A Tribute to Villains

I mentioned in an earlier blog that B. J. Daniels, Joanna Wayne and I gave a workshop entitled “Killers to Die For” at the RT Conference. As we were preparing for our presentation, we surprised ourselves by how differently we three view our villains. Which shouldn’t have surprised us, considering we have very different writing styles.

B. J. likes to write what she calls a ‘soft’ villain, someone who does bad things because he or she has been backed into a corner. Someone who is, more often than not, personally connected to the hero and/or heroine.

Joanna prefers the psychological villain, the kind who likes to get inside his victims’ heads and mess with their minds. This person usually gets off on the game as much as he does the kill.

I’m into the deranged, scary, psycho villain. The predator without a conscience. These whack jobs scare me the most because you can’t protect yourself from them. If you fall into their specific criteria, they’ll find you.

So tell us what kind of villain you prefer and who your all-time favorite bad guys are. You can have more than one.

Amanda Stevens

cross-posted at Blasphemous Rumours and Confessions of a Knife

And now for my tribute to villains: