Book Of Kells And Other Thoughts

With the loveliness of this new template, I am reminded of the Book of Kells, and thinking perhaps I should nose about and see if I can't find some illuminated accents to fill some spaces, or maybe some ink blots. I'm open to ideas, but like all other magnanimous dictators, I have final say. Hopefully here, there will be less bloodshed when I decide not to listen to you. Ooh, bloodstains. Or even better, wax drops from seals.

Anyway, I did have some less violent thoughts this week, and they centered around a problem I'm having with a villain.

Let me back up a minute though and say that I adore villains, when they aren't the supernatural beings which are damned from the get-go. I think it's because the writers I admire create such multifaceted antagonists, Timothy Zahn really creates wonderful villains that aren't really villains (you want them to win, the poor guys are so earnest and driven, even if that means the universe gets taken over by the darkside(C)or that illegal happyjam(C) runs through the systems forever!) and George Bryan Polivka and Wayne Thomas Batson do the same thing in their books. I find myself rooting for the bad guys, even if that means that people get destroyed and peaceful villages get over run (hey they were in the way, nothing personal) and the hero is drawn and quartered.

Maybe I'm just weird, but I'm beginning to suspect that I'm not alone in my love of villains. Partly, I think it'd due to the fact that you can't ever let the hero or protagonist have a fair shake at things, so the villain's got to be stronger or smarter or have some great advantage over the hero, and to do that and not make it seem over the top, the author's got to really sculpt the villain into an intriguing character. After all the definition of an antagonist is merely someone who is at odds with the protagonist. If you think about it the hero is the villain's antagonist.

Getting back to my problem now, and that is that I write horrible villains. They are wooden and one dimensional and as irritating as Snidely Whiplash(tm) or the bastard prince in Much Ado About Nothing(c). So, taking the advice of Rhu, I am attempting to write some short things from the villain's point of view to better understand them.

Any other advice on how to craft an antagonist with soul (even if it is as black as night) I would gladly take.