Snarky Villains You Love to Hate
Villains like to steal things, and specifically, they like to steal the scene.
Some authors write the best villains. Totally creepy, frightening, powerful. My villains are more snarky than scary, even when they meet in a cafe to dine on human hearts! That pinch of snark, combined with a dollop of badass, or vice versa, makes them fun to write, so fun, I wonder if they are planning on scene-stealing. I have about an equal number of villains as good guys, and I'm not sure if that's normal or not.
Villains are an interesting breed. They can't be boring, but is there a danger in making them too intriguing? Especially if they have good qualities balancing out the bad, so they are genuinely likable.
My villains have a number of ghastly habits. If one of them tells you, "eat your heart out," he might just mean it literally. Still, I think they're likable. One or two of them gets redeemed at the end of the book, the rest have to be content with swearing revenge.
Two of the villains in this book play a prominent role in the series set in the same world as this stand-alone fantasy.
Comments
Hm, haven't read too many books where there are as many bad guys as good ones (if you don't count the minions) but I for one am intrigued. Bad guys are usually more interesting 'cause the writter isn't trying as hard to make them 'likable' to the reader and they have a bit more freedom to just be themselves. I'm also a huge fan redeeming the villain - does that make him more of a 'bad boy' than 'bad guy' and one can never go wrong with snark !!!