Villains

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I've noticed that a lot of people, especially in movies, try to outdo their previous villain, and then completely botch the job.

I have decided that I'm not going to do that, as in, I'm not going to try and outdo my previous villains. I want each villain to stand on their own, have their own personalities and work with the powers and resources at their disposal.

For book three's villain, I have found that he is quite different from the villains in book 1 and 2, and those two were quite different from each other. What I'm striving for is not to outdo, but to be different. Each one has a different way of being killed, of going about their business, how they plan, carry out their plans, and how they kill. All three might get into an argument on how his way is the best way.

I also enjoy their backstories. I make it a point that none of them have a Disney backstory, which involves bullies. That's not the only way to become a villain or a hero. As for sympathetic, I'm not here to glorify evil or make anybody feel sorry for a creature that murders children.

Still, the backstory is what gives a villain a depth, makes them real, therefore, makes them scarier. If something bad happened in the villain's life, then it means that the villain became evil because of how they handled the situation, not because the situation happened.

If a reader can relate to a villain, then a reader should fear that they can become such a creature, and so beware. That's how it should be, instead of saying, "Oh wow, I can be cool like that, too!" I would call a reaction like that an utter failure on the writer's part to convey a proper villain...or the reader's a whack job.

These were my thoughts as I cut out the character for the villain in book three.

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