Showing posts with label Bad Guys and Villains. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bad Guys and Villains. Show all posts

Monday, October 26, 2009

I am feeling rather burnt. And we can't forget torture. And any other random thing.

Sigh. I burnt my pinkie on the tea-kettle on Friday (the lid fell off as I was pouring my tea and landed on my little finger) and now I have a sun-burn from watching Mom's marathon.

My skin is actually kind of dark-ish for a girl of mostly Caucasian descent. But it still burns rather easily, which isn't fair. If I got the easy-burning skin, why couldn't I have got the red hair that usually goes with it?! But no.

So, I will stop feeling sorry for myself.

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Oh, here's a quote from my main baddie.

"Of course I admit it! Without treachery, life would have no flavor! Now go back to your cell, boy, and stop questioning me."--Baashil, from Sarea

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Also, as you can see from my title, this post has the subject of torture in it.

How many of you like torture scenes in books?

I do...sort of. In movies, I don't. In 'The Princess Bride' that torture scene really was a little...painful?

Except I can't write good torture scenes in my books :(. They are often un-realistic, as in not painful enough. But I can't help it!!! I'm great friends with my characters, so why should I torture them?

Because it's good for the plot.

So?

So...it's exciting. It gets the readers on the edge of their seats.

Not to mention my poor character!

Ah...yeah. I talk to myself. Ahem.

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... ...

I have it! I will flip open the dictionary, and will write about whatever word I see first!

Ginglymoid--Pertaining to or resembling a ginglymus [American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828]

Okay...what's a ginglymus?

Ginglymus--In anatomy, a species of articulation resembling a hinge. THat species of articulation in which each bone partly receives and is partly received by the other, so as the admit only of flexion and extension, is called angular ginglymus. [ADotEL, by Noah Webster, 1828].

Wow. Whoever thought up that word must have been very, very...interesting.

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Ever wanted to make up a language? I sure do, but I really don't want to spend my days looking at every single word in the dictionary, thinking up new words for every one of them, and then commiting them to memory.

But then I discovered that you can just change grammer, verb endings, and spelling and come up with a complicated-sounding-and-yet-really-easy dialect!

I really like languages, and try to put as much Elvish, Centuarian, Dwarvic (all of these made up my yours truly, naturally) in my books. And it's SO FUN!!!

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With NaNoWriMo just around the corner (yipee!!!), I have a feeling that my poor blog will be rather neglected in November. So I'm going to try and schedule some posts, and I'll make time for Weekly Debates and Writer's Daybook. Also look forward to possible book reviews, excerpts of Sarea, and...

A CAPTION CONTEST!!

Yep, I'm planning on starting one soon. Maybe once we're in November.



Sunday, October 18, 2009

What makes bad guys good?

It is so hard to make your bad guy convincingly bad and not sappy and cliche (Don't say it, Rin). I'm sure most people want their readers to be staring at the page in fascinated horror as they read about your main baddie, and not rolling their eyes.

So, how do you make your bad guy good?

(You do know that I mean, when I say 'make your bad guy good', to make your bad guy convincing? This isn't about how to get your baddie to turn to the good side.)

First, don't cackle. Cackling is probably one of the most cliche things your baddie can do.

Second, make him truly evil and cruel. Maybe a few...interesting...torturing devices lining his throne room or something.

Third, he doesn't have to look evil. Think of Feragho (I think I spelled that right) in Salamandastron, by Brian Jacques. He's handsome and has baby blue eyes, and yet he is a really, really evil bad guy.

One of the hardest parts for me is when the bad guy speaks. You know what I mean? It's then that my bad guys are most vulnerable to looking rather fake. I've actually considered having a bad guy who doesn't talk at all. But that would be a little hard.

Any other advice for bad guys?