Inspiration, then Perspiration

I have gotten myself into a bit of a pickle.

I decided that I wanted to start a new novel while I am shopping The Last Fragment. This will be a story focused on a character that appeared in both Penhadrian books I've written. He filled in as the mentor role in The Face-Stealer and took the role of evil henchman in The Last Fragment, and I think he definitely deserves his own novel.

Unfortunately, he is completely insane. I don't mean that he's a little quirky or random, I mean that he is NOT in his right mind at all. He cannot be depended on to do anything or follow anything through, he has no concerns about how he's viewed, has almost zero conscience, does not regret anything that he does, and is completely driven by his own jollies, which are not what most people would consider things that they would want to do. In Freudian terms, his superego does not exist, his ego does not exist, and he is a creature of pure id. He tends to steal, lie, and misbehave for no other reason than he likes to.

He is, without a doubt, the most difficult character I've ever written for. Most of my other characters are a little more leadable than he is, and can be put into a cohesive story with a plot and a point. Unfortunately, nothing that crosses my mind for him is even something I can remotely make him do. He just won't. He'll show up in the back of the classroom, ready to work, and then he'll get distracted, wander off, and then fall asleep under a tree while the rest of the class is doing their arithmetic.

I'm not sure what I can do to make him work into a story... he's always a supporting character, and I definitely want to tell his story, though I'm not at all sure what can be done about him. I might have to investigate other techniques in order to bring him to life.