Nobody is a villain in their own story. We're all the heroes of our own stories.- George R. R. Martin
I believe that the most important character in any suspense novel or thriller is the villain. I believe that it was Arnold Schwarzenegger who said that the bigger the obstacle the bigger the hero must be. The villain or antagonist is the one who will make or break your novel. In Calling Vicki I sort of doubled down by including two powerful and very different types of villains in the novel. One of the men is named Carlos, he is all emotion, rage, lust, anger and hate. He dominated through fear and intimidation. The other villain is named Riddle and he is cerebral. He is a thinking man who takes an ordered and logical approach to the task at hand. Even when he is killing he does it with all the emotion of someone who is washing their hands.
When crafting the villain for your novel you need to decide on what traits will drive your characters. Villains are usually driven by a mania, something that drives them beyond the point of reason. When crafting my lead villains I knew that needed one of them to balance out the other. Carlos needed someone like Riddle to keep him focused on the task at hand and Riddle, a hired killer, needed someone to give him a target and push to make decisions that he would not normally make. I needed characters who would conflict with each other as much as they would the world around them.
When sitting down to write Calling Vicki I knew that I had to introduce the villain as soon as possible. The villain is the force of conflict and conflict is the best way to drive a story. When ever I got stuck for a way to go I would come back to the lead villain and he would be able to give me clues on which way I should go next with my story. The cool thing about villains is that they are decisive.
Okay that will be it for today. If you wish to meet my villains then take a few minutes to read chapter two of my novel Calling Vicki by clicking here. I wish you good luck with your project and do not forget to share this post and to add me to your google plus.
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