Creating and Understanding Your Villains

Podcast of our conversation on the baddies we love to hate!

Lynn Bohart writes paranormal mysteries and deals with villains in her many books. We have fun talking Super Villains or Super Antagonists in our 45 minute conversation on BlogTalkRadio.

Find Lynn and her wonderful books on the web:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lynn.bohart
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lbohart
Blog: http://www.bohartink.com/
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Lynn-Bohart/e/B0058QRJPU/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/johnrakestraw/2013/09/14/creating-and-understanding-your-villains

#Villains #SuperAntagonist #Baddies

Villains Aren't Totally Evil Just For The Pure Sake Of Being Evil

Villains can be totally evil, but they shouldn't want to be evil just for EVIL’s sake! They need legitimate motivations for their wonderful evilness… like power, money, they want to take control of people. We must ask, “Why are they villains?” Did their environment shape them into being a villain, what was their childhood like, and who pushed them to that point in their lives?

One way to build your villain’s life is to write a biography. Get to know this evil person’s parents and siblings. What kind of life led them to villainy? All villains believe they’re in the right. We hear "everyone is the hero of their own story.” Villains understand that they're being bad in the eyes of the rest of the world around them and they just don’t give a crap... or they value their goals and wants more. They truly know that they are not doing good, they just love being the bad guy. Or, are they the hero in their own story?

These iconic shadowy villains hanging out in the corner looking scary or curling their mustaches have never worked for me. I want my evil villains to have a deliberate interpretation of being evil. I want to see and feel the actual harm they have caused other characters, what their evil actions have cost people and society at large. All of this plot and story building should show us why the heroes are better. Don't just tell me, "these guys are evil, that’s why... and the heroes will win in the end." Give me reason to care and some evidence to prove their worth to me, the reader.

I really like stories where the heroes encounter the same problems, the same story arcs as the villains... but each make different choices, which in turn show us how each affects those characters and shows why the heroes are on the side of right and the villains are on the side of wrong.

Really good writers, like James Butcher, the author of the Dresden Files, show how human their villains can be. Some are wonderfully crazy, some are seeking fantastic power or money or fame. Some believe they're the lesser of evils out there, and some are so far beyond humanity that they legitimately do not understand what's wrong with their actions, because we’re nothing to them. But they are never evil for evil’s sake... there's that compelling reason. We want and need more from our villains than just being evil.

#Villain #Villains #Evilactions #Hero #heros #Evil #Evilness

A Champagne Business Plan on a Beer Wallet by guest Joe Giacalone

The Fantastic business plan that Joseph Giacalone has developed and lives by... has five distinct parts. He uses an acronym (cops love them) to keep himself focused... Competition MGMT.

Competition

*M*ission Statement
*G*oals
*M*arketing
*T*arget Audience

Read Joe's post on Rachel Thompson blog. We succeed when we truly write down our plans, that wonderful, simple act cements it into our psyche.
http://badredheadmedia.com/2013/07/18/a-champagne-business-plan-on-a-beer-wallet-by-guest-joegiacalone/

Explore more ===>

Watch a great video of Joe talking about writers and his business plan:
Joe Giacalone Discovered That There Was a Whole Other Market for his Book... Writers![Video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5gZHhJD7uU

#businessplan, #Writing, #writingadvice, #amwriting, #Creativity, #writingtips

What was the moment(s) before we meet them?

As you set out to develop a character within a your story, there are a 1001 things you must do to give life to this new being. I feel one of the greatest discoveries is the "moment before"... this is one of the most important questions you can ask of your characters, and it helps to set the emotional tone for your character at the moment just before they walk into our lives.

What was going on just before we met them?

Well, the "moment before" is exactly what it sounds like... it’s what your character was doing or thinking immediately before they enter the that moment and become apart of the story. This questions does not only answer what your character was doing physically, but also how it will be reacting and carrying himself emotionally.

How to Discover

Uncovering the "moment before" can be accomplished through several means. The first, is to rely on the story's plot and thought of action to help give you guidelines for what your characters was doing, thinking and caring about.

If the our story doesn't indicate what your characters were physically doing before that moment scene, than they have no life to spring from. Think about the 1001 possibilities that your character would and could have been living. Answering these questions will help you cultivate the "moment before."

#hangoutonair, #hoa, #StorySpinning, #TheStorySpinner, #writingadvice, #writingprompt, #amwriting, #writingtips

What are we fighting for, what's the conflict

John Rakestraw, The Story Spinner.

For the characters in our writing... they must rise to the challenge to reach the end (the grand goal). For our readership, it’s living each emotion, running right along with the characters, facing their fears and rejoicing with them all the way to the story’s end.

In this wonderful world there are those who can make you think, those that make you wonder and those that take you beyond their imagination into yours...

#StorySpinning, #TheStorySpinner, #writingadvice, #writingprompt, #amwriting, #writingtips

Outlining your book... It could make all the difference!

Patti Larsen has a way of making you feel at home when she talks. Join me and my merry band of wonderful minds as we tackling the craft of writing a book. it can feel like an overwhelming prospect, where do we even start?

First... you want to know what you’re writing about.
Second... you do this best by generating an outline of your book.

Some of us writers... hate outlines (I was once in your camp.) Other writers live by them. I hope that we can help you discover where this process just might make your writing easier and faster.

If you were like me and approach book writing from a completely disorganized and impractical state of mind... Well, outlining could promote a logical approach and it leaves plenty of room for creativity.

Where to find Patti on the web:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorpattilarsen
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PattiLarsen
Blog: http://www.pattilarsen.com/
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Patti-Larsen/e/B005H8I3KO

#BookOutlining, #hangoutonair, #hangoutsonair, #hoa, #writingadvice, #amwriting, #writingtips