Alas dear readers I have had to catch up with the times recently. Despite work on an old manuscript I have been working on recent events and old prejudices have made me realise that I'll have to face the facts and work my way into the writing industry by following some trends.
Despite two years of work and revision, my untitled young adults manuscript will have to be put on the shelf due to constraints, changing trends and a lack of creative juices. You see the market for young adult supernatural authors is rapidly diminishing. In the wake of the Harry Potter and Twilight mania and JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer started, and multiple knock off authors like Cassandra Clare took to heart and helped keep the genre alive for over a decade.Though in recent years sales of such works have dropped and interests have waned.The near constant Twilight knock offs and hate that is being directed at this genre is also rather unsettling. Indeed with the release of the Hunger Games and some other young adult steam punk works I have been forced to reconsider my position. Though the genre has run strong and offered a gateway to emerging authors, sadly I have missed that boat and the time has come for me to shelve the project and await its resurgence.
It strikes me that I am going to have to pay great attention to the newer novels coming out and the 'hot' items that go on the market. Classic fantasy is timeless, and science fiction seems to be going strong depending on where you market it. I'll need to keep a look out.
In the meantime I have two other projects that are work in progress. One is the short novella, The Hands of Men and an as yet untitled science fiction series which is tenatively called Service to the State as a whole currently (name subject to revision) which I am currently putting alot of energy into.
The Hands of Men is currently not very long (only a few pages) but I do have the entire story penned out in rough. The story is a post apocalyptic novel set in a world locked in a great depression, similar to Howard Kunstler's World Made by Hand but focuses more on self-sufficient living, the cultural effects of a more rural and agricultural world, as well as the threats that might emerge. The setting will be on a small rural town in southern Ontario that is isolated and has only one major link to the outside world via the old highway. It will focus on a former suburban family moving in with an extremely rural family and followng their struggles, triumphs and journey in adapting to this new world. I intend for their to be hardship, but also some very heart warming moments.
The other science fiction work focuses on a more broad scope, and interplanetary scope in fact. The story will be following two main characters, Jessica Alberton and Laurent Gavon. One is a fugitive (which is where the working title of Fugitive to the State comes from) while the other is an elite military commando who will be taking on the enemies of his own nation. It will be set in the fictional star nation of the Commonwealth, a socialist state which is being opposed by a slightly larger nation, the Republic of Grant. Set fifty years after a war between the two tensions are once again high and Jessica is fleeing retribution from Grant's authorities. Laurent is a commando who is having a personal crisis about his own state while trying to prevent an oncoming war.
I've currently done three chapters and over 14,000 words for the science fiction story in just over the space of the week. Well The Hands of Men has been sadly neglected due to conflicts of interest. I'm going to be attempting to complete the science fiction story over the summer while getting The Hands of Men in order so I can hopefully get it published as either a novella or an ebook in the future. That will be my first choice for publishing, while the State books will probably be run by Baen.
I'm hopeful that the time and effort put into these works will be successful and pay off sometime in the future.
Showing posts with label Harry Potter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harry Potter. Show all posts
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Constructing a Villain: Part 2
In contiuance with my previous update "Constructing a Villain" I will now continue looking at the process of creating a proper villain.
In my first post I discussed how in order to make a satisfying character for a villain I went through a long process of creating a character and playing him out. I think that this is probably the best way to go about creating a villain. Not making one on an RPG and playing his character for a while, but rather creating a villain and putting yourself in his shoes.
When one is creating any character it is important that they always be thinking 'what would -character's name here- do?' and looking at the situation from that particular characters point of view.
So for now lets look at some good villains that have been cooked up in fiction. I think I'll start off with everyone's least favorite disciplinarian, Professor Umbridge from the Harry Potter series. This woman despite being a frumpy middle aged woman that wears pink and loves kittens has gone down as one of the most evil people in fiction. She has a non-threatening demenour and appears as a very mild mannered and sweet woman who is not what you would call physically imposing. Yet despite this she manages to emit an aura of fear and suspicion. Not to mention a bit of toadiness. We first meet her when Harry is put unjustly on trial and she begins asking some rather innocent sounding questions, but phrases them in ways that are mean to incriminate Harry or make his claims seem absurd. She seems like a bit of a shrew but otherwise just a minor annoyance at this point. Then of course she is sent to Hogwarts as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. She immediately begins spreading lies, deceit and the Ministry propoganda line. Still she seems like a rather harmless busy body or just an obstructive beuarucrat.
Then of course she makes Harry write 'I shall not tell lies' in his own blood.
Unfortunately this is just the tip of the ice burg. Umbridge goes on a dictoral spree of banning items and creating unusually cruel and inventive punishments and creating an Inquisitor Squad to rat out and punish other students, as well as almost restorting to using curses of both torture and killing on students! The woman is so scary even Stephen King says he wished he had cooked up this evil creature! She turns into a petty and vindictive, dictator. Her interests in power and control mold her perfectly into accepting Voldemort's dictatorship and giving show trials to half-blood wizards and either sentencing them to death or lengthy prison sentences.
As a villain she works wonderfully as she has both a comprehensive reason for her evil actions, and a consistent, petty and villainous personality to back it up. She is a tyrant who simply wants power plain and simple. Not just any tyrant, but one who feels no qualms about flouting her power over innocent children and helpless adults. Truly an evil woman.
Another example of a well done villain is the Dark One from the Wheel of Time series. He is the antithesis of all the is good and wholesome. The enemy of Light and a creature that thrives on corruption. Even the symbol of the master of evil is a fly! Rarely seen and mostly acting through his servants he is a terrifying unseen force. Though through a number of evil plans and overarching schemes (such as controlling the weather!) he is felt in the entire series, in fact just saying his name brings down misfortune. Thus he is felt in nearly every aspect of the series and has a definate and ever present effect on the plot.
Then there are his pawns, darkfriends and the Forsaken. The darkfriends are people who have begun serving the Shadow in exchange for power (at the cost of their life if they betray) and can be found in all levels of society from the lowliest peasant to the highest lord in the nation. It makes the heroes constantly look over their shoulders and be unsure of who to trust.
Then the Forsaken who are the most powerful magic users in the series. They are constantly challenging the heroes and engaging in various schemes. They plot against the heroes and each other whenever they get the chance. Thus they have a near fatal case of collective chronic backstabbing disorder which tends to hold the evil side back from making direct blows against the heroes. This is not always the case, for when a plan by one of these evil schemers succeeds, it has a near devastating blow on the heroes and their mission. It keeps the reader on their toes looking for villainous plots and reminds you that the villains are not enitrely incompetant.
As a whole the forces of the Shadow are interesting and always fun to read about. It's easy to cheer for the heroes when the bad guys are just so terrifyingly evil!
Then we have a more subdued but down to earth villain in the story World Made by Hand by James Howard Kunstler. In a world falling apart in the post-oil age we see how an unsrupulous and weedy little man can make an impact on an entire community just by sticking to his old ways and building up a town of likeminded criminal elements. The villain, Wayne Karp (leader of Karptown) is a former trucker who in the post-oil world makes a living by scavenging houses and and other materials important to the day to day running of any small town and sells them in his general store. But he is also a notorious crime boss who preys on the weak and unwary and takes advantage of the break down in law and order in order to excersise a loose sort of control over the region. He runs a protection racket and beats people up who don't comply.
This leaves the hero trying to restore order in a qaundry. He must unite the community against the man by organising the local people and becoming sheriff. Karp is constantly causing trouble and harrassing the community presenting a sense of danger and disorder. As a simple gangster he works well for a villain who gets little screen time. He engages in torture and arson and makes the reader want to see him stopped. His arrogant and creepily personable demeanor make him sadly likable in some respects but still someone you want to see taken down a notch or two.
Finally I suppose I must go with a villain who has inspired me in creating my villains and evil characters, that honor goes to The Operative, from the film Serenity. He is truly a magnificent villain and I absolutely love/hate him for his intellect, combat skills and the ruthlessly pragmatic way he does his work. First introduced by researching the escape of research suject River Tam, he is a cold, yet intelligent villain who notes that love is more powerful than any madness. His actions revolve around his firm belief in what his government, the Alliance, is doing and how they will one day provide a utopia for mankind. Thus he commits acts that are truly heinous and evil, and he does them all with a wink and a smile in the same cold and calculating manner he would perhaps hunt an animal. His first act is killing a scientist who has failed the government.
The man is the epitomy of affably evil he apologizes for the evil deeds he commits, is perfectly willing to negotiate with the heroes. In fact his first action is to attempt to trap the heroes and peacefully negotiate with the intrepid Captain Malcom Reynolds. He is of course more than willing to beat the man to a pulp to get his way. Then of course he begins killing everyone who was ever associated with Mal and his crew, right down to a peaceful community of Christian miners. He fully admits he is a monster who has killed women and children in order to further the aims of his government, no matter how brutal, amoral, and disturbing they are. In fact he's such a calm rational and badass individual you end up both respecting him yet hating him at the same time. It only makes it oh so sweet though when he gets what was coming to him. An extended scene in the film plays this out better and I encourage readers to buy a copy of the film just for that! All in all he is probably my favorite villain, one who engages the viewer and at the same time establishes bimself as a top notch character. He may not have a back story, but the way he firmly establishes his reasons for why he does what he does and his driving motivators and beliefs make him interesting to watch and leave us wondering just what lengths he is willing to go to in order to complete his mission. He is truly a fantastic template for creating a villain.
So as one can see from the previous examples a good villain is one who is thought out, given a decisive role and one who represents a clear and present danger. I must stress that these three factors be followed exactly. For if even one of them is screwed up it can destroy the viewers belief that the villain is actually a threat. Otherwise they might just seem like a bad man who has lots of expendable henchman. And that isn't dramatic, it's just comedic and mildly sad. Like Norman Armiger from my previous post, a bad villain is one who can't hurt the cast in a meaningful way, is poorly characterized and presents no clear and present danger. Arminger never added tension to the story just served as a stereotypical evil character in a frankly cartoonish manner which ensured I could never take him seriously. Then how easily he ended up being defeated by the heroes made it seem as though he was only a background character whose only purpose was to keep the story chugging along. Unlike the Operative who actually drove the story and whose actions made the heroes desperate. His defeat was far from easy and required blood sweat and tears mixed with near genius ingenuity on the heroes part to actually defeat him.
Thus in conclusion I hope to show from these two articles, and accompanying examples how one can create a good, plot driving, and well thought out villain. I hope it helps some of my readers and inspires others in their writing.
In my first post I discussed how in order to make a satisfying character for a villain I went through a long process of creating a character and playing him out. I think that this is probably the best way to go about creating a villain. Not making one on an RPG and playing his character for a while, but rather creating a villain and putting yourself in his shoes.
When one is creating any character it is important that they always be thinking 'what would -character's name here- do?' and looking at the situation from that particular characters point of view.
So for now lets look at some good villains that have been cooked up in fiction. I think I'll start off with everyone's least favorite disciplinarian, Professor Umbridge from the Harry Potter series. This woman despite being a frumpy middle aged woman that wears pink and loves kittens has gone down as one of the most evil people in fiction. She has a non-threatening demenour and appears as a very mild mannered and sweet woman who is not what you would call physically imposing. Yet despite this she manages to emit an aura of fear and suspicion. Not to mention a bit of toadiness. We first meet her when Harry is put unjustly on trial and she begins asking some rather innocent sounding questions, but phrases them in ways that are mean to incriminate Harry or make his claims seem absurd. She seems like a bit of a shrew but otherwise just a minor annoyance at this point. Then of course she is sent to Hogwarts as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. She immediately begins spreading lies, deceit and the Ministry propoganda line. Still she seems like a rather harmless busy body or just an obstructive beuarucrat.
Then of course she makes Harry write 'I shall not tell lies' in his own blood.
Unfortunately this is just the tip of the ice burg. Umbridge goes on a dictoral spree of banning items and creating unusually cruel and inventive punishments and creating an Inquisitor Squad to rat out and punish other students, as well as almost restorting to using curses of both torture and killing on students! The woman is so scary even Stephen King says he wished he had cooked up this evil creature! She turns into a petty and vindictive, dictator. Her interests in power and control mold her perfectly into accepting Voldemort's dictatorship and giving show trials to half-blood wizards and either sentencing them to death or lengthy prison sentences.
As a villain she works wonderfully as she has both a comprehensive reason for her evil actions, and a consistent, petty and villainous personality to back it up. She is a tyrant who simply wants power plain and simple. Not just any tyrant, but one who feels no qualms about flouting her power over innocent children and helpless adults. Truly an evil woman.
Another example of a well done villain is the Dark One from the Wheel of Time series. He is the antithesis of all the is good and wholesome. The enemy of Light and a creature that thrives on corruption. Even the symbol of the master of evil is a fly! Rarely seen and mostly acting through his servants he is a terrifying unseen force. Though through a number of evil plans and overarching schemes (such as controlling the weather!) he is felt in the entire series, in fact just saying his name brings down misfortune. Thus he is felt in nearly every aspect of the series and has a definate and ever present effect on the plot.
Then there are his pawns, darkfriends and the Forsaken. The darkfriends are people who have begun serving the Shadow in exchange for power (at the cost of their life if they betray) and can be found in all levels of society from the lowliest peasant to the highest lord in the nation. It makes the heroes constantly look over their shoulders and be unsure of who to trust.
Then the Forsaken who are the most powerful magic users in the series. They are constantly challenging the heroes and engaging in various schemes. They plot against the heroes and each other whenever they get the chance. Thus they have a near fatal case of collective chronic backstabbing disorder which tends to hold the evil side back from making direct blows against the heroes. This is not always the case, for when a plan by one of these evil schemers succeeds, it has a near devastating blow on the heroes and their mission. It keeps the reader on their toes looking for villainous plots and reminds you that the villains are not enitrely incompetant.
As a whole the forces of the Shadow are interesting and always fun to read about. It's easy to cheer for the heroes when the bad guys are just so terrifyingly evil!
Then we have a more subdued but down to earth villain in the story World Made by Hand by James Howard Kunstler. In a world falling apart in the post-oil age we see how an unsrupulous and weedy little man can make an impact on an entire community just by sticking to his old ways and building up a town of likeminded criminal elements. The villain, Wayne Karp (leader of Karptown) is a former trucker who in the post-oil world makes a living by scavenging houses and and other materials important to the day to day running of any small town and sells them in his general store. But he is also a notorious crime boss who preys on the weak and unwary and takes advantage of the break down in law and order in order to excersise a loose sort of control over the region. He runs a protection racket and beats people up who don't comply.
This leaves the hero trying to restore order in a qaundry. He must unite the community against the man by organising the local people and becoming sheriff. Karp is constantly causing trouble and harrassing the community presenting a sense of danger and disorder. As a simple gangster he works well for a villain who gets little screen time. He engages in torture and arson and makes the reader want to see him stopped. His arrogant and creepily personable demeanor make him sadly likable in some respects but still someone you want to see taken down a notch or two.
Finally I suppose I must go with a villain who has inspired me in creating my villains and evil characters, that honor goes to The Operative, from the film Serenity. He is truly a magnificent villain and I absolutely love/hate him for his intellect, combat skills and the ruthlessly pragmatic way he does his work. First introduced by researching the escape of research suject River Tam, he is a cold, yet intelligent villain who notes that love is more powerful than any madness. His actions revolve around his firm belief in what his government, the Alliance, is doing and how they will one day provide a utopia for mankind. Thus he commits acts that are truly heinous and evil, and he does them all with a wink and a smile in the same cold and calculating manner he would perhaps hunt an animal. His first act is killing a scientist who has failed the government.
The man is the epitomy of affably evil he apologizes for the evil deeds he commits, is perfectly willing to negotiate with the heroes. In fact his first action is to attempt to trap the heroes and peacefully negotiate with the intrepid Captain Malcom Reynolds. He is of course more than willing to beat the man to a pulp to get his way. Then of course he begins killing everyone who was ever associated with Mal and his crew, right down to a peaceful community of Christian miners. He fully admits he is a monster who has killed women and children in order to further the aims of his government, no matter how brutal, amoral, and disturbing they are. In fact he's such a calm rational and badass individual you end up both respecting him yet hating him at the same time. It only makes it oh so sweet though when he gets what was coming to him. An extended scene in the film plays this out better and I encourage readers to buy a copy of the film just for that! All in all he is probably my favorite villain, one who engages the viewer and at the same time establishes bimself as a top notch character. He may not have a back story, but the way he firmly establishes his reasons for why he does what he does and his driving motivators and beliefs make him interesting to watch and leave us wondering just what lengths he is willing to go to in order to complete his mission. He is truly a fantastic template for creating a villain.
So as one can see from the previous examples a good villain is one who is thought out, given a decisive role and one who represents a clear and present danger. I must stress that these three factors be followed exactly. For if even one of them is screwed up it can destroy the viewers belief that the villain is actually a threat. Otherwise they might just seem like a bad man who has lots of expendable henchman. And that isn't dramatic, it's just comedic and mildly sad. Like Norman Armiger from my previous post, a bad villain is one who can't hurt the cast in a meaningful way, is poorly characterized and presents no clear and present danger. Arminger never added tension to the story just served as a stereotypical evil character in a frankly cartoonish manner which ensured I could never take him seriously. Then how easily he ended up being defeated by the heroes made it seem as though he was only a background character whose only purpose was to keep the story chugging along. Unlike the Operative who actually drove the story and whose actions made the heroes desperate. His defeat was far from easy and required blood sweat and tears mixed with near genius ingenuity on the heroes part to actually defeat him.
Thus in conclusion I hope to show from these two articles, and accompanying examples how one can create a good, plot driving, and well thought out villain. I hope it helps some of my readers and inspires others in their writing.
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