Cutlass Trilogy

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

5 Things I Like About Villains!





We all have them--Villains! You can kinda love them, but hate comes pretty easily. They can range from the a good villain type: 

Gur - He tries really hard to be an evil scientist, but it really is against his nature. And he just can't resist those cute little girls he adopted! He can be categorized as the "Villain turned good." 









There are those who start out good, but become traitors: 

Davy Jones is a good example. His original job was to ferry lost souls to the World's End. The elusive nature of his love caused him to turn bitter and well...now he looks like this. 


Perhaps you were thinking of Anakin Skywalker --arguably the most famous good guy-turned villain.












There are villains who are pretty evil, but lack...something: 

Many times, you don't really think they should be a villain. They offer comic relief. Kronk here isn't all that intelligent, and he usually ends up helping the good guys because everything he does ends up hindering the real Villains plans (in this case, Yzma). 














Then there are just some really bad guys: 


This dude made me cringe when he drove a pencil through some poor guys hand. Then shoved his face on it. 
Yep. These people have no concern for anyone or life in general. There's usually some reason for it--sometimes someone's family has suffered. Sometimes, they lost a job, or were made fools of somehow. Either way, they're pretty evil! 












So...why do we like them? 


Well, 
1. What kind of story are you going to have without some bad guys? 


You gotta make your good guy's life tough, otherwise you have no story! So, have as many bad guys as you want, have variations! The more, the merrier! Make it tougher by not having a squeaky clean MC/Good guy--because really, who wants a PURELY good MC? 


2. Sometimes, your Villains are the most interesting characters to write. 


The reason? Well, they're complicated. You don't really have to explain why your good guy is good (though just how good can sometimes be a point of tension/questioning), but you really have to explain why you bad guy is bad. Everyone wants to know exactly how they got that way, because there has to be a reason, right? 


3. Villains make things interesting 


Not only do Villains make it tough for the bad guys, but they sure are resourceful! They are also very creative. Give props to the writers if you want too--but sometimes I'm not sure how my characters come up with the things they do! Especially the Villains. 


4. Well, if you're a good person, it's pretty cool to put yourself into a Villains shoes. 


I often wonder how in the world these character are in my head. Some, I love, they are the Gur's--others I hate...they're the Jokers. 


5. They wear all sorts of masks. 


Sometimes, you can spot you villain from miles away--they have the capes, the black clothes. Heck, they even look evil! Other times, the villains take you by surprise. The whole time they're just "la-tee-da" and then the next...BAM! They're evil and you didn't expect it because they didn't look like it, and they didn't act like that! 


All in all, Villains add fun even if what they do is pretty mean or just downright awful! 


Hope you enjoyed this post! I enjoyed writing it! :)

Tell me what your favorite type of Villain is, what characteristics do they have that make them particularly evil? Or not so evil? 

35 comments:

  1. My favorite type of villain is the "werewolf" kind, the one who is cursed to be evil against his will. He doesn't necessarily have to be an actual werewolf, but I really like the internal struggle between being good, and the natural (or supernatural?) forces that turn him evil. I think the struggle makes them so much more interesting and sympathetic.

    Though I also really appreciate the antisocial villain, the one who almost gets off on torturing others. The sadistic kind. They're so much fun to write, and I love to hate them!

    I never finished my own villains series posts ._. I'm pretty sure you and I used the very same Snidely Whiplash image to open the post, haha.

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    1. haha. I thought I had seen him somewhere else! But I couldn't remember where!
      Ohhh. I didn't think about werewolf--come to think of it, I have a cursed villain. The whole point of his revenge is because of that curse! Interesting!

      I agree--antisocial villains are fun to write. I often wonder where I get the ideas from!

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  2. I like the pure evil villains, maybe because they're very straight forward and I know what to expect - evil. This was fun to read - Ode to the Villains!

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  3. I love all kinds of villians! They are fun to write, read about, watch and play! (I'm an amatuer actress, and I LOVE playing the bad guy. The more evil the better.) :)

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    1. I agree! Really?!? I wouldn't pin you as the evil one, lol. I always liked being the crazy one. LOL.
      It would be fun to be the evil one!

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  4. Oh I love Kronk! He's awesome! Any villain that makes me laugh is good in my book. :)

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    1. haha. My bf was Pacha (sp?). We made him a Poncho and taped a Llama on it. so funny!

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  5. The MC in my book falls for the villain, it's a complicated relationship and I love it!

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    1. Oohhhh. That sounds like an awesome complication! I'd love to find out how that turns out!

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  6. I love a good villain, especially when it's a woman. Dolores Umbridge is the one that comes to mind. She was pure evil. But I also like a villain I can sympathize with. I'm a bleeding heart. :)

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    1. Ah! She IS evil! And in that horrible way because she's all pink. I never thought about how similar she is to Effie Trinket....

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  7. I just watched an episode of the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars DVD with my son. It was the one with Savage Opress. Another bad guy who just wanted to do the right thing(protect his brother) and is turned evil by super natural power. It makes it hard to hate them when you know they couldn't help who they became.

    I also just read The Hunger Games and while Snow is pure evil, I disliked Coins even more. At least Snow was honest about how evil he was. Coins was just like Snow, but you didn't know until that terribly sad ending. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with those bad guys that don't let you see how horrible they really are until the end.

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    1. Ooh. It IS hard to hate a Villain when you know they can't help who they are, and it's even worse to find out toward the end of how horrible they are! :/ I have on Villain who just does despicable things throughout the entire book. You just can't wait until he dies. thing is...he can't wait to die, either.

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  8. I love the villian's story - I always want to know what made them the way they are. I think the best example of this is The Godfather. Michael's choice to embrace the darkness after being against it so long is reviting. I also like the good bad guy. Like Darth Vader who eventually does something redemptive. Great post!

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    1. Thanks! :)

      Yeah, I also like good guys who aren't purely good. They're no fun if they're squeaky clean. Of course, POV has a lot to do this that.

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  9. Ooh, I love the number 5 kind. From now on, I'm going to call them the "La-Dee-Das!" The villains that sneak up on me are my favorite to read and my favorite to write! Great post! I just watched Emperor's New Groove this week. Love Kronk, esp. when he's cooking at the diner!

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    1. LOL! I love it! When I typed that I was like.."Yeah...this is how it goes.." but it doesn't sound very Villain-ish. haha. Yeah, Kronk is funny! The whole movie is really great!

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  10. My favorite type of villian is the one that thinks they are right. They're doing what they feel is best and just happens to go against good. Because they're complicated. They believe they are doing the right thing.

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    1. That's always so complicated! I feel like that's how my pirates are...so it's super hard for me to say they're Villains, though I know to many people they are! Makes a very nice story! :)

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  11. GRU!
    the best villains are: not completely evil, funny or laughable, and highly intelligent
    you have chosen some great ones! (megamind is a good one too =)

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    1. LOL. That's how I feel about Gru. You just see him and you're like "AWWWWW"
      Thanks! OH MAN! I loved megamind! That's was a GREAT movie. Completely forgot about that one!

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  12. I just helped my son with an essay on villains, specifically the ones in "The Count of Monte Cristo". He made the keen observation that there are the evil villains who are easily hated, then there are the characters you like, but who do bad things. These conflicted characters seem to have the most impact on the readers.

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    1. I agree! Your son sounds like he's going to be a great English Major, lol.

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  13. I know this is unrelated to villains, but just read a post by Julie Kagawa (Iron Fey series) and she shares a certain boy crush. When I saw it I thought of you. http://juliekagawa.blogspot.com/2012/03/hotties-of-lit.html

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    1. I checked out her blog! I love that we have the mutual love of Ben Barnes, LOL. I put her books on my list of books to read so I can learn more about Ash! Thanks for the link! <3

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    2. Do read them, they are some of my favorite Faery books! And Ash rocks!

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    3. I've begun reading bits online and I can't tear myself away!! This is bad because I'm trying to edit. LOL.

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  14. Loving this post! Villains are easily some of my most favorite characters (or better yet, good guys who walk the very thin line of being quite villainy). I'm a bit twisted, but I love the Joker. It's hard for me to hate villains. I don't usually agree with their plans, but I rarely hate them. (Villains are just too near my heart! I love writing them so much. hehe)

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    1. LOL! I don't blame you for loving Villains! You can't keep from it when they're just so darn interesting! At first it was hard for me to take the Joker as a very serious bad guy, I think I was over halfway through the movie before I was like, "this guy means war!"

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  15. Neat post. I liked Sylvester from the old Looney Toons Cartoons. Even though he never got to eat Tweety, there was something enduring about how he kept trying to reach his goal without doing anything terribly atrocious.

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    1. Oh! Very nice comparison! I agree. I never thought about that. Villains really don't give up in what they want/believe in, and they are usually the people who die for their cause.

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  16. I love a good villain, especially in sci-fi or fairy tale genres. :-) I struggle with creating them in my own works of fiction, only because I usually write pieces where the characters are their own worst enemy. For some reason, I am obsessed with this concept!

    Kudos for including Darth Vader. Best. Villain. Ever.

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  17. Hey! I've left you a couple awards on my blog =)

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  18. I adore villains. Then again, I write mysteries so I hope so. My favorite are the ones that are everyday people that take that first step over the line. The look into how one human could break and a glimpse into how dark we can become.

    It's funny 'cause I'm such a non-violent person, so this is pretty ironic and special to me. Great post, Ashley. :)

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  19. great post. i know this may be odd, but i find the villainous characters are easier to write. i think as writers we get to "act out" through them and do things we wouldn't normally get to do. or maybe i'm just a little bit twisted. awkward.

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