Monday, August 16, 2010

Villains


I’ve been reading quite a few books that give the villain’s/antagonist's point of view. Usually, I don’t mind this, or at least, I never minded until recently, but lately, it’s been getting on my nerves.

I know what they say, make your villain three dimensional. Give them more shades of gray as opposed to just black and white, and to do that, you have to get into the head of the villain. But what I’m finding is a lot of telling. The problem with giving the villain’s pov is we have to learn their neurosis, there insanity and their motives all without making the novel all about them. What I’ve been getting lately is a three to five page narrative in the mind of a sociopath and it’s no fun being in there, especially when we’ve left some good and interesting characters to take a trip down the rabbit hole.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good demented character just like the next gal, but the rules for villains are the same for any character, show me don’t tell me. I’m finding that I don’t remember any of the information about the antagonist that was dumped on me, so it’s almost pointless to have it in the book.

J.K. Rowling was a bit brilliant with her construction of Voldemort. We first learn about him through fear of his name. Then we fear him because of dastardly deeds of those who are still loyal to him. When we finally get to see Voldemort, live and in person in book four, we are terrified by then. Not everyone will have four books to build up their antagonist, but maybe you’ll have four chapters to show us fear, show us henchmen, show us the end result of one of his/her tirades, and then bring on the villain.

I think about this whenever I’m writing my antagonist and trying to make him/her as shaded in gray as possible, as well as showing their motives and not telling them.

How do you construct your antagonist/villain?

Edit 08/17/10: OMG! I can not believe I had PROTAGONIST all throughout this post. It was like my brain had shut off and only now did I realize, "Dummy, you meant ANTAGONIST!" Thanks to all of the people who said nothing because you knew what I meant. But feel free to correct me in the future-guh!

10 comments:

Tamika: said...

I'm not sure that I've nailed this one, but I like to make them as developed as the other power players. The key with the villian is to make them a litte spicer and more conflicted.

Hard work!

Jemi Fraser said...

Really good post. Villains should follow the same rules as everyone else.

In my current ms, the villain is slowly revealed - we don't realize who it is at the beginning. Hopefully it works well.

Karen Denise said...

You're right Tamika, it is hard work. And I suspect it's not something that will ever get super easy as the books I've been reading lately are by WELL established authors.

Jemi, what you described sounds interesting. I love when the villain has been in the story all along and we have several suspects. Hope it works for you, sounds like it will, anyway.

Theresa Milstein said...

I agree with you, J.K. Rowling has it down with her villains. Even Draco's motivations and issues become clear through actions and conversation rather than telling. And Voldemort - getting to see him through memories and conversations + Dumbledore's theories, makes it so much more interesting. I didn't know quite what a genius she was until book 6.

Karen Denise said...

Right, Theresa! Although, I knew a but sooner, lol. I was convinced by book 4 which completely changed everything for me. I think about that whenever I'm constructing a villain--even though I've never created one quite like Voldemort or even Draco. Lol

Jennifer Hillier said...

Gee, I tell you who my villain is right up front (I actually said it in my query, LOL). A decent chunk of the book is in his POV. But I did try to give him layers, same as the other characters. I took a workshop last year at ThrillerFest with Donald Maass, who said complexity is key in making a villain believable and scary. I don't know whether I pulled it off (I hope so), but the villain was really fun to write.

Karen Denise said...

Jennifer, I'm not saying knowing the villain up front or even getting their pov is a bad thing. On the contrary, I'm saying it just has to be done well. In fact, I think if we're going to get the villain's pov then we should get enough to really know the character. Sounds like thats what will happen in your novel. I hope you did pull it off. Good luck with it!

Shelley Sly said...

You make some great points here. A villain needs to be just as fleshed out, just as complex and balanced as a hero. I agree that J.K. Rowling does this phenomenally with Voldemort. No one, not even the crazies in real life prisons, are all bad. Everyone has motivation, back story, etc. If we can semi-sympathize with the villain while still shunning his/her actions, then I think s/he's well written.

Jennifer Hillier said...

Totally agree. Nothing's worse than a flimsy villain!

Karen Denise said...

Shelley, take it from someone who worked in a prison, you're right. Not all of them were bad, some just made poor choices. And that's usually what makes a good villain. Someone who took that left turn when they should've gone right and the road from then on was just a series of wrong steps.