Ishani S. asked M.L. Rio:

Hi, I absolutely LOVED If We Were Villains, and honestly, that title is so perfect! I was just wondering how you came up with such an amazing title. Why removed the 'as' from the original quote? Why keep the 'if'? Also the characters and plot and ENDING, everything was amazing about this book! I can't wait for more from you <33

M.L. Rio Thank you so much! As for the title, it was important to me that the title be borrowed from Shakespeare but not be something overdone, and when I was reading through that last Lear scene this jumped out at me and I went, “That’s it." This speech is one of my favorites and I think especially insightful in any reading of Villains. Moreover, it was just the perfect few words to capture the essence of the story. I dropped the "as" because out of context it made the phrase seem more trivial than I wanted it to (and it just didn't sound right). The "if" is, I think, the more important part--I thought it captured the moral uncertainty of the story. The title asks the central question.

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