Bad Boys and Bad Girls, every story has them, but writing them can be tough. Some people love the villain and I can understand why. Right now we see a lot of ambiguous characters. Is the good guy really a good guy? Is the villain really a villain? Or is it all perspective? Sure that can be interesting, but I don’t count them as villains, they are dark characters for sure, but are they really villains?
I don’t think so.
Maybe, they are just misunderstood and are in need of a hug.
For me the villain is someone who you should never have anything in common with. You should never understand their point of view. These characters should be flat-out-evil and we should hate everything about them.
Michael Myers (the original), Jason (the original), even Freddy Kruger (the original) they are true villains. I would even go so far as to call them monsters. Although, monsters to me are something a little different.
Anyway, I write my villains in the same vain (not the murdering campers or teenagers having sex or kids in their dreams sort of way) but still, you should be afraid of these villains. You should fear them and never want to meet them. That is how I write my villains. Is that a stereotype? Probably, but it’s my story and I’ll write the characters I want.
So, if wearing a black top hat and twirling a black handle bar mustache is in order than expect to run into that.
To actually write the villain, for me, is hard. It puts me in a dark place. I get moody and grumpy. I don’t like writing them, because for a short period of time I have to become them, to act like them, and to believe that what they’re doing is absolutely right. Which means there’s a part of me, no matter how small, that could actually become the monster I’ve created. And who wants to admit to that? Who wants to ever consider that kind of villainess inside them?
Not me.
I hope when you read my books, and you realize what my villains are up to, you understand that it’s not me. It’s them. Well, perhaps, it’s a little bit me, but only a small part. One you’ll never meet. At least I hope you won’t. However, there is a woman at a fabric store and several cashiers at a computer electronics store that might disagree.