Alright, so its time for a awesome guest post from this terrific author. Today's topic is Villains We Love to Hate!!! I'm excited to post this one. Thanks so much Angela for letting me be part of the tour and for writing up this great guest post for the blog!!!
Hi there, my name is Angela Carling. I am the author of a light paranormal romance called Unbreakable Love and recently released a book about love and power called Shackled.
Writing my most recent book, Shackled, really got me thinking about villains. Villains are a critical part of many stories. Let’s face it, our heroes would be nothing more than a freakishly strong or talented people without someone despicable to take down. It is the contrast between right and wrong, good and evil that stirs us up inside and rallies us to cheer on the good guy. It is in this opposition that truly great and terrible villains are born.
My first experience with a villain was the terrifying and powerful Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. At the end of the movie Maleficent rises up from her human form and morphs into a enormous seething black dragon and cries out, “And now o prince you deal with me and all the powers of hell.” As a little girl, I was terrified and when the prince threw the sword into her heart and she withered away to nothing, inside, I cheered and felt great relief. Still to this day, that scene evokes an emotional response from me.
The question is, what makes a great villain? They can be brilliant, and self-absorbed. They can even be funny, but no matter what you must fundamentally disapprove of who they are in what they do, or in other words, the villain must drive you to want to see the other guy win. In Shackled, the villain is Ryan’s father. He is selfish, egocentric and loves power. His job in the FBI only feeds his villain-like tendencies. As I wrote Shackled, I found myself loathing him. I can’t tell you what happens to him in the end, but I can say there is a surprise that will leave you cheering.
Now the question I leave you with is who is your favorite villain and why? Let me know. I’d love to hear about it in the comments!! Thanks for stopping by.
