  Mystery
This week: The Perfect Bad Guy Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon  
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Quote for the week:
Mystery spread its cloak across the sky.
We'd lost our way.
Shadows fell from trees.
They knew why.
~The Moody Blues "House of Four Doors" |
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Next to the detective, the villain is the most important character in a mystery story. Some might argue that the villain is even more important than the detective. If it weren't for the villain, the detective would have nothing to do! After you have decided what crime will be committed in your story, you need to create the right character to commit it. The type of villain you choose will depend on the crime that will be committed and the dynamic you want to create between the villain and the detective.
The brilliant villain: Hannibal Lecter, Professor Moriarty, and the Deaf Man in Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series are examples of this type of villain. Wealthy and extremely intelligent, the brilliant villain commits crimes for the challenge of outwitting the authorities. They often taunt detectives by leaving clues and seem to enjoy the adrenalin rush of almost getting caught. The brilliant villain usually matches wits with an equally brilliant and eccentric detective, but it might be fun to have one brought down by an ordinary, "common sense" cop. Readers love to hate this type of villain, so he or she often resurfaces for several stories before getting caught.Some brilliant villains, such as Hannibal Lecter, are truly evil, but some are just quirky. An example of the quirky type is Thomas Crown of the movie, The Thomas Crown Affair, who stole a valuable painting just because he was bored and gave it back at the end.
The evil psycho: Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs and most of Dean Koontz's villains fit this profile. Pure sociopaths or psychopaths, they don't recognize the basic rights of other humans, and may view their victims as animals or objects. They may be highly intelligent, but they differ from the brilliant villain in being extremely unstable. Their instability often leads to their downfall in the end. Readers don't love to hate these evil characters; they just plain hate them.
The nice guy (or girl) next door: Real life serial killer Ted Bundy was an example of this type. When this villain is caught, he is usually described by neighbors as "a nice quiet guy who never caused any trouble". Bundy used his good looks and "nice guy" act to gain the trust of women that he later killed. If you use this type of villain, make sure you leave clues. Readers don't like to be able to figure out who the guilty party is too easily, but they don't like him to come out of the blue either.
The most realistic villain is somewhere between the nice guy and the evil psycho. Most real criminals lie somewhere in this range, because few real people are completely good or evil. A basically good kid from a bad neighborhood might join a gang just to survive, or a heartless crime lord who will execute a rival at the drop of a hat might be a model husband and father. If you want to make any villain more realistic, give him or her a tiny bit of good. Even an evil psycho might love one person or maybe a pet.
Something to try: If you have a mystery story that isn't working, try writing a version from the point of view of the villain. This may not be the version you will show to readers, but understanding what drives the villain's actions may help you make it a stronger story. |
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Question for next time: Who is your favorite villain?
Answer to last month's question:What do you think is the hardest part of writing mysteries?
Joto-Kai 
For me, the hardest part of a mystery is everything else. The secret's easy, but who's going to figure it out? -and how? -and why? (I favor Sci-Fi/Supernatural mysteries.) |
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Mystery: May 23, 2012 Issue [#5055]
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