Comments on: Love to hate ‘em

By: Edie Ramer

Edie Ramer — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:04:47 +0000

Elle, I’ve heard the villains drive the plot, and that’s true in my books. Their moves drives the timetable.

Oh yes about religion. Some of the greatest atrocities came from religion. The Crusades, for one.

By: LaDonna

LaDonna — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 02:28:05 +0000

Wow, Karin, had to pop in and say that’s profound. You are soooo right. It’s like they have a piece missing or something.

By: Elle J Rossi

Elle J Rossi — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 02:09:48 +0000

Edie,

Great topic. Linda Wisdom also blogged about villains today.

I actually love writing scenes from the villains POV. What does that say about me?

Some of the scariest villains to me are those that have religious undertones. Those that say that their God told them to do it. How can you argue with that? Ya know? Crazy scary and unfortunately, it’s not just in books or movies.

By: Edie Ramer

Edie Ramer — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 01:27:11 +0000

Wow, Karin. So true!

By: Karin Tabke

Karin Tabke — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 01:19:42 +0000

The scariest villains to me are the ones who truly think they are doing good.

By: Edie Ramer

Edie Ramer — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 00:50:15 +0000

Marilyn, I never read Scarlet Pimpernel, but I know Wickham. Shallow and vain and a liar without a conscience. He’d make a great villain in a contemporary book too. Totally believable.

By: Edie Ramer

Edie Ramer — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 00:48:40 +0000

Theresa, I got chills just reading that. I think I’d rather read about an evil CEO. That’s too close to people I know.

By: Marilyn Brant

Marilyn Brant — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:22:45 +0000

LOL, Edie — I was thinking of lawyers and sharks before I got to the end of your post, and there they were! For me, a perfect story villain is someone like Mr. Wickham in Austen’s P&P — so charming on the outside but a real slime when you know what he’s actually up to. And, oh, the character of Chauvelin in The Scarlet Pimpernel… I really LOVE to hate him!!

By: Theresa

Theresa — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:05:45 +0000

I think the one of the scariest villians I read was one who didn’t actually seem evil in the beginning. In fact, the way it started out– you’d think he was a good guy.

He was an average Joe, with a wife he loved, and kids he loved. He’s in line to get a promotion at work, he’s a sure-in. Life is good. You think he’s the good guy.

And then on the way home, after celebrating with his buddies at work. He hits someone. It isn’t his fault even, the person he hit stumbles infront of the car. But because he was drinking, he panics and flees the scene. That one step into the gray zone leads to another and then another as he tries to cover what he did up. By the end of the book he tries to kill his wife, so his kids won’t find out.

It’s an absolutely chilling look at how an average/normal person can let weakness turn them evil.

By: Edie Ramer

Edie Ramer — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:39:10 +0000

Liz, I’m not sure what Alexa’s name is. And yes, some villains can just be psychos. Or a giant spider. LOL I like spiders but I think I’m in the minority. And think of Hitchcock. Who else would’ve thought that birds could be a villain in a movie?