Villains Are Important People, Too

When's the last time you read a book that had a villain who really got under your skin, a villain the author made into a living, breathing person that scared you? It's not easy to do, believe me. But it is necessary to make the story come alive in a very real way.

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)?

Well, like Sherrill, I never go anywhere. We can't afford to travel, and we don't have babysitting, and vacations with little kids usually aren't all that great.

I do like to travel, though. We went to Edinburgh on our honeymoon, and it's still one of my favorite cities in the world. It's beautiful. It's full of history. The people are incredibly nice. We walked the Royal Mile and drank tea and watched a piper in full highland regalia outside the new Scottish Parliament building. We saw the spot at Holyrood House where Riccio was killed and walked in the gardens and had a fantastic time. I want to go again and do a ghost walk one of these days.

My favorite American city is Washington DC. I've been there a couple of times and just loved it, everything about it. It's a beautiful city. There's tons of interesting things to do, many of them free or very cheap. I went last time with an ex-boyfriend and we sat and ate lunch on the steps of the Supreme Court building. I saw Lincoln's bloodstain on the pillow at the house where they took him after he was shot. I can't remember if we went into Ford's theatre or not, though. I've been to the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian and...I just love Washington. I'd love to live in that area but it's sooo expensive.

Where do I want to go? Hmmm. Ireland. The hubs and I have been talking about going to Tunisia, because it's apparently safe and inexpensive, and they still hjave some of the Star Wars sets there. And you can ride a camel.

I'd love to go to Russia too, and Holland. I'd like to go to Munich because Elizabeth Peters set a few books there.

Where would you go?

If there is one place I have to go before I die...

Actually, I already know what Heaven looks like. It looks like this:

County Galway, Ireland.

I know what angels look like, too. And their names aren't Gabriel or Raphael... though some are named Michael! :-) And Seamus, and Sean, and Liam and Aedan and Tadgh and Brendan and Donal and Colm and Eamon and Finn.

Oh my, yes.


I've even got my house all picked out:

(Can I just move in now?)




Although I suppose it wouldn't kill me to live in a city for once, like, oh, Galway...

In fact, I know it wouldn't. And if it did, at least I wouldn't have to go far -- I'd already be in heaven.

Yup.




How about you? Where's the one place that for you is Heaven on Earth?

My favorite thing to do EVAH!

Vacations....I LOVE them. Travelling is way up there on my 'to do' list and I go as many places as I can possibly manage on my budget, and with as many kidlets as we have around here.

If you want to see some super in-depth Anna-travel-action, follow the link:
http://annajevans.blogspot.com/2007/05/thursday-thirteen_24.html

(Because I JUST blogged about this not too long ago, and I don't have much more to say on the subject that isn't covered in that post. Still....I'll throw up a few of the pics I had on my desktop *g*)



Ahhh...Cancun. We went in February for 4 days. It rocked. We were lazy and drank beer and ate yummy food and completely neglected to take pictures except these kind of lame shots on the last day.


Patzcuaro Mexico. Awesome day of the dead festival! Would go back again any time.



Disneyworld...we went there on our honeymoon :). (You'll notice me and the hubs aren't much taller than the mouse, lol.)

Happy Wednesday,

Anna J. Evans

http://annajevans.com

One year ago...

...I was preparing for a 10 day trip to Ireland with assorted immediate and extended family members. First, 14 adults together on a trip where there's only a loose time/organizational structure can be *quite* interesting! It is also a lot of fun as I do enjoy spending time with my family :) We've got a long history of taking family trips in cars and this trip just added to the many shared memories. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip:

My Dad, Mom, brother and his fiancee and a guy with his dog at St. Declan's Well in Ardmore, Co. Waterford.



My brothers horsing around on Inse Strand, Co. Kerry.



Dingle Bay, Co. Kerry



My mom and dad at St. Kevin's in Glendalough, Co. Wicklow.



Almost skinny-dipping young men at the falls in Glendalough.



View from the top of Blarney Castle, Co. Cork.

What are some of your favorite family vacation memories?

Vacations

I have to say, I think this post from me is going to be rather short, because I just don't take vacations and go anywhere interesting. Well, not usually. Before I moved to Arizona, I'd come out here on vacation, so I'm completely happy taking time off and just staying at home. So maybe I'll just share some pictures of special places around where I live.

This is a gorgeous view of natural hot springs called Agua Caliente:


And, of course, there are the mountains:


And the canyons:


The San Xavier del bac mission:


Old Tucson Studios:



And lots of other places to visit within just a few hours. I consider myself to be one lucky woman to live in a place where I love to vacation!

How about you? What's your favorite place to go on vacation?

The Grumpy Blogger

"Oh, December," you say, your sweet brow wrinkled with concern. "Why are you grumpy?"

"Because," I say. "Because my husband decided to come home sick from work today."

"But that should be a good thing! You like it when your husband is home."

"Not when he flops around on the couch all day, thus making it impossible for me to work."


Yes. Like Sierra, my workspace is the living room couch and my laptop. So when certain inconsiderate husbands, who've been told that I have a lot of work to do today, decide to spend the day watching Star Wars on the couch with every pillow in the house piled up around them, it makes me grumpy.

(I love Star Wars--except he insists on watching Revenge of the Sith, which, I just don't like any of those new ones. But the big problem is that with him watching that, out little Faery doesn't have her Playhouse Disney to distract her, so guess who gets to play with her for hours? Yep. Me. So not only am I not working, I'm having little toddler feet shoved in my face while she giggles. For hours. Yay.)

We also have a desktop upstairs, bought back when the faery poured juice in the laptop last fall. But for some reason my internet access won't work up there--his does, mine doesn't, clicking on the icon does nothing, I can't explain it--and more importantly, his stuff is all over that desk. The desk and desktop were bought for me, but it wasn't long before my lovely clean expanse of desk was covered with action figures and CDs and various other man detritus.

He's upstairs taking a nap now--finally!!!--but I have to go pick up Princess from a friend's house so don't have time to stay and whine more. I'm sure you're very disappointed.