Please help me welcome one of my favorite Urban Fantasy writers back to a Buckeye Girl Reads: Carolyn Crane. She's here today to talk about her favorite kind of villains and to give away some chocolates!
What kind of
chocolate is your villain?
Happy Blogaversary Collette! Thanks for inviting me to your
celebration.
In honor of our Colette’s big THREE I’m here talking about
villains. Not to imply anything villainous about Colette herself, but Colette,
I imagine you have run across your fair share of villains in the books we read.
I sure have.
Actors always say they love playing villains. I think
writers love writing them, or at least, I love it. One of my favorite characters
to write about in the Disillusionists was my definitely my villain, who
we’ll simply call VILLAIN so we don’t spoil anything. He does some terrible
things and becomes quite hate-able, but I love him, too. It was important for
me to have readers understand not only his evils, but his fears and desires,
his woundedness, his humanity. And, okay, it doesn’t end well for VILLAIN, I
wanted so much for him to experience some form of redemption.
When I can, I typically take a long run after a day of
writing, and I remember when I was writing the part of the trilogy that ends
tragically for VILLAIN, and feel all weepy about him. Tearing up on the running
path. Oh, how I loved my villain. Every
villain is a kind of tragedy, and also a kind of rich and evilly delicious
chocolate. What kind of chocolate??? I
will tell you….
****************
The evil genius
This kind of villain is dangerous and evil, but he’s not
entirely hate-able, and possibly he’s even respectable for his dastardly smarts
and massive capabilities. I think this villain works really well when you don’t
know too much about him. Or, if he is slightly sexy to the heroine, but too
dangerous to tango with…or she is too dangerous - like Melisande in Kushiel’s
Dart was too dangerous for Phedre to get close to.
The evil genius villain is like chocolate that has salt on
it. Salty chocolate has a strange edge, delicious, intense and unexpected, but highly effective.
The villain who
transforms into a love interest
This might be my favorite kind of villain. But he’s really
not a villain at all, is he? If he becomes love interest. An awesome example of
this is Spike from Buffy, of course. But, remember Spike from the early
episodes? He was so wonderfully bad, all into eating kittens and pleasing crazy
Drusilla. Kresley Cole is the grand master of this sort of villain - Lothaire,
Aiden the Fierce.
I am likening this kind of villain to English toffee because
he has two different and equally delicious parts: the yummy villain chocolate,
and the brickle toffee inside, two distinct experiences that go beautifully
together.
The wounded
villain
You know how they say a wounded animal is the most dangerous
kind of animal? I think that about villains, too. Sometimes the villain was wounded long ago
and those wounds have been part of his being. Or else, the villain is wounded
onstage in the story, and it makes him dangerous and out for blood. This is a
highly dynamic sort of villain.
The wounded dangerous villain is like chocolate with a chewy
caramel center. There is this softness and richness in him that makes him
complex and, in many cases, devastating!
The villain without
humanity
This is the scariest kind of villain, and also, not at all
three dimensional. Pure evillll! I think about the Omega here. (I’m not past
Phury’s book yet, so maybe the Omega evolves and takes on dimension.) Anyway,
OMG, I had total nightmares about the Omega when I was reading Phury’s book and
had to stop. He’s almost like a horror movie villain, more monster than
character, at least as far as I read.
This kind of super scary villain is like that last one
chocolate in that box of chocolates at your grandmother’s house…that one
chocolate nobody wants to eat. And it sits there. Weeks go by. And sits there.
Orange crème, possibly, or something really yucky like that. Stay away!
The crazy villain
This villain is usually created. The lessers are kind of
like this, or else, zombie villains. They are not redeemable at all, and
usually not even sane. They are nutty!
Naturally, this villain is chocolate with nuts!
So, for Colette’s fabulous bash, I am here with a lovely box
of villain chocolates. Bon appetit, Colette! Happy big THREE!!
Carolyn is giving away some chocolates to one lucky commenter! Just say which kind of chocolate villain is your favorite! Be sure to leave an email or twitter handle so I can contact you if you are the winner. Giveaway is international and open until 10pm May 23, 2012.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Where to find Carolyn:
Where to find Carolyn:
