Writing the History's Evil Empires
"I can't help but notice that our caps...they've got skulls on them... Hans, are we the baddies?"
--That Mitchell and Webb Look, on the Nazis
Margo and I have both blogged about avoiding the one-dimensional Dark Overlord types, as they tend to wreck suspension of disbelief with their lack of credible motivations, outrageously misplaced governing priorities, and general over-the-top evilness. Unfortunately, reality does not care for anyone's sense of plausibility, and the world has sadly seen a number of too-bad-to-be-true Evil Empires and leaders who are just one wicked cackle short of comic-book villainy.
This can be challenging to historical fiction writers for several reasons. First, it's difficult to sound credible while detailing activities that sound like audition material for the Evil League of Evil, and the last thing you want is readers scoffing and rolling their eyes at all-too-real atrocities. Second, we are very used to the trend towards 'shades of grey' morality in fiction, where the villains get some sympathetic traits, and it's clear that both sides have a point (or are being equally stupid), which is hard to do when it's Team Killing Innocent People vs. Team Let's Not Kill Innocent People. Third, it's inherently disturbing, and will darken the tone of your work considerably.
I can't claim to offer perfect answers, but I can offer some techniques which worked for myself and my coauthor.
Resist the urge to make excuses. This crops up like crazy when the author has some attachment to the group that was being evil. See my post on explaining vs. excusing for more details. Resist the urge to humanise everyone. Sorry, flower children.When writing about real historical events, it is important to remember that in reality, some people Do Not Play Nicely With Others and no amount of hugging is going to make them not take joy in stomping on kittens if such is in their nature. Not everyone is redeemable or in possession of some hidden reserve of warm fuzzies*. Think about people off the front lines. These are the people who may sympathise with the Evil Empire out of fear, ignorance, misinformation, family loyalty, or grim pragmatism. Their motivations and inner lives can provide a much more nuanced examination of the Evil League of Evil wannabes due to their distance from (or ignorance of) the extent of the terror perpetrated by their government (or conversely, they may be victims themselves). Hold back. This sounds counter-intuitive, but there are several good reasons for paring down your depiction. First, give the reader a flood of horrors, and they will shut down, and possibly put aside the book. Second, if the horribleness sounds too twisted to be true, the reader may dismiss your work as heavy-handed propaganda and miss the historical facts. If any of you readers or writers have more thoughts on the topic, please share in the comments.
*And you doubted my Scottish Presbyterian cred
--That Mitchell and Webb Look, on the Nazis
Margo and I have both blogged about avoiding the one-dimensional Dark Overlord types, as they tend to wreck suspension of disbelief with their lack of credible motivations, outrageously misplaced governing priorities, and general over-the-top evilness. Unfortunately, reality does not care for anyone's sense of plausibility, and the world has sadly seen a number of too-bad-to-be-true Evil Empires and leaders who are just one wicked cackle short of comic-book villainy.
This can be challenging to historical fiction writers for several reasons. First, it's difficult to sound credible while detailing activities that sound like audition material for the Evil League of Evil, and the last thing you want is readers scoffing and rolling their eyes at all-too-real atrocities. Second, we are very used to the trend towards 'shades of grey' morality in fiction, where the villains get some sympathetic traits, and it's clear that both sides have a point (or are being equally stupid), which is hard to do when it's Team Killing Innocent People vs. Team Let's Not Kill Innocent People. Third, it's inherently disturbing, and will darken the tone of your work considerably.
I can't claim to offer perfect answers, but I can offer some techniques which worked for myself and my coauthor.
Resist the urge to make excuses. This crops up like crazy when the author has some attachment to the group that was being evil. See my post on explaining vs. excusing for more details. Resist the urge to humanise everyone. Sorry, flower children.When writing about real historical events, it is important to remember that in reality, some people Do Not Play Nicely With Others and no amount of hugging is going to make them not take joy in stomping on kittens if such is in their nature. Not everyone is redeemable or in possession of some hidden reserve of warm fuzzies*. Think about people off the front lines. These are the people who may sympathise with the Evil Empire out of fear, ignorance, misinformation, family loyalty, or grim pragmatism. Their motivations and inner lives can provide a much more nuanced examination of the Evil League of Evil wannabes due to their distance from (or ignorance of) the extent of the terror perpetrated by their government (or conversely, they may be victims themselves). Hold back. This sounds counter-intuitive, but there are several good reasons for paring down your depiction. First, give the reader a flood of horrors, and they will shut down, and possibly put aside the book. Second, if the horribleness sounds too twisted to be true, the reader may dismiss your work as heavy-handed propaganda and miss the historical facts. If any of you readers or writers have more thoughts on the topic, please share in the comments.
*And you doubted my Scottish Presbyterian cred
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