Writing the Villian

Villains. We all love to hate them. Everyone has tricks and techniques to write villians. I’m hoping I can add a little something to how to go about making a villain three-dimensional.

Character Sheet 

I always pull out my characterization sheets and map out my villain’s traits. You have to make them three dimension with hopes and fears just like your other characters. You need to decide on what motivates him or her, what their greatest fear is, etc.

How dark is your villain? 

Decide how dark you want to make your villain. What shade of gray is he or her? Do you want to go all out and have a serial killer or someone tamer and who stays inside societies dictates?

Does the villain make the hero grow? 

When you’re mapping out your character and giving them certain traits, don’t forget to ask yourself, “What is it about the villain that makes the hero grow?”

What makes the villain who she or he is now? 

A villain wasn’t born that way. Peel back the layers of your villain and discover what changed him or her? Was there one factor growing up that made them who they are or were there numerous factors? Were they abused on a regular bases? Raped? Did they have cold, impersonal parents? Or maybe loving parents and then had a physical trauma as a teenager?

Do you love writing about your villain? 

If the answer is no, than go back and discover a trait or characteristic that you love about them. Once you do, it will come through in your writing, and add a new dimension to them.

Below is an excerpt of one of the villains in my story, Shrouded in Illusion, which will be coming out in the spring of next year. I loved writing about Peter.

Placing the file folder on the floor of the office, Peter Weaver crouched and opened the cabinet’s bottom drawer.  He gripped the penlight between his teeth.  It illuminated three rows of cassette recordings in their plastic cases.  Names inked in black ran across each spine.  He skimmed a gloved finger along the second row and pulled out three cassettes.

Unexpected light appeared through the frosted glass window to the right of the office door and cast fresh shadows over the desk and chairs.

For one pulse beat, Peter froze.  Quickly, he turned off his penlight and gripped the cassettes in a tight-fisted hand.  He rose to his full six-foot height and heard footsteps echo against the tiled hallway.  He hadn’t expected any interruptions after ten tonight.  This added a different spin on things.  He didn’t like complications.

The orders had been to get in, retrieve all available information on his mark, and get out undetected.  Only when everything was evaluated would the decision be made on whether or not to kill the woman.  But if a sudden obstacle developed, then Peter had been given the go-head to eliminate it.

He'd memorized the building from every angle.  The two-story, simple rectangular structure on the outskirts of Boston consisted of offices of varying medical and dental practices.  The elevators were on one side, and the stairwell rested at the other.  This office stood on the top floor and in the middle of the building.  The person walking this way sounded as if he or she were coming from the elevator.

The alarm system had been easy to breach, and the offices themselves were pathetic when it came to added security.  After entering the building, he’d reactivated the alarm system and locked the office door behind him.  That gave the person in the hall the misguided belief of being alone.

A shadow appeared behind the thick, opaque window.  Peter moved around the desk, over to the wall and set the cassettes on the floor by his feet.  He stood left of the door and flexed his gloved fingers.

The scrape of a key against metal and the whisper of the lock being eased back broke the silence.  The door opened inward and shielded him from view.  Someone flicked on the light switch.  Peter didn’t move as the door sighed shut, revealing a woman in beige slacks, a sleeveless brown shirt and shoulder length, straight brown hair.  She turned toward the desk, which gave him her profile, and confirmed her identity as the woman in the photo he’d been given.  

She hadn’t noticed him against the wall.  She turned again, this time exposing her back to him as she bent over her desk.

Perfect.

The carpet covered the sound of his step as he eased up behind her.  Then he struck, whipping his forearm across her throat and under her chin.  She jerked back against him.  Her hand caught at a stack of files.  Papers swept off the desk and into the air.  He drove his other forearm into the back of her neck in a chokehold, while crushing her windpipe and rupturing her larynx with his other arm.  He stepped back, throwing her off her feet and giving him added leverage.

She never had a chance to fight back or cry out.  Her hands fluttered midair, then dropped.  Peter snapped her neck.  He felt her body give, the energy within evaporate, leaving a husk of bone and muscle.

It took all of three seconds to complete the kill.

Peter dropped the woman to the carpeted floor in frustration.  Now he had to dispose of a body.  He'd killed a few people over the years, and they’d stayed buried, but only because he'd taken the time to do it right.  As for evidence of foul play, he’d eliminate all signs of a struggle and dispose of the body in his favorite dumping ground.  That’s why he liked using his hands.  They didn’t leave a mess like a gun or knife.  

He stepped over the woman's body, cleaned the room of evidence, and pocketed the cassettes.

H. D. Thomson

Villains

This month we are going to talk about writing villains. You don't want them to be the typical bad guy who is simply evil. Your villain is the hero of his own story. He needs to have his own layers as a character, his own strengths and weaknesses, his own hates and loves. Why is he/she evil? Were they always bad or did someone push them over the edge? Does everyone see this character as evil? Your villain needs to have character development as strong as your hero to make the story more interesting.

SPOTLIGHTTING: Janette Rallison/C.J. Hill

Janette Rallison

An Author Spotlight
by Connie Flynn

Janette Rallison (who is also sometimes CJ Hill when the mood strikes her) writes books because writing is much more fun than cleaning bathrooms.  Her avoidance of housework has led her to writing 19 novels which have sold over 1,000,000 copies and have been on the IRA Young Adults’ Choices lists, Popular Picks, and many state reading lists. Her latest are Slayers, Erasing Time, and My Unfair Godmother. Most of her books are romantic comedies or urban fantasies (with romance) because hey, there is enough angst in real life, but there’s a drastic shortage of fantasy, humor and hot guys who want to kiss you.  She lives in Arizona with her husband, kids, and enough cats to classify her as eccentric. In her blog, she discusses the funny side of being a YA author http://janette-rallison.blogspot.com .

To keep Janette on her toes I asked my standard trick question: What question has no one ever asked you that you wish they would.  Here is Janette's well thought out answer.

After sixteen years of publishing, I think I’ve been asked just about every question there is about writing. At conferences people ask about agents, editors, and revisions. Bloggers ask about the writing process, how book ideas happened, and what’s next on the horizon. The really interesting questions come during school visits because kids will ask any and every question that pops into their mind. What is your favorite color? What did you eat for breakfast this morning?  How much money do you make? 

The question I’ve never been asked is: Is it all worth it?  I suppose everyone thinks they already know the answer to this question. The aspiring writers are sure it is, the bloggers are glad it is, and many of the students--when they realize how much money I make--are sure it isn’t.  (The first boy who asked me how much money I made pondered my answer and then said, “So, writing is really more of a hobby than a career.”  It was back then, now it isn’t.) 

Perhaps the best answer to the Is-it-all-worth-it question is: “If you want to know if you’re really a writer, try and stop.” That pretty much sums up life for the avid writer. We’ll write whether it’s a hobby or a career.

The question that surprised me and still haunts me sometimes, came from a young girl during one of my school visits. She couldn’t have had the wisdom or prescience to realize what she was asking when she said, “Have you ever written anything that you regret writing?”

At that moment I thought of every book I’d ever written and the millions of children who have read them. I thought of how books affected me as a child. Some made me want to be a better person, some expanded my mind, some comforted me, others influenced me to do things I shouldn’t have. Books are that powerful. You can’t step into a main character’s skin, live their story, think their thoughts, and not be affected somehow.  Authors are kidding themselves if they think they can step away from that privilege and responsibility.

Standing in that school auditorium, I thought of the story ideas, plot outlines, and random chapters I have on my computer in my Possible Manuscripts folder.  A lot of those story ideas are really good. Some of them might not have the best affect on readers though. I vacillate whether I should ever write those books. On one hand, I as an author want to go on those journeys, to give life to those characters, and experience their stories with them. And doesn’t an author need to be true to a story no matter where it goes or what paths it takes the characters on? Who am I to censor creation?

It’s not the fault of Batman’s writers that some psycho dressed up as the Joker and shot up a movie theater. It’s not Stephenie Meyer’s fault if some misguided folks try to be vampires, or Footloose’s writers fault that teens died recreating car stunt shown in the movie. People are born with common sense and should use it.

But once you publish a book, once it’s out in the world sale and resale, it never goes away. You can’t ever take back what you’ve written. You can’t add disclaimers. No matter what common sense dictates, readers don’t even seem to fully realize that everything a character says or does isn’t condoned by the author. I’ve had people order food for me because I wrote that my main character liked that food.

The books I have out now are fun, romantic comedies and adventures. I write about good characters making mostly good choices. The others stories are still safely tucked away. For now at least, they’ll stay that way.

That's when I looked the girl in the eyes and told her there were books I wish I’d written better, but I didn’t regret anything I’d written. 

I was touched by the poignancy of Janette's answer and it reminded me that writers do important work, something that we so often forget in our scramble to stay in the marketplace.

Erasing Time Janette's latest release. I am an urban fantasy fan and am fascinated.

When twins Sheridan and Taylor wake up 400 years in the future, they find a changed world: domed cities, no animals, and a language that's so different, it barely sounds like English. And the worst news: They can't go back home.

The twenty-fifth-century government transported the girls to their city hoping to find a famous scientist to help perfect a devastating new weapon. The same government has implanted tracking devices in the citizens, limiting and examining everything they do. Taylor and Sheridan have to find a way out of the city before the government discovers their secrets. To complicate matters, the moblike Dakine has interest in getting hold of them too. The only way for the girls to elude their pursuers is to put their trust in Echo, a guy with secrets of his own. The trio must put their faith in the unknown to make a harrowing escape into the wilds beyond the city.

Full of adrenaline-injected chases and heartbreaking confessions, Erasing Time explores the strength of the bonds between twins, the risks and rewards of trust, and the hard road to finding the courage to fight for what you believe in.
Available at  Amazon.

Reviews.
Dramatic twists and turns to the very end ensure readers’ attention and the possibility of an equally thrilling sequel. Kirkus Reviews

Hill leaves the ending wide open for a sequel, and the combination of action and romance—which has become a trademark of the ever-growing trend of dystopian series—will make readers eager for the next installment.
Booklist

You can learn even more about Janette at her website Janette Rallison.

Free Short Story

Sorry I'm not providing writing content this month. I'm writing my fingers off to make a deadline. So here's a free short story if you're interested.

She'll risk everything to stay in the magical town of Amores. He'll do anything to stop her from gambling with their future.

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Break the Rules . . . Or Not

On Fire

Break the rules is about the best advice any creative person can hear.  Let’s face it, rules are the enemy of the creative process.  I mean, what’s this stuff about plotting, character sketches, inciting incidents and turning points.  I just write and those things take care of themselves. I'm on fire, my fingers race so fast, those ideas just keep coming . . .
Don’t they?

Sometimes, yes. Sometimes everything just flows.  Your people come alive, your story holds together and sizzles with tension.  Never, ever, have you not needed rules more.

What happens, though, on those days when you aren’t quite in the groove?  When, instead of being on fire, you're move like smoldering and threatening to fizzle out.  If it’s just a day or two, you think it’s a touch of the flu or your preoccupation with an upset in your life, and it goes away.  But then your editor calls and offers you a novella and you’re tearing your hair out trying to find an idea. Plus, your work in progress hits a really saggy middle.  The realities of being a successful author sink in.

Barely Smoldering

When inspiration fails you, rules come in handy.  Not stuffy rules like, oh say, the heroine’s mother always has to be a paragon among women.  Or the hero always has to be the richest man in the free world.  Or there can be no romance or sex in mysteries and fantasy. At one time these were standard conventions in contemporary fiction and cross genre writing was a big no, no, and no one read erotica that didn’t come in a brown paper wrapper.

No, I’m talking about using rules to build a comfortable structure in which to write.  Rules like, say, every story needs an arc.  Characters should have flaws.  Listing twenty things that could happen in your book on a daily basis  keeps ideas flowing.  A consistent writing schedule is the surest way to productivity.  Take rejection in stride.  Pay attention to methods of promoting your career.  Be alert to a changing market.

These rules create professional writers.  Craft and business rules that provide a foundation for your daily writing routine.  That support your writing efforts when inspiration alone isn’t enough.

That said, I now circle back to the title.  Watch out for the subtler rules that inhibit creativity.  We often call them conventions.  For instance, for a long period of time contemporary romance was always written in third person — definitely an unspoken rule.  Before that, much of it was in first person, then that died one day and, lo, first person was shunned.  Mysteries remained solidly first person; you seldom saw one written in another voice.  Although taking place in invented worlds, fantasy were always Medieval-like.  Westerns could only be written by Louie L’Amour (just kidding).

If no one had ever broken through these conventions, we wouldn’t have riveting third person thrillers, chick-lit would have never been born, urban fantasy would still be a fantasy, the western romance would be even more unpopular than it is today (another joke).

Another area where rules are being challenged is the area of being published at all and the arenas in which our works will be offered.  Nobody knows right now where publishing is going and writers who cling to the rules are in danger of being left behind.

Rules are a mixed bag.  Even the foundational rules of structure — plot, character flaws, scene and sequel —  can sometimes hinder.  Which mean we have to be willing to stretch beyond “what everybody does.”  Once upon a time the way to modest success was to find someone who’s doing it well and emulate them.  No more.  Those who soar to the top always write with a distinctive flair.  They push stories to the edge, and then slightly beyond.  They take a different approach than the average meerkat.  And at the same time they scrupulously follow important rules like consistent writing schedules and meeting their deadlines and networking as needed.

Most of us know how to follow rules. It takes some tweaking of the perspective to break them.  If you’re interested in pushing your own personal edges, take a hard look at your current  writing.  Do you always write in third person?  Try a chapter in first person.  All your heroes are alphas? How about introducing yourself to a beta hero.  Is your writing style in a distant and objective point of view?  Try writing just one scene in the emotional deep pov.  If you always write romance, try you hand at a young adult, or a mystery, or a goofy comedy – not the whole book at first; my, that would be too daring — but a scene, a chapter, a short story.  Stretch the way you write, continually look for new approaches.  Just for the heck of it, despite your deadlines.  Who knows, you could enter a new period of your writing when a fresh voice just bursts out of you.
 
So how well do you get along with the rules.  Are you a plott-dd-er or a pants-by- the-seat-of-er? Is your writing time scheduled or do you fit it in when you can? Have you developed a strong, recognizable style or do you experiment with different voices or structure from time to time? Or maybe you've come up with a unique way of managing your story ideas? I'd love to hear, Drop a note in the comments section and let's discuss it. Tomorrow's election day so I'll be close to my computer and my TV all day and night and will check in often.

Connie Flynn is a bestselling, award-winning author of romantic suspense and paranormal romance. She lives in Arizona and teaches fiction writing at a local community college.

The Fire Opal

Protecting the Witness

I have to admit, when I bought this book I wasn't sure I would enjoy it because of the gang activity involved. My grandmother owned a bar in the rough side of Phoenix and I teach in an area where there are gang-related drive-by shootings. So why was it the first book I bought on my Kindle? I wanted to read a selection of books from Harlequin's new Heartwarming series (No sex scenes) and I wanted to support a writer from the Desert Rose Chapter of Romance Writers of America that I joined about ten years ago. Linda is a nice, classy woman, as well as a great writer. I chose to support her.

To my surprise, I was pulled into the story immediately. The story is more about relationships than gangs. Not only the main relationship between the hero and heroine, but the strained relationships she has with her brother, her friends, and her co-workers. I immediately felt for her and wanted her to have that happy ending. Linda did not disappoint.

This is the excerpt from Amazon if you are interested in reading more:

Time Is Running Out…
She had vowed never to return to Houston's crime-riddled East End. But Detective Crista Santiago's promotion to the Chicano Squad has put her right back in the violence of the barrio. Determined to transfer out as fast as possible, Crista first has to prove herself by solving a series of drive-by shootings.
Crista has only one witness—four-year-old Samantha Del Rio. Protecting Samantha becomes Crista's number one priority, which means staying close to the little girl. And her widower father, Alex. But "staying close" soon changes into becoming part of the family. And the more attached Crista becomes to the girl and her father, the more she's afraid she's lost her edge…and her ability to protect the witness.

Show More

Show Less

Author Spotlight: Terri Garey

A Southern girl with an overactive imagination, Terri Garey grew up in Florida, always wondering why tropical prints and socks with sandals were considered a fashion statement. She survived the heat by reading in the shade, and watching cool shows like The Twilight Zone and the classic gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows. Balancing a career in computing with marriage and motherhood convinced her that life was too short to rely entirely on the left side of her brain, and quirky ideas about life among the undead began to replace the dry logic of computers. Deciding imagination was her best weapon in the war against reality, Terri dove even deeper into the world of the unexplained, and started writing her own devilishly delicious tales from the dark side.

BOOKS BY TERRI…

Dead Girls Are Easy, A Match Made In Hell, Weddings From Hell,
You’re The One That I Haunt and Silent Night, Haunted Night are part of an ongoing series
about Nicki Styx, a former Goth girl
who becomes an unwilling ghoulfriend to the dead.

Devil Without a Cause and A Devil Named Desire are Book #1 and Book #2 in her Devil’s Bargain series.

Her latest release is THE GHOUL NEXT DOOR, a novella for the Avon anthology, BLOOD BY MOONLIGHT. 
Ever inventive, she created an interactive game for the release of BLOOD BY MOONLIGHT,  that can be played on her website!

For more information, check out Terri’s website:  click here