Let's Talk Villains!

Villains! Love them or hate them, we can't live without them. Even in our daily lives we run into them when we would prefer to avoid those nasty types who make our lives miserable. But they are inevitable companions to writers. It is difficult to think of writing a fiction novel without some sort of villain to make your hero or heroine unhappy or to test them and make them grow over the course of the story.

When my writing co-author, Sue Viders,  and I set out to write a book on villains, we found ourselves poring back through all our favorite old books and through our many books that we'd written to study the bad guys and gals that make each story click. Whether you are dealing with giant monsters on Mars or the bully down the street, it is easier than ever to find villains we need to defeat.

Sue and I have taught numerous classes on writing great characters and heroes and villains, but when we went looking for books on villains we didn't really find anything on the shelves that worked for writers looking to create their own fictional villains.

And that was why we wanted to, no needed to,  write a book on villains. Who are these special or crazed creatures or people who want only bad things to happen?? Why do they become so nasty and so evil?  Well, we aren't psychologists so luckily we don't need to figure that out. All we really needed to know was how these nasty people affect those around them.  Yes, we need to study their motives, but sometimes you just end up with a horribly evil villain and he or she doesn't  really have a plan other than to make life miserable for everyone around him/her. (Yes, I really enjoyed the Phantom of the Opera)

The book looks at all those villains we have come to hate, know or love and then we took the writing process a step further and started helping writers develop their own villains. Why do we love villains? What role do they play in the story? What do you do with them once you have come up with them. We tried to discuss all of those issues for writers and provide some tips an help on developing your own "perfect" villains for your own stories. Every story is different and every hero or heroine requires their own villain to torment and test them and that was what we set out to do -- show writers how to come up with the perfect bad guy or woman.

We are happy to announce that after months of work, our book is finally available on Amazon.com and we're hoping it becomes a useful resource for writers in all genres. You can get a look at it on Amazon.Com

Amazon.com or search for Sue Viders or Becky Martinez

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email us at  writethatnovel@gmail.com