E C Hamilton

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Contains some spoilers for Vicious and Vengeful. What is Backstory? Backstory is what has happened to the character prior to the story beginning, although sometimes features in prologues. If the motive asks ‘what does my character want?’ the backstory ponders ‘why?’ Your reader does not necessarily need to learn everything about your villain, in fact, they shouldn’t, but hinting at why the villain is the way they are can make them relatable and interesting. “People are not born heroes or villains; they’re created by the people around them.” Chris Colfer Villains aren’t born, they are made. ‘Evildoers’ are created from a series of events that feed feelings of hatred and anger over time, until they are finally tipped over the edge. How many failures would a hero need to face before eventually giving up? Picture a protagonist you’ve created or one you love and imagine what would happen to their admiral character if they failed one too many times, suffered throu...

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“Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human.” Victoria Schwab, Vicious Whether we love to hate them, actually love them, or really really hate them, villains have the power to make a big impact. The ones we met as children still have a hold on us. The ones we meet as readers make us intrigued, and the ones we meet as writers make us critical. Critical in the way that sometimes a villain makes us say ‘uh, I could do better’ or ‘that was pretty well done’ or ‘god damn it, how the hell did they do that? I LOVE THEM.’ How a villain in a story makes us feel is a lesson in how our own villains make others feel. There are many elements that make a GOOD villain. Before looking at what your villain needs, consider making a list of your favourite villains and why they were great. What made you enjoy their presence? What makes up a villain? There are three basic elements to a villain: motive, backstory and personality. This does n...

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Contains some spoilers for The Grisha Trilogy Part 1 – Introduction What is a villain? A villain is the bad guy, sometimes known as the antagonist. They challenge the protagonist and create conflict in the story. No conflict, no story. The villain’s actions or goal can create the motivation for the hero, as well as create the necessary obstacles every hero should face in order to make a compelling story. Villains can take many different forms. They can create life or death scenarios or simply pose a threat to what the heroes truly want and/or need. A story can have multiple antagonists posing multiple challenges. To avoid creating an evil villain that embodies all the necessary qualities but none of the dimensions that make them seem like an actual person, they require (like our heroes) motive, backstory and personality.             Villain vs Antagonist While discussing the many different types of villain...

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What’s great about being a book lover, is it is usually something people know about you, whether they are family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, or that guy that always takes the same train as you. We stack our books messily and beautifully in our homes, we tell our colleagues about a crazy weekend of reading and sipping tea, and we fit a chapter in during the bus ride. The good thing about having bookworm friends, is they’re very easy to buy for. The great thing about being a bookworm, is the number of wonderful things out there made for us – getting crafted, written, painted, etc. The downside is the impact on our bank accounts. We’ve all been there, which is why I’ve titled this post gifts , but, like, treat yo’ shelf. 1 Books Obviously, we start with books. Since I discovered Book Depository , I have rarely strayed from it. You might have heard of it, if not, this is your gift. It’s my number one place to go. Reason 1 – great prices, much cheaper than...