In this story I am working on, I have encountered many different types of characters. Some are in the story to challenge and encourage Afton, others want her dead.
Yep- the bad guys. No high adventure story is complete without evil. I have to say that when I began I knew there would be at least one evil guy because he had been in my head for years, but I had no idea how or when the others would show up.
One writing exercise that I tried was to list the things that scare me. I thought that would be a good place to start; after all if snakes freak me out (which they do) how many other people feel the same way? It ended up being a productive writing assignment even if it didn't bring particular characters to mind. At least it gave me a glimpse of what frightened me and which of those things I could maybe use in the story line (skeletons) and things that just wouldn't work. (clowns) I think it also made me more aware of villains in books and movies and I began to pick through what I thought evil could be in my storyline.
Those of you that know me well, know that I love Star Wars- so of course I took a long look at Darth Vader and the Emperor. From there I went to the Agent in "The Matrix" the Queen in "Narnia", the Ring Wraith's in "Lord of the Rings", and many other movies. I thought of books that would give me some good evil people and came up with many more to add to my list. And with my love of history I had to add some real people including Hitler- and what I ended up with was a huge list of vastly different characters that I had no idea how to process.
So when my unexpected character came along and I decided to follow him "Down the Rabbit Hole" I was surprised to meet some of evil while I was working on this writing exercise. I was not surprised to encounter skeletons or even huge creatures that are over 9 feet tall, but there was one I hadn't counted on.
While I can't go into great detail about him- I can tell you that he is like a cubic zircona-perfection without flaws-an illusion. He never fails to freak me out when I encounter him. One of his songs on my play list is "Hunter" by 30 Seconds to Mars. It's not so much the words as it is his voice......disturbing and haunting.
Another thing I have researched is the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath. I've also done research on Narcissistic disorders....not exactly fun stuff but it has helped to take some of the bad guys from being one dimensional to truly believable characters.
I was afraid that I would have nightmares about these guys- and I did with one of them- but for the most part they stay in the story and don't invade my life too much. (I did have a nightmare about tomato soup- but I'll save that for another post! LOL!)
I have a quote above my writing desk that says, "Being an author is having angels whisper in your ear- and devils too." ~Graycie Harmon
I'm learning that the trick is to recognize the difference.
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