Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
And we’re revving up IWSG Day to make it more fun and interactive! Every month, we'll announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.
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March 6 question - Whose perspective do you like to write from best, the hero (protagonist) or the villain (antagonist)? And why?
I have to admit that I adore writing from the villain's perspective.
It's so much fun - which may or may not say a lot about me!
With my focus on contemporary romance, I don't have a lot of opportunity to let the evil drip onto the page, but I've got multiple suspense stories lurking in my To Be Written pile where I plan to start off each chapter wth a scene from the villain's pov. Some of the flash fiction I've been writing has the villain as the central character as well.
For me, villains are fun because they're the heroes of their twisted stories - and they want the rest of the world to see it that way as well.
How about you? Anyone else like writing the villain's pov?
70 comments:
Twisted! Your story for Tick Tock had a lot of villains though.
Challenge yourself - write a romance from the villain's perspective. I bet you could do it.
I've never written in the perspective of the antagonist, but maybe one day I will. I sure love to write about the things they do. *evil laugh*
Totally agree about villains! Maybe we're both warped, LOL :)
I hope you get time to write your villains soon!
If there's a villain in my contemporary romances, s/he plays a small part. I have enjoyed writing short horror/psychological thriller stories from an evildoer's POV. We all have those destructive urges, and writing can be a harmless outlet. Happy writing in March.
They are heroes of their own twisted stories. Love that.
Oh, me too! Villains are so much fun, but they can be challenging just like the protag. I think lots of times the motivation of the villain comes from a darker, more sinister place where most folks don't want to look. Not always, but sometimes. I think that's one reason I love to write the villain.
Maybe I should try the villain Pov. I just don't want to be thinking any more evil things than what already pops into my head at times. Oh wait--that doesn't sound good does it.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
I wish I had more of your mindset. Villains are so hard for me. :-)
Anna from elements of emaginette
You have a valid point about villains. They are their own heroes. Happy IWSG Day :)
I could see having some scenes from the villains' POV in a suspense or murder mystery. I haven't tried it yet.
I like writing the villain also, but I don't like him to be the central character.
Yep, I understand that they're heroes of their own stories. That's what makes them so compelling. Glad you like writing them.
I don't have a chance to do it with my books, but I love stories from the villain's perspective as a reader!
It did - and it was such fun to write! :)
OHHH! That sounds like a lot of fun!!! :)
LOL - exactly! You can really dig deep that way!
LOL - we might just be!! :)
Thanks - it's always fun!
That sounds very similar to the way I've worked too - fun!
And that's what makes it fun!
Me too! It's fun to delve into that world - for a short time, anyway! :)
LOL -oops! That's the challenge - it can be extremely challenging to live in the villain pov for any length of time!
I'm not sure I could live in that world for an entire novel, but for short pieces, it's fun!
Scary, but true! :)
I think that's where I'm going to try it!
Not for a long piece! That would be exhausting and draining!
You too!! :)
They sure are fun! And I can't see Myrtle turning evil any time soon! :)
Sometimes I create such scary villains in my head, that I don't have the guts to put them on paper. Granted, I'm a bit of a scaredy-cat. But reading everyone's posts on this topic is making me want to try my hand at the villain's perspective!
I can see where writing from the villain's viewpoint could be interesting. I enjoy stories that get into the villain's mind - not sure what that says about me. :)
Villains can be fun to write, and a great change of pace.
I'm a total wimp when it comes to scary things! I can only do this for short pieces so far - just can't live in that kind of head for too long! :)
LOL - you and me both, Mason! :)
So very true!! :)
Yup - I totally love writing from the villian's POV. Something about exploring the dark psyche intrigues me.
It really can be a whole lot of fun!
I'm hearing you Jemi. What about all those Bad Boy romances? I once wrote a flash for WEP from the POV of Death. That was terrific fun. What is it about we writers?
I'm glad you're enjoying the dark side! :)
I do! I like writing from the villain's POV. I think it helps me round them out too.
It can be fun to write villains – I should do it a bit more.
All villains think they're misunderstood, and if they have real reasons why they think they are, then all the better. The trouble is, the more we focus on the villain, the less we tend to spend on the protagonist, and soon the reader doesn't know who to root for. Don't worry, one day those stories in your to-be-written pile will have their chance.
LOL - we are an odd bunch at times!! :)
My heroes are always teddy bears on the inside but you never know!
It's fun!
I agree - we don't want those 2 dimensional boring villains!
I hope so - they are all talking at the same time!
I agree - we want/need to root for the protagonist, but it's fun to flesh out the bad guys too :)
Ah! From the villain's perspective...would be interesting to read as no villain ever said he's in the wrong!
No villains for me. Usually. I prefer the Protag's pov. S/He's my hero, my reason for writing.
Exactly!! That makes them fun :)
I do love my heroes as well! They'll always have my heart :)
I love writing from the villain's perspective, too! (Good thing, too, since my genre is horror, haha.) So much fun, for sure. How exciting that some of your flash fiction has a villainous perspective!
LOL - yes, you do need those villains in your work!!! :)
Love your last line, 'For me, villains are fun because they're the heroes of their twisted stories - and they want the rest of the world to see it that way as well.' Sometimes we just need to get 'twisted', although to them it makes perfect sense.
I love that idea of a peak inside the villain's head before visiting the hero.
Hi Jemi, agreed I love writing from the villain's POV. So much fun. They often fight with the protagonist for face time in my stories.
It'd be interesting to see a romance from the villain's POV. We could see how they try to thwart the hero and heroine.
Exactly! They have their own odd pov!
Thanks - I think it's going to be fun ... when I get to it!
They do! And you write them well! :)
That might be fun! I'll stick that idea in the self-conscious and see what percolates!
I've done a number of short stories from the villain's POV. It's fun being the bad guy.
I usually prefer to write them as a secondary character, but I think it can be fun to focus on the villain and make him or her the protagonist! Either way, I like a three-dimensional villain.
I removed my comment so I could rewrite it correctly; I'd misspelled "write"! Lol! Time for bed!
It is!! :)
LOL - I do that ALL the time! :)
They are fun to write - not sure I could live in that world full time for a whole novel tho!
At times it is fun to read what makes a villain do what he does.
Agreed! :)
Me! *wildly waves hand*
Even if I don't write from their POV, I like to give them a spotlight, so readers can identify and even sympathize with them.
My favorite thing to do is to make it unclear if a character IS a villain or a hero until the end. If I don't know myself, so much the better!
That's completely awesome! I haven't tried anything that in-depth yet, but that sounds like such fun!!!
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