proven themselves" by some impressive symbolic act, a Kuudere is probably quite healthy (unless the strain of acting the part when she'd rather not is doing her damage). But if she comes from a culture where being open about feelings is the norm, odds are she has a few issues.
edited 5th Dec '10 9:51:39 PM by KillerClowns
E is for Extinction!
You can justify pretty much anything given, say, a post-apocalyptic setting. Morality doesn't have any meaning and everyone still living is criminally bonkers.
Grr. Argh.
Figure out what a psychologist would call your character, then research what causes that. For example, Kuudere type 2 would be shy or (if extreme) social anxiety. Type 1 could be depressed or an overcontrolled personality type. Type 3 would probably be a variant on mood swings, or the same as type 1.
If I'm asking for advice on a story idea, don't tell me it can't be done.
Going further with giving my characters some depth, I wantto know how explore the possible ways that I can take apart a chracter archetype. How messed do you have to be in order to be a Blood Knight like Bob or a Kuudere like Alice? These are just examples but I hope you know where I am coming from.