"It doesn't do wood!" "That's a bit rubbish." "Oi! Don't diss the sonic!"
Wherein Jack didn't mean to be so mean
Have you ever got the urge to have a lollipop? And you go around for days thinking, "I can't have a lollipop, not with all that bad for me stuff in it." But you just can't get them out of your head and you remember how you used to have them as a kid, and they just sound so good. And while you are going through these conflicting emotions, you stumbled across a thing of FREE lollipops - the big ones. And they are FREE. And you can't help yourself, so you get one. But before you eat it, you remember all of the things inside it - all of the corn syrup, and sugar, and who knows what else. And you feel bad for not staying strong and resisting the sugary delicacy, so you don't eat it. Then it sits around your house for weeks, as you try and decide what to do with it. Because, it is food, and you feel bad throwing food out. But it is food that is not good for you, and you'd kind of feel bad putting that into your body. But it was FREE and it's been ages since you've had a lollipop, and you don't normally eat things that aren't healthy, so maybe it wouldn't matter this once. But, there is your tooth ache, and you know how sugar only makes it hurt more....and your conflicting emotions have now got ten times worse. That's where I am right now. And, to make it worse, it is a strawberries and CREAM lollipop. Oh yeah. Now you want one, don't you?
Okay, enough about lollipops.
I've been writing this post for the past hour and keep deleting it. I just don't know what to talk about. But, my dear Mycroft, who's blog can be found HERE is having a writer's conference and a giveaway. And I've never done a writer's conference, even one online, and it sounds fun even though I have little clue what to do. Also, I wanted to tell you all about the giveaway, because it is a fun one. You can find it HERE!!!
So, like I said, I am probably going to get this all wrong, but the conference is on characters. I even did an interview with Anne - rather, Elias did. I will let you know when it is up so you can read it. But, doing the interview, and picking Elias, and all the talk on characters - well, you can see where this is going. Kind of.
Elias is the villain in the Blade books. I used to not put a lot of thought into villains. They were just there to be mean to the hero so he would have a reason to be cool, what other point in life did they need? They were bad because, they were bad. But when I started to talk to Anne - she and I are book buddies and help each other out of messes - she had me give some more thought to villains. Because if there a villain without a point in life, the story has a better chance of not going anywhere.
When I started getting to know the Blade books better, and all of Oleander, I intended for Elias to be one of those ruthless villains. I wanted a really bad guy, who was so bitter at everyone nothing was going to get in his way of ruining the lives of those around him - the whole world in fact, because he was that bitter. (A Sauron bad guy.) But Elias was fast to set me straight.
He wasn't the bitter and going to blow up the world type. He had a reason for invading Nightshade, and the more I found out about it the sadder I got - but you know, I'm just his Author, why should he care if he makes me want to cry? I was a little concerned over this new twist though. Could I really have a villain who, wasn't so much of a villain after all?
But I think that is the point. Very few villains are bad for no reason. They were hurt, lost things, or maybe they just are selfish and don't care about others, but they have to have purpose. They have to be as alive as the hero.
There is nothing wrong with a mean villain who never turns good, so long as he has a believable purpose, and he's not just there because the hero has to have an enemy.
I've also started to notice villains are turning out to be more of the good guy then the good guy. (Loki for example.) The villain who has lost so much he is cared for more than the hero who is trying to save him from taking over the world with his Alien army. And while I do like villains like this - it adds more to them - I've noticed that having a Sauron kind of villain is now kind of being shunned. Villains aren't supposed to look bad anymore, they should be handsome and have tragic pasts.
I do see why having a villain who doesn't look it is being used. It adds a new twist, but I don't think there is anything wrong with using a bad guy who looks bad. (This is used a lot in Fantasy. Think of Tash in Narnia. He is scary looking, when he walked past Jill and Eustice the sun seemed to go out. He was not someone one would mistake for a hero.) And while these villains might not be popular right now, I think they still have their place in stories and books. (I plan to talk about this more later with some of my Oleander posts.)
What about you? Do you like the Loki villains more, or the Darth Vader, Tash, Sauron villains?
Quote is from Doctor Who
Allons-y!
Have you ever got the urge to have a lollipop? And you go around for days thinking, "I can't have a lollipop, not with all that bad for me stuff in it." But you just can't get them out of your head and you remember how you used to have them as a kid, and they just sound so good. And while you are going through these conflicting emotions, you stumbled across a thing of FREE lollipops - the big ones. And they are FREE. And you can't help yourself, so you get one. But before you eat it, you remember all of the things inside it - all of the corn syrup, and sugar, and who knows what else. And you feel bad for not staying strong and resisting the sugary delicacy, so you don't eat it. Then it sits around your house for weeks, as you try and decide what to do with it. Because, it is food, and you feel bad throwing food out. But it is food that is not good for you, and you'd kind of feel bad putting that into your body. But it was FREE and it's been ages since you've had a lollipop, and you don't normally eat things that aren't healthy, so maybe it wouldn't matter this once. But, there is your tooth ache, and you know how sugar only makes it hurt more....and your conflicting emotions have now got ten times worse. That's where I am right now. And, to make it worse, it is a strawberries and CREAM lollipop. Oh yeah. Now you want one, don't you?
Okay, enough about lollipops.
I've been writing this post for the past hour and keep deleting it. I just don't know what to talk about. But, my dear Mycroft, who's blog can be found HERE is having a writer's conference and a giveaway. And I've never done a writer's conference, even one online, and it sounds fun even though I have little clue what to do. Also, I wanted to tell you all about the giveaway, because it is a fun one. You can find it HERE!!!
So, like I said, I am probably going to get this all wrong, but the conference is on characters. I even did an interview with Anne - rather, Elias did. I will let you know when it is up so you can read it. But, doing the interview, and picking Elias, and all the talk on characters - well, you can see where this is going. Kind of.
Elias is the villain in the Blade books. I used to not put a lot of thought into villains. They were just there to be mean to the hero so he would have a reason to be cool, what other point in life did they need? They were bad because, they were bad. But when I started to talk to Anne - she and I are book buddies and help each other out of messes - she had me give some more thought to villains. Because if there a villain without a point in life, the story has a better chance of not going anywhere.
When I started getting to know the Blade books better, and all of Oleander, I intended for Elias to be one of those ruthless villains. I wanted a really bad guy, who was so bitter at everyone nothing was going to get in his way of ruining the lives of those around him - the whole world in fact, because he was that bitter. (A Sauron bad guy.) But Elias was fast to set me straight.
He wasn't the bitter and going to blow up the world type. He had a reason for invading Nightshade, and the more I found out about it the sadder I got - but you know, I'm just his Author, why should he care if he makes me want to cry? I was a little concerned over this new twist though. Could I really have a villain who, wasn't so much of a villain after all?
But I think that is the point. Very few villains are bad for no reason. They were hurt, lost things, or maybe they just are selfish and don't care about others, but they have to have purpose. They have to be as alive as the hero.
There is nothing wrong with a mean villain who never turns good, so long as he has a believable purpose, and he's not just there because the hero has to have an enemy.
I've also started to notice villains are turning out to be more of the good guy then the good guy. (Loki for example.) The villain who has lost so much he is cared for more than the hero who is trying to save him from taking over the world with his Alien army. And while I do like villains like this - it adds more to them - I've noticed that having a Sauron kind of villain is now kind of being shunned. Villains aren't supposed to look bad anymore, they should be handsome and have tragic pasts.
I do see why having a villain who doesn't look it is being used. It adds a new twist, but I don't think there is anything wrong with using a bad guy who looks bad. (This is used a lot in Fantasy. Think of Tash in Narnia. He is scary looking, when he walked past Jill and Eustice the sun seemed to go out. He was not someone one would mistake for a hero.) And while these villains might not be popular right now, I think they still have their place in stories and books. (I plan to talk about this more later with some of my Oleander posts.)
What about you? Do you like the Loki villains more, or the Darth Vader, Tash, Sauron villains?
Quote is from Doctor Who
Allons-y!
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