I'll admit, I have a difficult time giving my villains enough screen time, and making them as complex as I make my heroes. But the villain must be more than just a mustachioed figure cackling in glee over whatever problems he's just caused our main characters.
In Dragonfire, my villain is a magical Druid. One reviewer said the buildup of the villain was great, but then the resolution happened too quickly and wasn't satisfying. So I did a good job ramping up the tension, but instead of slowly easing it down, I let all the air out of the balloon at once. The reviewer, at least, felt cheated. (Other than that, though, she gave the story a good review.)
In the full-length book I'm working on revising (per the request of my agent), a comment I received from her regarding the villain of the piece was that he was almost "cartoonish; over-the-top". Ouch. But you know what?
She's right.
Damn. I guess there's a reason why no one has told me this writing gig is easy. 'Cause it ain't. It's frickin' hard!
The thing authors need to remember is that the villain is the hero in his own world. Whatever his goals are, whatever his motivations for obtaining those goals, it's right and just in his eyes. Someone in a recent workshop I attended said that the best way to create a villain is to take your hero, take his strongest quality, and amplify it. Because even a good thing taken too far can be bad, but it still can have a noble quality to it.
So, what do you think? Who are your favorite (or hated) villains (books or movies)?
4 comments:
Sherrill, oh man do I hear that. Villains are hard. Gotta say, the best villain of all time in my book is Hannibal Lechter. And I agree utterly with that quote -- because what makes him so terrifying is the fact that he's incredibly bright. Which is one of the things that makes Clarice Starling such a fabulous heroine. And also what makes them a great team -- she's smart enough to follow where he leads.
More than that, he's likeable. He's charming. He's witty. He's got a wicked sense of humor. And he's very, very charismatic.
Right until he starts ripping people's faces off and eating them.
That movie terrified the everloving bejeezus out of me.
-- Sierra
Sie, that's one of my all-time favorite movies, but one that I can only watch about once every five years or so. Then I get all freaked out again. The scene where he's beating the guard to death and doesn't even break a sweat or have his pulse increase...creeeeeepy!
OMG, I hadn't even read this when I did my post. so true, hannibal is the bestest.
anna
LOL Anna. Well, great minds and all that...
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