Before I get into using a villain’s perspective, I do want to talk about how there are different types of villains. Time and time again, I see people arguing over who is the better bad guy when the characters in question are entirely different. Darth Vader and Joker? Loki and Bowser (Super Mario)? My personal favorite is when a minion type is compared to a mastermind type like Wormtongue Vs Doctor Doom. Uh . . . there’s too much of a difference once you get beneath the surface. Sure both are under the ‘villain’ category, but they’re not playing on the same level. That tier and focus of villainy is what can make a few antagonist perspective scenes a good or bad idea.
So, let’s look at the Scum of the Earth and feel free to mention any types that I forgot:
The Mastermind– The top of the food chain in the story and not usually one to get their hands dirty. Many times these are manipulators that have very few, if any, connections to others. Though there are Masterminds who are in this role to move events in favor of a beloved group or person. They have other villains at their bidding as well as the occasional rival for ‘main antagonist’ if the series goes that way. The key part of this type is that they’re smart and think ahead.
Main Minion– #2, Righthand Man, Chief Assassin, Favorite Girl, and so many other names for this one. In a story with a main antagonist and several minor ones, this character steps up as the head agent. They are more likely to interact with the heroes than the to villain and have a higher chance of survival than your basic minion. They can also be rather traitorous if they wish to have power of their own since leadership is always just within their grasp. Think Starscream from Transformers.
Basic Minion– Expendables and one-time appearances, but they still get an honorable mention here. You don’t really see perspectives from them because they tend to be an army of fodder.
Seducer– A villain who uses sex appeal either alongside or instead of brains. Again, they are less action-oriented than other villains, but they bring an interesting insight into a story. Though, many of them can fight with pushed into a corner. There’s always something behind the way they act and something (or someone) that they want. For example, Mystique from X-Men has been a seducer many times to manipulate events. I’m thinking more comics than movies here.
Lone Wolf Psycho– They might not always be psychotic, but these villains act as loose cannons. If they’re the main villain then they are being hunted by the hero. If they’re a side baddie or share the top spot then they are a threat to everyone. Revenge, anarchy, and several other dark motivations can drive this character. Sometimes they can become anti-heroes and other times they can be a force that unites characters who are at odds. Many Lone Wolf villains are highly lethal and hands on unlike the Mastermind.
Unaware Villain– Hard to really explain this one, but I’m thinking of a character who is doing evil and believes it is good. I’ve heard the quote that ‘nobody thinks they are being evil’, which can be used for this type. They will do anything to achieve their goals and feel that every sacrifice is worth it. You see a lot of evil scientists in fiction showing this mentality until their undone by their own hubris. I would say Magneto is an example of this because he feels that he is doing right by mutantkind. He’d also be a Mastermind, so you can see how things aren’t as cut and dry here.
The Brute– Very simple mentality here and gets put into villains who are rampaging beasts. I know these guys tend to be put in the ‘minion’ category, but they can still hold a perspective better than basic fodder. It’s also different from the others because you can have it be all exposition and sensory, which can really draw a reader in.
Joker from DC and Loki from Marvel (Yahoo Image Search)
I’ve mentioned a few times that everyone loves a good villain. This isn’t an original thought and has been around longer than all of us have been alive. Yet, you don’t always see a lot from the villain’s perspective. They show up for the fights and to do evil, but you rarely see them in a casual setting like the heroes. A villain doesn’t usually get a romantic storyline, parties with friends, discussions about life, or anything that might make them human. This isn’t to say they have to be good in these scenes, but they don’t get to show the audience that they have a life outside of dealing with the heroes.
That being said, it’s still a risk to make your villain more human. You can lose something if the world is seen more through their eyes than the heroes. Take the upcoming movie ‘Maleficient’. This is one of the big baddies from Disney and she became even more infamous after Kingdom Hearts used her as the top baddie. I never thought much of her until that game, so I was curious about her getting a movie. Now I’m nervous because part of me doesn’t want to see her as a sympathetic character. Some villains we love more as pure villains and taking them out of that purity can lose people. If you start with chinks in their evil armor then it’s easier to go through their eyes. Still, this doesn’t happen often and you find more ‘pure evil/greedy/dark’ villains who remain distant from the reader.
I run into a lot of authors who are trying to redefine villains and antagonists. One of the common ways is to have half of the book through the eyes of the bad guy and show that they might not be evil. Basically, you have the hero and villain share the roles, so readers can decide for themselves who is the most noble. Great idea, but many times it still comes off as one-sided or the author’s own perception chooses a winner that half of the fans disagree with. This is why I’m more of a fan of keeping a villain in the antagonist role, but making them a ‘human’ character instead of a caricature. That being said, I do think there is always a place for the disgustingly evil ones.
So, what do people think of scenes that are done through the eyes of the villain? Does it hurt or help a story?
A few days ago, I came up with a story idea that had an odd issue. This issue was that I thought it was a great idea that I could never do. It would be novella or short story if I attempt it. Hoping to snag a person or two in private to use as a sounding board while doing the general prep work tonight. Anyway, this would be something that I do this week to give myself a break from Legends of Windemere.
The idea is that it is a post-apocalyptic Earth (sit down, people. I bolted the doors anyway, so you’re stuck) and there is a colony that is struggling to survive. I might take the alien or monster route, but that’s not important. The story actually focuses on someone named ‘The Hopeteller’. This is a person who somehow made a niche by telling nightly stories to the entire colony in order to keep their spirits up. The first part of each chapter will be a diary entry of ‘The Hopeteller’ and the second part will be a fairy tale like story. Probably be only 5 chapters.
The challenges?
It would be my first attempt at a real ‘First Person’ story and might even be written in past tense. Don’t hold me to that second part.
I need to think of 5 fairy tales with associated diary entries. I have an idea for ‘Two Brothers’ and another for ‘Finding the Light’. Going to stick with the traditional ‘3’ like main fairy tales. Considering doing one fairy tale that deals with handling a heckler.
I have no idea what the categories would be for this.
If I want to do a June release then I need a quick, cheap cover artist.
I also would need a few trustworthy beta readers who can read and critique over a weekend. Short time table, which puts me in a pickle.
I’M NOT 100% CONFIDANT THAT I CAN DO THIS! Seriously, Bestiary of Blatherhorn Vale sells 1-3 every month. Catalysts died pretty quickly and I’ll be doing the same type of low-level marketing that I did with that. That was basically nothing because I need to keep the money aimed at the big series. Maybe I can use AskDavid.com if I still have steam after writing the Amazon blurb.
This is where my mind is going and I might have to leave Luke and friends in the lurch for a bit to get my mojo back. Anybody think this sounds like a good story? It really depends on if I can figure out 2-3 more fairy tale ideas.
First, Happy Mother’s Day to everyone out there . . . Yup. I’ll be here and there for most of the day. As usual, it depends on the Wifi signal.
So, I’m not really sure what to talk about today. Last week came and went with the same melancholy that I’ve been feeling for a while. A new wrinkle is that I keep fearing that I’m getting bored with writing. Yet, I keep wanting to do it. Maybe it’s just that this newest book is carrying a lot of doubt with it. Too much action, too much dialogue, not enough action, overuse of commas, continuity problems, bad writing, blah blah blah. I haven’t read my reviews in months, but the criticisms I’ve received since started seem to be plaguing me. It’s possible that this book is drawing them out because it runs differently than the others. There is a lot of dialogue because it’s ALL about character development while the main plot rebuilds steam after Book 7’s events. The last book was definitely an emotional wringer, so this one might be coming off more as a cleansing romp. After all, it revolves around a line of toys being created that throws the entire champion prophecy out of whack. More to it than that, but it makes an interesting study of the characters.
I’m on the fence about what to do in June. I can finish Book 8 by the middle of the month if I keep going, but I’m tempted to tackle a read through of Book 5. Not so much editing, but a refresher because I haven’t touched it since I finished a while back. I guess I’m stuck on what to do. Should I finish Book 8 and then start reading through all the non-published, completed books? Or should I leap back to Book 5 since I hope to get it out by July/August? Conflicted seems to be my natural state lately.
On a more positive note, I did a radio interview for Eat, Sleep, Write. This will be on a podcast in a week or two, which I’ll promote here. I’m excited because this is not like anything I’ve done before. I didn’t stutter nearly as much as I thought I would. At least I don’t think I did.
Oh and I’m considering doing another Goodreads Giveaway starting next weekend. It’ll be for 2 sets of Legends of Windemere 1-4 if I do it. I’ve been rather lazy about Goodreads lately. I only wander over there when I get a message about a ‘Friend Request’ or to do an end of the day number check. I’ve noticed that Goodreads and Amazon have been very slow to update the ‘Review Totals’ at the top of the screen the past month. Makes me wonder if the system is getting revamped or something.
Goals of the Week:
Continue writing Book 8. Hopefully, I can get out of my funk.
Make list of June blog post topics. So far I have ‘Food in Fiction’, ‘Social Media Marketing’, and ‘Villain Debut Excerpts’. Means I need one more weekly topic to clear the month off. Well there is one, but I’m not sure I want to go there. Marriage in Fiction an interest to anyone? I keep talking about the romance in a story, but I never went into the ‘positive’ endgame.
Attend a meeting that was set up for me without my knowledge. Nothing makes me choke on my seltzer more than hearing that one of my weekday mornings has been claimed. Hopefully I get home quickly.
Attend a meeting that was set up with my knowledge. Touring the toddler’s future kindergarten.
Prepare for next weekend’s Yard Sale. For anyone who doesn’t know what this is, you take all of the things you don’t want to keep and put them on the driveway/front lawn. Tables are set up and signs are placed around the area. You sell these things for cheap and donate whatever is left over. Sometimes it lasts for a weekend, but this will probably be for a day.
That’s the gist of the week. I’ll be lucky to get my usual 3 chapters written, but I might get lucky. 3-5 weeks and then I’ll be leaping into the big editing run. 4 books in a row? Could be a nice change of pace.
The last that I had heard (middle of this week), my book information was being uploaded to distribution channels, and I should expect to see it hit the major online sellers in a few weeks, probably by the end of June.
Imagine my surprise to find that The Mirror is now for sale at Barnes & Noble as an e-book. ***UPDATE: Changed to all formats as I was typing!*** It’s really happening, perhaps a bit faster than I had expected. I’m still working with my FriesenPress.com marketing guru to get things like my marketing plan and formal press release done. I don’t even have an “official” launch date or event planned yet.
May I ask a favour from those who’ve already read the manuscript or galley proof? It would be helpful if you’d leave comments and rank the book at both…
In this second installment of The Stone Dragon Saga, Aliphonsore and his newfound friends must travel across the state, and then across the world, to locate and rescue his family. As they work to accomplish their goals, Anna, Jane, and Al will discover more than they bargained for as they fight opposing forces in order to bring their family together.
<style type=’text/css’> #outer_postBodyPS { display: none; } #psGradient { display: none; } #psPlaceHolder { display: none; } #psExpand { display: none; } </style> <div id=”postBodyPS”>In this second installment of The Stone Dragon Saga, Aliphonsore and his newfound friends must travel across the state, and then across the world, to locate and rescue his family. As they work to accomplish their goals, Anna, Jane, and Al will discover more than they bargained for as they fight opposing forces in order to bring their family…
Time to take a break so I can concentrate on putting together my next poetry collection. I will be fairly quiet for a few days, although I may repost some of my favorite poems. In fact, that’s what I’m going to do today. This is from Dreams of Love, my first poetry collection. Have you bought it yet? It’s only $.99 for Kindle (but you can also buy the paperback). It has been in the top 100 kindle books for love poems off and on (as I write this, it is #98). With 11 five-star reviews, I’m pleased, but need the sales to keep it in the top #100. You can click on the picture below to follow the link to Amazon.
I will be back with more poems and a cover reveal soon
Have you ever…
Started to say I love you?
Wanted to reach out and touch him?
Long ago, I created a character named Sin. He was a cunning thief who got himself caught up in a grand adventure. I made him in high school and I’ve mentioned him a few times on this blog. He’s one of the The Four in my head, so he has a lot of big things planned for him. Unfortunately, Sin keeps getting into trouble with his stories. At first he was 1 story and then a trilogy and then 5 and then 7 and then 9 and back to 7 and now back to 9. Did I lose anyone there?
Here’s the thing with Sin. Unlike Luke Callindor, his destiny is very unclear and he doesn’t go along with what he does know. So, he gets into grand adventures that he has very little business getting into. Unlike Clyde, he isn’t a violent monster involved in a power struggle of near immortals. Unlike Darwin, Sin knows exactly what he’s doing, which allows for a longer story and more twists and turns. This makes him the perfect character for tales that are global, high action, and major explorations of Windemere. Whenever I come up with an idea that has tiered villains, ancient weapons, and a gathering of new heroes, I find that Sin fits into the entire scenario.
You might be wondering what this has to do with a ‘Theme’. Well, I had it set up that each of his main villains would embody a deadly sin. Honestly, I never planned that when I originally designed Sin and gave him the name. I simply liked the sound of it and it worked with his thief background. I still haven’t given him a birth name, which is something I might have to look into at some point. Anyway, I ran into the following problem as you can see from the first paragraph:
I have 9 books in the series!
So, what does one do with this? I considered dropping 2 of the stories, but they’re all good stories with a lot of development for Sin, his recurring friends, and Windemere. So, I’m thinking of fudging the theme. I have the 7 Deadly Sins along with ‘Original Sin’ (though more sin of the creator) and something I’m calling ‘All Sin’. That last one is a villain who will embody all of the 7 Deadly ones. It’s a stretch and can fall apart, but what else can one do? Guess I could ditch the theme. I’m glad it’ll be years before I get to this one.
Got the song stuck in your head? Join the club, but I have a maniacal edge to mine. This morning, the toddler said he wanted the ‘Princess in the Snow’. He was introduced to ‘Frozen’ over the weekend and we weren’t sure it had an impact. Guess it did. If you know toddlers then a 1-day rental from Redbox or a 3-day from the library won’t cut it. The hunt was on for ‘Frozen’ on DVD. That began at 10:30 AM and I got home at 1:00 PM.
First, I tried Walmart since it was closest and they had a Subway (sandwich shop) in the building. I got there without a problem, which is the extent of my early victory. All they had was the ‘Collector’s Edition’. Why the fuck do I need the DVD, Blu-Ray, AND Digital copy? I’ve never been able to figure out the purpose of these combos. Especially since I’ve rarely seen a store out of them. Out of DVD Only? Yes. Out of Blu-Ray? Yes. Out of the blatant attempt to get extra money through use of the words ‘Collector’s Edition’? Only when the store ordered 4-5 copies during the debut week. I do wonder if part of the ploy is to get people to buy these versions because there are no other versions left. Why would you need 3 versions of the same movie? Seriously, I’d love to know the genuine answer to this. Is it the Anti-Social Family package, so every member can watch the movie in their own room?
Anyway, that was Walmart and I headed off to another store. During this trip, the vehicle behind me decided it wanted to perform the timid mating dance of automobiles. By this I mean the driver kept tapping their front bumper to my back bumper. I guess it was an attempt to make me go faster. Genius plan there, numb nuts. I assume the cars in front of me are mirages that I can harmlessly pass through. The lights are designed to prevent speeding and they suck. Live with it before someone feeds you your own steering wheel . . . and the store only had the Blu-Ray versions. Dang it. Also to the employee who thought saying ‘Maybe you should let it go’ was funny, my keys double as bootleg Wolverine claws if I hold them right. My laugh was not of agreement, but of looming madness.
Off to the mall in the opposite direction than where I was previously going . . . construction. Stop, go, stop, go, stop, go, GYAH! People switching lanes during this always irks me and I was already starving. Once I get past the blockage, it’ll all be good. Unless the construction vehicles finish while I within the first 10 cars of the jam and they pull out. Oh my fucking god and I don’t mean Aphrodite! People just swerved into the openings, cut people off, and acted like their cars were graceful ballerinas instead of hunks of metal on rubber. To the speedster who cut me off twice during the overall traffic jam, I hope you hit someone that gives you a windshield wiper colonoscopy.
Now things get weird. I got to the mall through more traffic and people auditioning for ‘Blood on the Asphalt’. Went through the mall and found . . . a line dancing mob in cowboy hats and flannel. I swear I’m not making this up. Cotton Eye Joe was playing and everything. Here:
This kind of broke me. It was the last thing I thought I would see and I just gave up on being in a rage. Found ‘Frozen’, ate some Chinese food, returned to the car, battled more random construction-based traffic, and dragged my butt home 2.5 hours after I left to simply ‘grab the movie at Walmart’.
I end on this note: check the blog of Michelle Proulx and her book Imminent Danger: And How to Fly Straight Into It. What does she have to do with this? She unintentionally gave me a laugh while I wrote this. How? I went to Youtube to find the ‘Let It Go’ video and who do I see has written the second comment? Michelle. Figure it’s simply bizarre that I stumble onto that, so I’ll take a universal hint and push her book. It’s been an odd day.
