Villains intrigue me. They can be outright bad guys, troublemakers or those morally ambiguous characters. Sometimes the hero is only as good as the villain is bad. There isn’t a villain in The Year of Living Shamelessly, but there are two antagonists. Tatum and Sasha are the kind of women you love to hate.
But maybe I’m too hasty to make that judgment. After all, I don’t know their side of the story. I guess it’s all about point of view. This week I’m going to see the musical Wicked which is told in the Wicked Witch’s point of view. Everyone tells me that I’m never going to look at The Wizard of Oz the same way again. We’ll see.
But there are times when I’ve seen a story in the eyes of the villain and it doesn’t change the way I think of them. And then there are times when I have to write a story in the antagonist’s point of view. Like when I wrote “Sister Switch” in the Beach Blanket Bad Boys anthology.
Those who read The Wrong Bride knew Tracy was the troublemaking twin. She isn’t nice, she’s manipulative when she’s on her best behavior, and she’s not romance heroine material. But once I got into her point of view, I saw that Tracy was bold, courageous and would do anything to protect her family. Sounds like a romance heroine to me! She’s still trouble, and she meets her match in Nick. He might be the enemy, but he knows exactly what Tracy is capable of. Even better, Nick admires her. He’s actually dazzled by her bad girl brilliance.
After writing “Sister Switch”, I look at villains and antagonists in a different way.
Which makes me wonder, who is your favorite villainess in fiction? Is she from a book, a movie or a TV show? I’m partial to Malificent in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. (Hello, she transforms into a dragon! How cool is that?!)
Who is your favorite villainess? Tell me in the comment section before Thursday, October 1 at midnight Pacific Time. I will pick one winner to receive a signed copy of Beach Blanket Bad Boys. Contest rules, guidelines and fine print can be found here. Good luck!
**Update: Congratulations to Jessica, commenter #6. She wins a signed copy of Beach Blanket Bad Boys. Thanks to everyone for blogging with me!**
The first villianess that popped in my mind was Cruella Deville.
One villian that I enjoyed was Catwoman.
I’m just having a hard time thinking of any movie or whatever that I’ve seen where there is a lady villain. What I have thought of is not an all out truly bad girl. . . but Lady Catherine de Bourgh of P&P fame, of course.
Lois
Fav villian… I love Disney characters, so I will say the evil queen from Snow White… she shows how ugly she really is on the inside!!!
Sharon Stone as Catherine Tramell in “Basic Instinct.”
I would have to say my fav villianess would be Daemon from the show Reboot. I choose her not for the name, but just her voice. She had a silky tone that made you always want to pick her brain apart.
Sauron from Lord of the Rings, that’s one bad dude.
My favorite, John travolta in ‘Face Off’
the movie where the woman kills and cooks ,the kids bunny, fatal attraction