It's my belief that a hero is only as good as the villain he fights. Consider Superman, with all his strength and abilities- how impressive would he really be if he only fought street thug boosting cars and purses. He needs his Lex, Batman needs his Joker, Donald needs his Rosie. An antagonist or villain serves a number of purposes, namely is being a reflection of the hero, revealing the heroes fears and weaknesses, showing their bravery. A villain shouldn't just be what the hero is not.

I've separated villains into five categories as I've seen them in popular culture:
1. The Pinky and the Brain Types
This is normally relegated to comedic roles although not always. They are ideal for the realm of comedy because of the fact that they're chronic losers. Pinky and the Brain have and will never win. They need no hero to thwart them although hero have been added to such villain type. Earlier Hero comics are an example. Every week, Superman beat back the forces of evil and the forces of evil got back up to be beaten back again.
2. The Minion Types
This type is normally not looked at as being evil, but being used by evil. There's the faceless face to be punched. The question some may be asking is, what's the different between Type 1 and Type 2. The audience doesn't care about a minion, they're pawns and no one mourns the loss or injury of a pawn.
3. The Joker Types
The Joker type is the next and more common level of villainy. They are the hero's equal and the hero's mirror. They push the hero amd make the audience cheek when and if the hero wins. If the hero saves the day, it means something, this type presents an actually threat to something.
4. The Devil Types
This type is a more mental type of villain. They make the hero doubt himself, they shake the hero to the core. They are the villain that heroes avoid due to the fear that they may fail. It's rare that the hero outright defeats this villain as much as they stop a specific plot and a bit of the time it's more the mountain than the climb that hinder the hero. The fight isn't normally as hands on. A spell uttered, a plunger dropped, a portal opened.
5. The Gambit
The gambit is basically the villain that eventually becomes a hero or at least does something heroic. It's as simple as that.

A Quick List Of Good Villains to check out:
John Alpha and his shadowy cohorts- The 7th Son Trilogy- Free via jchutchins.net/
Alex Delarge- Clockwork Orange: Available on DVD and Blueray
Annie Wilkes- Misery: Read the book, the movie's good, the book is better! Available on Amazon.com
Hannibal Lecter- The Silence Of The Lambs: Available on DVD and Blueray

Writing Prompt # 3

Close your eyes, think of a favorite childhood friend you don't see anymore. Think of who he/she was and trying to make a guess at who they'd be right now.
Writing a story about that person in which their adult selves are confronted with a extremely dangerous situation (Ticking time bomb, dinosaur attack, alien invasion, crazy ex girlfriend) in which they will have to act bravely.

90,000 words and still counting...

So I've hit 90,000 words last Saturday, a feat I hardly thought I could reach, let alone still need to continue past that point. I cant stop typing, the story is expanding like a balloon without the relief of it bursting. It grows and twists. After this book, I have a second to write, birthing this story as been marred by ideas for other stories. On this side of the fence, writing is sort of thankless, long hours after work, long hours stolen from sleep, stolen from responsibilities burning in the back of my head and pressing devilishly against my eyes.

Why do I do this then? Because I need to. Non-writer don't fully appreciate the need to create, a carpenter stops making furniture when he puts down his hammer and nails, a painter stops painting when he puts down his brushes. The closest equivalent is to a businessman or a doctor on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The way our broken brains work is every experience we get, every sweet morning kiss, every laugh, every terror that we find in the dark night is used to serve our craft. We enjoy for the fleeting moment that it's there and then spills onto the page, masked in other fictional people. A tender kiss in sincere relief after a terrible battle. A joke to lighten a blackened mood. A looming nightmare stooping down a darkened corridor. It seems weird, it seems backward to say that one would want to share their most intimate moments with the world, but that's exactly what we want to do, so we keep writing. So I keep writing, far past 90,000 words and probably into 100,000 words.

Writing Prompt # 2

Think of a story and break it up and re-arrange it, trying to make a whole new story.

For example: Jack and Jill went up a hill to fetch a pile of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after.

Re-arranged: Jack broke his crown on a pile of water after he caused Jill to tumble down a hill.

Writing Prompt # 1

Write a story based on your go to Cause. It could be PETA, AARP, NRA, Going Bare Foot in the Summertime, that part doesn't matter as much. Have four people argue on this topic.
Person # 1 is passionate about the Cause. They are well informed and have notes.
Person # 2 is the authority on the subject. Started the case even, but for whatever reason, does not care at all about the arguement. They're texting, they'll fell asleep, they'll try and change the subject.
Person # 3 is sort of informed. He knows as much as the average Joe would know about this subject, but refuses to lose this arguement. He'll make up facts, He'll be insulting and He'll talk over others.
Person # 4 knows nothing about the subject matter and doesn't want to argue. He was forced into the conversation and is just trying not to look likke an idiot. Convey all this, without giving any backstory or identification outside of dialog.

Thoughts On Writing # 2

Today, I've managed to write a sparse 600 words before 4:00om and I plan on doing more before the day is through. The 600 I have brings me to a proud 88,400 words. I've been trying to prepare myself for what should be a long haul and a difficult fight into the Writing World. I near the end of my first novel and I grit my teeth at the idea of editing it. The idea of writing a synopsis is just horrifying and I'm harassing random writer friends to do it for me. So far, no luck. I just want it to be like in the 70's and 80's where you could just show up with a manuscript worth of little more than tiolet paper and get it published with little issue. As it stands today, with word processers and the internet, there are millions of little authors writing millions of manuscripts and to break through, you have to write something worth reading. I didn't sign up for that. When I first read Hemingway, I thought writing was just about drinking and hanging out with F. Scott Fitzgerald. Hemingway didn't have to set up a website or go to writer's conventions. Hemingway didn't have to join a writer's group or research Editors and read Publishers Lunch. He just wrote the book, took a shot, shot something and everyone loved him.
But his work, in a lot of cases, is only amazing the first time you read it. I'd rather be the best every time. Also, I wonder what it felt like back then for a first time novelist. Writing in a leather bound notebook on a sun washed hillside, your lovely thoughts bleeding out onto the page and having no reason to hope you would be successful. The research is a comfort in that respect. The act of reading about an agent, an editor, a publisher makes me feel that I am somehow apart of this world. I'm not seeing money from it, (neither did Hemingway in the begining)but I'm hearing about the players, I know what my genre is, I know who to contact and I feel I'm better off compared to some of my writing brothers fighting to get in.

Thoughts On Writng

I'm thinking about the way I write and who I interact with in a writing capacity. Who is helping me, who's hurting me and I've started feeling somewhat fortunate. It's along the lines of the proverb about the man with no shoes meeting the man with no feet. I have time to write, a computer to write on and educated, mildly interested people to read the stories I write. I have access to a wealth spring of advice via Itunes podcasts. I've got it better than some. So I've decided that I'll "shit" rather than getting off the pot. I'm going to orchestrate my own one man mini- NanoWrimo. 19,000 words by the end of April or just how much it takes to finally finishing my novel. That's about 700 words a day, which isn't a lot when you do the math so it's doable if I'm not lazy, which I am admittedly. I literally start the book 3 years ago, it's only 206 pages and 61,000 words. I know how to finish it, I've planned and re-planned and re-re-planned the ending in both outline and in my mind. It's going to happen, it'll happen soon.

What will be the next challenge to meet head on after that and the editing, that I actually somehow find more fulfilling is the Agent/ Editoring (I'm sure that's not a real term.) I think that's so fulfilling because it's more immediate. Weirdly, I like mailing agents and like rejections because it's a result . I put something out into the world and they bite or they don't. With a story or even this blog, there isn't a real pass or fail feeling.

A Quick List of the writing Podcasts I'm Listening to:
I Should Be Writing: Hosted by Mur Lafferty
Writing Excuses: Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells And Howard Tayler
Odyssey SF/F Writing Workshops: Hosted by Odyssey Writing Workshops and Saint Anseim College; Directed by Jean Caveilos



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