Creating Civilized Characters

By Mark W. Danielson

Civilized is such an interesting word. It describes many things, but rarely does it describe wildlife. My Denver neighborhood is home to hawks, eagles, foxes, and coyotes because of its abundance of prairie dogs. Similarly, deer roaming Boulder neighborhoods attract cougars, New York City rats attract birds of prey, and sometimes, Florida pets attract alligators. I’ve seen owls nesting inside a Lowe’s store, bald eagles nest in a tree surrounded by busy streets, and mallard ducklings paddle in hotel fountains. Wherever you look, you will see wildlife coexisting with us. So, why is it so hard for us civilized humans to get along with each other?

Not long ago, the Memphis Zoo had a “free day”. With perfect weather, twenty-five thousand people showed up to take advantage of this special event. Kids held balloons and ate candy, and then skirmishes broke out. Rival gang members had sent text messages to each other to meet there, and when the gunshots rang out, the police were called, and the zoo was evacuated, ruining the day. Amazingly, no one was killed.

The premeditated actions of a few thugs were vileness. Everyone who saw this story felt nothing but contempt for those responsible. Taking a fight to a place of joy filled with young children goes beyond explanation. These people had no sense of civility.

By definition, civilized means having a highly developed society and culture. It infers refinement in taste and manners. It shows evidence of moral and intellectual advancement; humane, ethical, and reasonable behavior. Civilized people are cultured, polite. But this photo also shows that animals can lovingly interact with other species. This particular polar bear returned every day for a week to hug this chained sled dog. Wildlife kill for food or protection; not for sport. This is a key point when developing evil characters.

My reason for comparing animals to people is to ensure authors develop characters that readers will care about. Thugs who kill without explanation have no place in mystery novels. We all know such people exist, but that doesn’t mean we want to read about them. If I can’t empathize with a story’s characters, I will close the book and toss it. Conversely, if I have a sense that the character’s past led him or her to commit dreadful acts, then I’m far more inclined to read on.
There is a fine line between civilized and wild, just as there is between murderer and tortured victims. We have seen plenty of belittled people who have lashed out, in which case they were both murderers and tortured victims. Every writer has the opportunity to create complex characters. Have fun with them, and most importantly, make us care.

The Villain! Who, Me?

By Beth Terrell

I've been thinking about villains today, and one thing that really stands out to me is this: hardly anyone thinks he is one. Take Darth Vader. He's not out there thinking, "This is me, being the villain." He's thinking, "This is me, helping build an empire while getting even with all those jerks who didn't appreciate me back when I was a Jedi."

Or take Voldemort, the over-arching villain in J.K. Rowling's best-selling series about Harry Potter. Voldemort doesn't believe he's evil. Heck, he doesn't even believe in evil. He believes he's entitled, superior, and above all, wronged. He's just taking what's rightfully his. The Harry Potter books are chock full of villains who don't believe they're villains. Lucius Malfoy thinks he's preserving the purity of the pure-blood mages from the coarse Mud-Bloods. Toad-faced Dolores Umbridge (in my opinion, one of the most horrifying villains ever written) doesn't see herself in the black-hat role. She's standing up for order and tradition, defending the Ministry of Magic against the forces of anarchy. And you can bet that Harry Potter is not the hero of their stories. In Voldemort's mind, he's the hero. In Dolores Umbridge's mind, she is.

Of course, technically, the main character is the protagonist, who may or may not really be a hero. And the antagonist is anyone who stands between the protagonist and his or her goal, regardless of his morality. He may be a perfectly nice guy who wants to drain the marshland for perfectly good reasons. But in a mystery, the villain is usually a true villain, meaning his or her motive is generally a selfish one. I don't mean he or she has no redeeming qualities, only that the murderer in a mystery very rarely acts for altruistic or noble purposes - except maybe in his or her own mind.

So how do you make an effective villain? It's no good to make a Snidely Whiplash-style villain who twirls his curly moustache and thinks of wicked ways to kidnap the girl and foil the hero. This type of two-dimensional (or even one-dimensional) evil is rarely effective. Nor does it help much to show Snidely patting a stray dog on the head on his way to foreclose on a house he doesn't even need. Such tacked-on "good qualities" are rarely convincing, because they don't seem like part of the character.

On the other hand, Thomas Harris did a magnificent job of making the serial killer, Francis Dolarhyde, both terrifying and sympathetic. We feel for the child he was and are horrified by the monster he became, and Harris made us believe that one could easily have become the other. How? By showing us how the boy was tormented by his schoolmates because of his cleft palate, and later, how he was physically and emotionally abused by his grandmother. Harris made these scenes real, and later, when we see Francis's tenderness toward a blind woman, we understand why he takes comfort in her company, why he needs what she has to offer, and why he inevitably misunderstands her motives. None of this excuses Francis's actions. He's a villain, but he doesn't see himself that way. There are perfectly logical reasons (to him) for everything he does, even though any sane person could clearly see that his actions are evil. But because his actions grow out of his own perceptions, he is a believable villain.

That, I think, is the key. No matter how evil your villain, no matter how horrific his acts, he believes in what he is doing, and that makes us perceive him as rounded and real.