Wednesday, March 6, 2019

IWSG & Villains & Heroes

The Insecure Writer's Support Group is the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh. He, his clones, minions, friends, and fellow authors make it an amazing event every month.




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:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Twisted! Your story for Tick Tock had a lot of villains though.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Challenge yourself - write a romance from the villain's perspective. I bet you could do it.

Chrys Fey said...

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*

Carol Kilgore said...

Totally agree about villains! Maybe we're both warped, LOL :)

Sara Codair said...

I hope you get time to write your villains soon!

Sadira Stone said...

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.

T. Powell Coltrin said...

They are heroes of their own twisted stories. Love that.

S.A. Larsenッ said...

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.

Arlee Bird said...

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

emaginette said...

I wish I had more of your mindset. Villains are so hard for me. :-)

Anna from elements of emaginette

Erika Beebe said...

You have a valid point about villains. They are their own heroes. Happy IWSG Day :)

Natalie Aguirre said...

I could see having some scenes from the villains' POV in a suspense or murder mystery. I haven't tried it yet.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I like writing the villain also, but I don't like him to be the central character.

cleemckenzie said...

Yep, I understand that they're heroes of their own stories. That's what makes them so compelling. Glad you like writing them.

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

I don't have a chance to do it with my books, but I love stories from the villain's perspective as a reader!

Jemi Fraser said...

It did - and it was such fun to write! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

OHHH! That sounds like a lot of fun!!! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

LOL - exactly! You can really dig deep that way!

Jemi Fraser said...

LOL - we might just be!! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Thanks - it's always fun!

Jemi Fraser said...

That sounds very similar to the way I've worked too - fun!

Jemi Fraser said...

And that's what makes it fun!

Jemi Fraser said...

Me too! It's fun to delve into that world - for a short time, anyway! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

LOL -oops! That's the challenge - it can be extremely challenging to live in the villain pov for any length of time!

Jemi Fraser said...

I'm not sure I could live in that world for an entire novel, but for short pieces, it's fun!

Jemi Fraser said...

Scary, but true! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

I think that's where I'm going to try it!

Jemi Fraser said...

Not for a long piece! That would be exhausting and draining!

Jemi Fraser said...

You too!! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

They sure are fun! And I can't see Myrtle turning evil any time soon! :)

Lauren Macrie said...

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!

Mason Canyon said...

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. :)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Villains can be fun to write, and a great change of pace.

Jemi Fraser said...

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! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

LOL - you and me both, Mason! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

So very true!! :)

Anonymous said...

Yup - I totally love writing from the villian's POV. Something about exploring the dark psyche intrigues me.

Jemi Fraser said...

It really can be a whole lot of fun!

Denise Covey said...

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?

Yvonne Ventresca said...

I'm glad you're enjoying the dark side! :)

H. R. Sinclair said...

I do! I like writing from the villain's POV. I think it helps me round them out too.

Patsy said...

It can be fun to write villains – I should do it a bit more.

Chemist Ken said...

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.

Jemi Fraser said...

LOL - we are an odd bunch at times!! :)
My heroes are always teddy bears on the inside but you never know!

Jemi Fraser said...

It's fun!

Jemi Fraser said...

I agree - we don't want those 2 dimensional boring villains!

Jemi Fraser said...

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 :)

Nasreen said...

Ah! From the villain's perspective...would be interesting to read as no villain ever said he's in the wrong!

Diane Burton said...

No villains for me. Usually. I prefer the Protag's pov. S/He's my hero, my reason for writing.

Jemi Fraser said...

Exactly!! That makes them fun :)

Jemi Fraser said...

I do love my heroes as well! They'll always have my heart :)

Heather R. Holden said...

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!

Jemi Fraser said...

LOL - yes, you do need those villains in your work!!! :)

Helen said...

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.

Elizabeth Seckman said...

I love that idea of a peak inside the villain's head before visiting the hero.

Stephen Tremp said...

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.

Anonymous said...

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.

Jemi Fraser said...

Exactly! They have their own odd pov!

Jemi Fraser said...

Thanks - I think it's going to be fun ... when I get to it!

Jemi Fraser said...

They do! And you write them well! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

That might be fun! I'll stick that idea in the self-conscious and see what percolates!

LD Masterson said...

I've done a number of short stories from the villain's POV. It's fun being the bad guy.

Dawn Simon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dawn Simon said...

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!

Jemi Fraser said...

It is!! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

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!

Nasreen said...

At times it is fun to read what makes a villain do what he does.

Jemi Fraser said...

Agreed! :)

J.H. Moncrieff said...

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!

Jemi Fraser said...

That's completely awesome! I haven't tried anything that in-depth yet, but that sounds like such fun!!!