How to Make a Good Villain
In a certain way it was easier in Victorian times when all a villain needed was a monocle and a riding crop.
Villains have been on my mind. (Maybe it’s the news lately….) Not every book needs a villain, but when you do, they’re often the most fun part of the creative process. For me, anyway. Perhaps this is something I should discuss with my therapist.
You can have a straight-up villain who’s just nasty all through, and sometimes that’s all your story needs–somebody threatening, with very little complexity but enough mojo to keep your protagonist on his/her toes. (See Gideon Arnold of The Secrets of the Seven series or Alain of Dragon’s Egg.)
Sometimes, though, a story needs a subtler villain. A sneaky one. One of the creepiest things about these villains is that they get you to trust them. They’re nice. They’re plausible. They are, in fact, just what you wanted–a friend, a protector, an ally. Until they’re not. This is one of the best writer tricks to play with a villain–when the person the hero (and by extension, the reader) trusts most is the bad guy. (For example, Abby Arnold in The Secret of the Seven series or Robert Pooley in The Secret of the Rose. Yep, those titles are kind of giveaways, huh?)
Hint to readers: if somebody in the book is too perfect, too caring, too helpful, so much concerned with meeting the hero’s needs that they seem to have none of their own–watch out.
But the most fun, absolutely the most fun thing you can do with a villain is to turn him or her into the hero.
Like the king’s unacknowledged son who pulls his father’s kingdom down around his head (Medraud in The Dragon’s Son) or the trained and pitiless assassin whose mission goes awry (Kata in Deadly Flowers and Deadly Wish), it’s so much fun to get into the head of a villain. The trick here is to know that very few people are the villains of their own stories. You, as the writer, have to find the way that works. You have to make your villain/hero sympathetic by giving him or her a goal everybody can relate to. So Medraud wants his father to pay attention to him (who doesn’t?) and Kata wants to take something she’s very good at and become the best at it. Admirable, even.
If you can make that feeling vivid enough in your character’s head, the reader will follow him or her through the book, no matter what havoc he or she trails in his wake. Sympathy turns a villain into a hero. And it’s a lot of fun.
Read MoreWhat I’ve Been Reading
Mary’s Monster–poetry and appropriately haunting black and white art combine to create a biography of Mary Shelley that’s unforgettable. At first the text reads a little stiffly, not quite as moving as the evocative artwork–but as the book progresses the poems grow in strength.
Love, death, exile, longing, despair, creativity, beauty, horror–all gathered together in Lita Judge’s sensitive and powerful work.
Read MoreWho Decides Morality?
Classic? Controversial? Scandalous? All three?
I posted a while back about the emergence of morality clauses in publisher’s contracts. It continues to be an issue. Judith Shulevitz has an interesting take on it in the New York Times, pointing out that:
This past year, regular contributors to Condé Nast magazines started spotting a new paragraph in their yearly contracts. It’s a doozy. If, in the company’s “sole judgment,” the clause states, the writer “becomes the subject of public disrepute, contempt, complaints or scandals,” Condé Nast can terminate the agreement. In other words, a writer need not have done anything wrong; she need only become scandalous.
I take issue with Ms Shulevitz contention that it’s okay for children’s book authors to sign morality clauses while adult writers should resist them. We encounter scandal in the children’s book world too, and we occasionally stir it up. The Chocolate War, Where the Wild Things Are, and Harriet the Spy are all classics of children’s literature that were controversial and by some considered outrageous when they were published.
I think her other points are valid and important, though. Consider:
Read MoreAfter our conversation, Ms. Gersen sent me an email pointing out a possible unintended consequence of the Condé Nast [morality] clause. Who are the groups subjected to the most public vitriol for their published work, she asked? Who is most viciously trolled? Women and members of minorities. “That is one of the realities of publishing while a woman or minority in this age,” she wrote. “The clause is perversely posing more career risk to women and minorities than to white males.”
If all it takes to lose a magazine gig or book deal is to fall into “public disrepute,” it won’t be only villains whose voices are lost.
Sunshine State Young Readers List
The Eureka Key
Whoo-hoo! The Eureka Key is on Floria’s Sunshine State Young Reader’s List! I note that fellow Mainer Megan Frazer Blakemore has made it on this list as well. Hey, Megan, we’re snowbirds!
https://www.floridamediaed.org/ssyra.html
Read MoreSarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Thomson focuses on newfound connection, magic, and suspense to conjure a fast-paced, heartwarming mystery. Thomson’s world is populated by resourceful protagonists, fanciful creatures, and quirky supporting characters.”
—Publishers Weekly