I THINK THE DEEPER YOU GO
INTO QUESTIONS,
THE DEEPER OR MORE INTERESTING
THE QUESTIONS GET.
AND I THINK THAT'S THE JOB OF ART.
(Andre Dubus III)
When I hear about something terrible on the news, or watch a TV show or a movie where bad things happen, I react the same as most people - shock, sadness, anger. But when those emotions are turned onto the "bad guy," I tend to take a step back.
I'm not saying there shouldn't be punishment, or that excuses and rationalization justify crimes and tragedies. It's just that my writing mind wants to know why he or she did what they did. What was he thinking? What was she feeling? What was the trigger? The motivation? What did the "bad guy" expect to happen once blood was spilled, breath was smothered, innocence lost, money stolen? Joy? Relief? Satisfaction? And did he or she achieve it? Was it worth it?
I then take the "answers" I come up with and put them on the page. I read once that the antagonist thinks they're the star of their own story, that they're actually the protagonist of their own story. I want my "villains" to be as complicated as real people.
You don't have to go to the "dark" places like I tend to do. Stay in the "light." Ask yourself why the woman on line in the grocery store wears a big purple hat decorated with plastic sunflowers. Wonder why the postal carrier is always whistling "Jingle Bells" even in August. Imagine the conversation between the little girl next door and her dolls as they have a tea party in the backyard.
Let's ask ourselves lots of questions this week. Let's take our writing, our art, to a deeper, more complex, more human level.
HA! You and I have big overlap today. I went to Maleficent with my daughter yesterday and it did a BRILLIANT job of illustrating this. I am trying to do a better job fleshing out my antagonists... it is hard though. My tendency is toward too much sympathy if I dig that deep.
ReplyDeleteIt's tricky. You want your "bad guy" to be real but not too real, human but not too human. He or she is still the "villain" and you want your readers to dislike/hate him or her.
DeleteI too often wonder about the "antagonist's" motivation behind his or her behavior. Everyone has a story, even the "bad guy". Nicely written :)
ReplyDeleteSometimes the antagonist's story is more interesting than the hero's. :)
DeleteAs I will be adding new scenes and editing this week, I will be asking some deeper questions.
ReplyDeleteGo for it, Alex!
DeleteI love to go to the dark places like you do. :D
ReplyDeleteThe trick is to make sure we can find our way back…. :)
DeleteI want my villains to be complicated, fleshed-out characters, not just caricatures. Thinking of them as the stars in their own story sounds like a good approach to try.
ReplyDeleteIt totally changed how I looked at those "bad guys." And when you look at your story through THEIR eyes, it will blow your mind, and it will give you so much more to work with in terms of characterization and subplots. etc.
DeleteI try to make my villains complicated but I don't try to figure out the minds of real bad guys or the crazy things they do.
ReplyDeleteAsking questions is one thing but I don't think I'm brave enough to dive totally into the head of a "real bad guy."
DeleteGreat post. I used to think I was crazy when I thought about the villain actually being a newborn and having a childhood at one time. But the incredible thing about being an author is that our thoughts and questions take us to those places... places normal people wouldn't dare to go nor even want to visit. But this allows us to have certain characters become more vulnerable for our readers. Even if they may seem hated or despised... they had to have come from some good. Because in every good, there is a bit of evil and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteIn the real world, though, it seems once evil has taken over someone's mind and heart, there is little room for them to go back to where they originally started from.
I always thought I was crazy, too - and maybe I am - but I do think I'm a better writer because of asking those kinds of questions, having those kinds of thoughts, etc. :)
DeleteI LOVE that thought. I couldn't agree more. And Villains are so important! They have been on my mind a lot lately and I love the ones who are complicated and have a deeper meaning to them. They aren't just "evil" to be evil.
ReplyDeleteGlad this post worked for you, Leigh!
DeleteI think 'why?' is the only question really worth asking.
ReplyDeleteI would also add "Why not?" :)
DeleteI love to get into the minds of my characters, especially the antagonist. I think asking "why" when it comes to the villain and looking deeper into them and what they do, makes them all the more real.
ReplyDeleteIt makes them more real and more memorable - hopefully! - for readers. :)
Deleteyouve inspired me to look deeper into a revision i'm working on - not just why does this character do this, but what is the story behind her actions... if i don't know, the character sounds shallow! thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome!
DeleteI too will ask many questions to myself before doing anything. Sometimes i get the answers sometimes not. But it is good to ask questions to know many things!
ReplyDeleteI wish I received more answers than I actually do, but I'll take what I can get. :)
DeleteAbsolutely; art gives us the means to safely explore the monstrous. That's partly what it's for, I think.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of being safe to "explore the monstrous."
DeleteGood point about our antagonists. My problem: keeping the protagonists just as interesting.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's tricky - we'd don't want the protagonists to be flat and/or stereotypical either.
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