This article is a combination of ‘To Be a Hero’ and ‘The Dark Side’. It was rewritten to be published on fellow writer Lisa Wakely’s website:

https://lisawakely.wixsite.com/lisawakelywriter/single-post/on-writing-character

Lisa Wakely is an author, currently in the process of publishing her debut novel, ‘Hexed’: https://lisawakely.wixsite.com/lisawakelywriter

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On Writing: Character 

I am fascinated by the very process of writing. Pulling apart the structures of pieces to find common frameworks and characteristics. Lisa invited me to write a piece for her new platform on writing. So here are my musings on character. More particularly, the nature of villains and heroes: 

When writing, it is imperative to spend just as much time planning for the villain as it is their opposing counterpart. Despite perhaps not having as much screen time as the central protagonist – often the hero – it is The Bad Guy’s response and emotional reaction to the hero’s actions that causes the escalation to the conflict. What may have started out as a misunderstanding or a miscommunication becomes what appears to be an overreaction, or a determination not to listen, to catapult the story on. 

But we call it an over-reaction, a misunderstanding, but that is because this is how it is presented to us. The heroic narrator is convincing us of this. Language is used to manipulate the reader’s support and to plant them firmly on the biased side of the hero. But to write that convincingly, you have to look at it from The Bad Guy’s view. 

The key point is they don’t see themselves as the villain. They want success. They want to feel in control of their own lives. They feel they have been wronged, let down, lied to or led astray. In fact, they hold all the same ideals as the hero. Whether we agree with their reasons becomes the reason we invest our time in finding out what happens next – do they rise or fall? In many cases they may well have a moral initial goal, but a developing immoral process.