Talk:The Mind of a Madman/@comment-32602006-20140108055926

Probably my main issue with this would be that I'm not sure of the medical accuracy of this. I'm no medical professional, but if one were to read this, I'm not sure sociopathy would be the first thing to come to mind for them.

As I understand, sociopathy/psycopathy as well as narcicissism, sadism, and related personality disorders are almost always issues from birth. Whereas this just seems more like the "monster within" just sort of started manifesting itself over the last couple years or so instead of graudually over the narrotor's life. Which is perfectly fine for a pasta about a man who just has a general case of madness, but not necessarily for one specifically intended to represent the mind of a sociopath. Then again, every sociopath is different, and it's hard to pin down a "typical" case.

This pasta does a good job of raising the classical nature/nurture question but doesn't really explore it at all. I'm not sure if you intended to byt I think the pasta would benefit from it. We get virtually no background information on the protagonist. Which in a way can be a great advantage. Knowing how to control information flow to the reader through first-person narration and choice of entry time into the narrative is what makes a lot of creepy stories successful. EAP practically built his career on it. Even so, we could use just a little more build up and a little more insight to make the story both more intriguing and more creepy.

It's a little hard to apply my recently developed review formula to this pasta, but I'll try:

Writing Quality: 08.5/10  A little vague, but perfectly believable for an average madman

Entertainment value: 06.5/10  Good beginning, good ending, but the body could use some more tension and build-up

Creepyness: 06.5/10  Not something I'm likely to have nighmares over, but the believability it has lends creepyness

Realism: 08.5/10  It may not be strictly accurate according to the DSM, but there are definately people like this in real life.

Emotional impact: 07.5/10 It has the potential to make us feel sad for the protagonist, but it's a little hard given that we are really given no chance to get to know him or empathize with him.

Final verdict: 07.5/10 if this was titled "The Mind of a Madman" it might be a tad bit more believable, but maybe I'm just splitting hairs.