Loretta on Villains

       From Loretta
      
      A couple of Wenchlings asked questions about villains.  Nina asked if it was possible to redeem a villain in another book.  Wendy mentioned a discussion about villains on Running With Quills--Villains:  Are they necessary?  When I investigated, it seemed they were talking more about evil and its role in a story--but do check it out:
      http://www.runningwithquills.com/2006_08_01_archive.html
      Still, “Are they necessary?” is an excellent question.
      
      Let me start by saying that my favorite villains were on the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon shows and spin-offs.  Moose and Squirrel were constantly menaced by the hilariously incompetent duo, Boris and Natasha.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Badenov
      Dudley Do-Right--who eventually had his own show--had the delicious Snidely Whiplash.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snidely_Whiplash
      
      Since I was practically born a writer, any and all villains, from the Big Bad Wolf to cartoon and comic book characters, went up into that imagination attic of mine.
      By the time I started writing my first romances, I knew it was futile to attempt to achieve the perfection of Boris, Natasha, and Snidely, so I didn’t.
      I simply tried to make the bad guy interesting--though on occasion I merely made him disgusting.
      What’s great about Boris, Natasha, and Snidely is that, even though they’re two dimensional, they’ve got nuances.  Well, not very subtle ones.  But the evil is alloyed with something, usually something ridiculous.  Or even a little poignant.  But even  as a kid, I noticed that they were a lot more interesting than the Big Bad Wolf or the witch in various other fairy tales.  There’s was a little more to them than straight out Evil.
      And that’s the key to redeeming a villain and making him a hero in another book:  There has to be more to him than straight out Bad.  There has to be some redeeming quality.  Oh, and it does help if he’s gorgeous.
      My most recent reissue, CAPTIVES OF THE NIGHT, redeems the villain of THE LION’S DAUGHTER.
            Ismal (later Esmond) is an example of a character who haunted my imagination as soon as I put him on the page.  Still, starting out, I did not intend to make Ismal a hero of another book.  I had planned to make a very dangerous man, certainly.  I knew he’d be a complex villain, too:  As soon as he appeared on the page (and yes, I was writing the movie scene playing in my brain, Wendy) he intrigued me.  Still, he was going to be a tough case for redemption and I wasn’t sure my writing skills at that point were up to it.  I poisoned him, broke his hand, beat his head on a pier, and shot him.
      He wouldn’t die.  So really, there wasn’t much choice.  I kept him and made him the hero of CAPTIVES.  This resulted in the only Albanian hero of a historical romance (at least, I haven’t heard of any others).
      Hmm.  Come to think of it, both my Albania-set books have resulted in villains-turned-into heroes.  Basil, the villain of my very first Regency, became the reluctant hero of THE ENGLISH WITCH.  Maybe that was my “practice” book for CAPTIVES?  In both cases, the villain redeemed himself in part by doing dirty work for the government.  And also by being gorgeous.
      Oddly enough, the hero of LORD PERFECT was another character who wasn’t supposed to have a book.  When I began the series, I had settled the two eldest Carsington sons with wives, and planned a trilogy dealing with the three youngest.  But Benedict, like Ismal, intrigued me.  As soon as he walked onto the stage at the end of MR. IMPOSSIBLE, my writer instinct (a little sharper now, with experience) told me he was coming next--and I said so at the end of that book.
      I mention LORD PERFECT not only in the interests of shameless self-promotion but as an example of a book that doesn’t have a villain.  If there’s any villain in that story, it’s an abstraction or a combination of abstractions:  Society and Duty in their more oppressive incarnations.
      One of the reasons for putting a villain into a romance is to create danger and conflict.  He (or she--let’s not forget Natasha) is a shadow hanging over the hero and heroine.  But if you have a powerful threat hanging over them--like social ostracism--and/or deep conflict between them, an actual bad guy may not be necessary.
      What makes a good villain?  I guess one would answer that question the same way one would answer What makes a good hero?  It’s in the eye of the beholder.  In my reading, I tend to like villains with some depth and complexity.  Or, if their wickedness is straightforward, I like them to not be obvious about it.  This is why I think Mr. Tulkinghorn of BLEAK HOUSE is a great villain:  He’s ordinary, old-fashioned, and sort of fades into the woodwork.  Though in the recent BBC version Charles Dance did not remotely resemble outwardly the character in the book, he communicated what that character was about.  He had a wonderful, quietly and coldly menacing presence. He was brilliant, but then he’s always brilliant.
      I think Ralph Nickleby of NICHOLAS NICKLEBY is another fascinating villain.  You catch a glimpse of humanity there, which raises him above the usual Victorian melodrama villain.  (I have not yet seen the version with Charles Dance, but expect he’s wonderful in that, too.)
      In my current story, NOT QUITE A LADY, the villain is an officer who’s fought bravely for his country, who is determined to have what he wants--the heroine--and has to decide how far he’ll go.  In his case, the very qualities that made him successful in his profession turn out to have a sour side in civilian life.
      I love villains.  Certainly, I believe we writers have more leeway in creating them than we do in creating our heroes and heroines.  I don’t know about the other Wenches but I think it’s trickier to create interesting good characters than interesting evil ones.  You’ve got a lot more room to explore with a villain.  Maybe that’s why we love our bad boy heroes so much.
      But what do you think?  What’s your favorite kind of villain, if you have a favorite kind?  Who’s your favorite villain?  In your reading, have you encountered any villains you wish were turned into heroes?