Author R.A. Gasparac

Hello Darkness, my old friend….

::excitedly rubs her palms together, and pinches the tip of her handlebar mustache::

Okay, I don’t have a mustache, but I HAD to mention the all time top cliche in villains before we started.  It is a easy way for your reader to identify who the bad guy is in your story.  I should also say this is by far the LAZIEST way as well.  Something happened to our heroes and villains in the last twenty years. The good guys were the bad guys, and the bad guys were the good guys trying to right a wrong. I talked about this in our last post about Anti Heroes and Character Development.

So, what are we going to cover today?

• The Wolf now wears sheepskin
• Know your villain better than your Protagonist
• Excellent examples of Villains you love to hate.

The Wolf Now Wears Sheepskin

No longer do we live in the world of the bad guy being easy to find.  These days readers want a much harder time of guessing who the real villain is.  Take for instance The Sookie Stackhouse Novels.  For the sake of time, I will just be talking about the first book.

Rene is the best example of this type of villain. Charlaine Harris did a superb job of making her villain such a seemingly good ‘ol boy, that the reader refused to believe until the truth was revealed, and we learned the truth about him.  Slowly, throughout the book Charlaine Harris gave us some serious clues that he is the bad guy killing ‘Fang Bangers’, but because he was first painted as SUCH A GOOD GUY, it gave us whiplash when we finally read the chapter in the Cemetery where Sookie has to kill him with a shovel in order to survive.  One really good tactic she used was pairing him with Arlene.  (By far one of my all time favorite supporting characters, so flawed, and viciously loyal to her friends.  It also helps that she is a supermom.)

Know Your Villain Well

If you get anything out of my NaNo Prep Series, it is this : THE VILLAIN IS THE HERO OF THIER OWN STORY.  All it takes is a slight shift in perspective to see who is the Hero, and who is the Villain.

While many people choose to focus on showing how their Main Character is so good, they forget that their Villain needs to be at least six steps ahead of your hero.  The journey in your character arc should be the way in which the Protagonist is gaining on the villain, until the hero messes everything up for them right at the most important moment.

This hero has to devastate the villain that they came so close to getting EVERYTHING THEY EVER WANTED ( Like in Loki’s chase – to be taken seriously, and not live in his brothers shadow any more.)  Giving your Antagonist a healthy set of like-able qualities makes it that much more conflicting for your reader.  They want the hero to succeed, but they don’t want the villain to loose everything they have worked their lives for.  This makes for some SERIOUSLY good reading.

Examples of Villains We Love To Hate (or just love)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxf8XwrGZeM

::Looses herself for a few moment staring at Loki::

Sorry, what was I talking about again? Oh yes. Like-able Villains. THAT’S RIGHT...  Your Homework today is to think long and hard about your Villain, and what you want the reader to feel for them.  Brainstorm ways to crush the readers heart, and cause serious conflict for who they are rooting for.

We re almost at the Finish line of November 1st.(2016)  I’ve gone over all of the nitty gritting stuff that needs to be figured out to give you a serious head start. The next few post will be covering more on the theories of storytelling and such.  Be sure to check those out as well, as these get your head in the game before midnight hits Halloween night.

Did I miss anything? Be sure to contribute in the comments below!

Miss a post? Want to catch up? Here’s the table of Contents.

Wanna get a head start on your NaNo Prep with an inspirational quick read? Pick up my quick to read guide on how I won my 2014 Nano FIVE DAYS EARLY!