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What's more is we have a fabulous giveaway for you all too!
Today - day three - we're featuring author J.M. Bray. Enjoy his post and have fun entering the giveaway.
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Ingredients For Cooking Up A Villain by J.M. Bray
“Write what you know.” We’ve seen the quote a
thousand times and for the most part, it’s good advice. When writing Tearing the Shroud, I faced a dilemma
where that little phrase didn’t help at all. The novel is the first in a
multi-book series and I wanted an antagonist who would kick things off with a
bang. Like many people, I try to do positive, uplifting things with my life. I’d
seen bad, I’d experienced bad, I’d even stood against it, but how could I come
up with a villain you loved to hate?
Since my outlining consists of scribbling words in
dry erase marker on a larger mirror, I didn’t know who he’d be or how he would
become evil. I only knew his motivation. We
could go into the huge importance of a proper villain, but that’s a blog in
itself. Let’s stay focused on the basics of construction.
I’m not a huge believer in people just being a bad
seed. Things happen and then we choose
how to respond to that event, so I started there. I gave Justus a pivotal life
event then had him respond…and there was the tricky part. I hadn’t made those wrong
choices and didn’t have a great basis for what to do, so here’s what I came up
with.
I started with the obvious. I had him choose the
opposite of what a normal, unselfish, caring person would. As I said, obvious,
but sometimes the simplest step is the one we miss. Then I focused that choice
with a magnifying glass of something bad: drugs, anger, alcohol abuse, etc. and
I was off and rolling.
When I pushed this little equation, it didn’t take
long to realize his self-absorbed single-mindedness had made him a sociopath.
Then it became a whole new level of crazed freedom. Things can go awry here as
it’s an easy step from wonderful creepiness to overblown ridiculousness. Hannibal
Lector explaining Ray Liotta’s brain at dinner with classical piano music
playing is horrifyingly great. Change the music to show tunes and have him tap
dance a little and it’s just horrible.
When people
are objects and selfish intent prompts a character’s interactions with
them, the sanity gloves come completely off. Someone frustrates you, beat them
with a stick. They have something you want, take it, if they complain, kill
them. Why? Because they don’t matter. They and everyone else, are only around
to let the villain achieve what he or she wants. The comedian Richard Pryor told
a story that comes to mind. While visiting a prison, he asked an inmate:
“Why’d you kill
everybody in the house?”
The man answered, “They
was home.”
That’s evil…and while we
don’t actually like it, we enjoy the fantasy. When I’m trying to
bring out delicious, velvety, layers of wicked I look at those three things: Motivation.
Choices. Treatment of others. It works for me and I hope it helps you as well.
RELEASE DATE: 11/2013
GENRE: FANTASY
IMPRINT: ESCAPE PUBLISHING
PAGINATION: 305TEARING THE SHROUD
BY JM BRAY
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