When I'm Good, I'm Very Good. But When I'm Bad, I'm Better.

The title of this post is a quote from Mae West. But it illustrates my point. I love writing the good guys, but I LOVE writing the bad guys. As Brion James once said, "The bad guys are the best parts."

What makes a good bad guy? Well, that question is about as subjective as they come. For me, a really excellent baddie has to be confident, determined, and just plain evil. He or she has to have a sharp wit and a sharper tongue. It doesn't hurt if you don't see him or her coming, either. I like a good scare. I also like being misled in a story.

I was once given the advice that you must know why your villain is the way he or she is. Did he or she have a bad childhood, etc, etc.? It was horrible advice. Some people are just evil the moment air enters their lungs. Not everything needs to be analyzed--least of all, a really excellent baddie. I mean, come on, if we'd found out that Hannibal Lechter only developed a taste for flesh because his mommy fed him too many beets as a child, wouldn't it take away from the scary reality (or would that be fictionality?) of Hannibal? Keep the psychobabble and therapy, I want my villains evil to the core with reasons of their own. I'll delve into his or her motives, for sure. But the only thing I need to know about him or her is what I'm being told at the moment.

But that's me.