Now that I've mapped the heck out of my novel-in-progress, I'm settling back to the writing itself. And I'm considering my darkest character, and how to flesh her out.
The term "villain" is sometimes one we shy away from when not writing mass-market fiction; it seems two-dimensional, a la "Snidely Whiplash". But it's a useful term to refer to a central character who brings an ill wind to the story. My character, a middle-aged woman with some peculiar involvement in real estate, starts as a "blocking" force and quickly moves up the "bad guy" ladder to active antagonist.
It isn't necessary for a villainous character to be fully three dimensional; some of the best villains are essentially mechanisms or forces against which the protagonist struggles. But menace does well with a bit of spice, and so Mrs. Lappi, as is her working name at the moment, is getting assigned some of my own ethnic background - Ulster Irish Protestant. There's some spice for you. And yes, Lappi is her married name.
In the process I've thought a bit about the real villains in my life. There's the teacher I had in junior high school, who saw me bullied in the back of the room and refused to address it, leaving me miserable for a time...or the bully herself, the blonde terror with constant fists. But more recently, in the business world, I've had my share as well. Some years ago (yes, years ago and at another company! Love my current job, thanks! Hi boss!) I had a sniveling evil little boss from some floral sub-basement of hell. A whispy thing with a deceptively friendly demeanor and an endless supply of lavender crepe cotton tops, she turned out to be part stalker, part serial liar, and part sci-fi acid-spitting lizard. But I exaggerate. Not really. Ever seen a lizard in a pantsuit? I have.
How would I put that creature into a novel? Honestly, I have no idea. She'd fit right in with mass market fiction, where such horrors are refreshingly accepted, no questions asked. But in a novel I'd have to make her more...real. Or at least give her a purpose, a serious place in the mechanism of evil. And honestly, after 8 months working with the woman, she never became more than a caricature bent on destruction. It is true, that truth is stranger than fiction. People do come in two dimensions. But when we write novels, we write about the creatures who live in three dimensions, as readers find them more interesting. In short, my boss was thoroughly evil, but of such a one-note variety her literary value is minimal.
So on to writing up Mrs. Lappi, an entirely different sort of villain who isn't really inspired by a single person. I'll add a dash of Ulster Irish, and throw her in for a scene or two with her scatterbrained husband to see what happens. That should keep me busy.
Note on upcoming: a few more posts this week, then a week off from January 10-16. You'll be rewarded with views of the Grand Canyon when I return.
Autumn leaf on the St. Croix River, near Grantsburg, Wisconsin, fall 2008.
Heh...post traumatic stress disorder can be a trial, can't it...
I think I know who you are talking about....... Thanks for the tremors... I still go spastic myself from the after shock... Now that I've scraped myself off the floor and can add this comment. Hope all is well and perhaps nature itself will be the healing force of all evil...
Take care,
The Minneapolis transplant,
Amy H