Why don't you do a post on what keeps you writing- what makes you tick, what you do when you're running dry on inspiration.... and your absolute favorite villains (from stories that aren't yours, I'm sure you love your villains, naturally)...
Sorry about the wait! *tips hat again*
Ah, the post that every writing blogger fears, but hey ho, let's go! (whoa .... that sounded so cheesy I could have melted it on my toast)
Anyway.
What makes me tick? Well, if you really want to know it's a system of small cogs and wheels installed below my frontal cortex which, when overloaded, can cause a somewhat suspicious noise that tends to convince everyone in the area that I'm mad.
But in the writing sense? It's this:
Yep, that's how I get started on my stories. A bunch of strange-looking oddballs wander into my head and demand that I pay attention to them. they want their stories written down, and they want it NOW! And, trust me, some of them you just don't want to say no to. Like the seven-foot-tall, sociopathic, mentally-disturbed, I-will-kill-you-for-my-own-amusmement, tea-and-scone-addict assassin character who is currently glaring at me from a particularly dark corner of my mind.
Don't ask me where he came from. Seriously.
So then, on pain of having a multitude of painful sharp things stuck into various parts of my personage, I have to build a world, make a plot, and get them going. Then I get my revenge.
Fun fact: Killing off characters is a great way to beat writer's block. Especially when you play epic music in the background.
And I'm not the only one! Sorry JK, I'm with Mr Martin on this one.
Yep, that's it: music and murder. They tend to unstick me quite nicely. Along with sugary drinks, jelly beans and watching particularly hilarious spoofs of my favourite films on YouTube. And sporking. I do love me a good spork.
Warning: Brain bleach is adviseable as a precaution. You will see things in there that you will never be able to un-see....
And now for the final part of the question: my favourite villains (who don't belong to me).
... Where shall I begin?
I've always been very fond of Shakespeare's Iago (Othello) and Edmund (King Lear). Iago is such a delightfully disgusting, plotting, chaos-causing git, it's impossible not to go head over heels for him. That, and the way he pokes fun at foppish Cassio just makes me laugh so hard. I may also sympathise with him because I've ended up playing his part in the play about three times. Edmund is a slightly different kettle of fish - he's justified in being a bit peeved off at life for treating him like doggie poo on their shoe because he's illegitimate, but the carnage he causes is simply delightful. I bet he was taking notes from Iago the whole time.
I've always had some respect for Cardinal Richleieu from Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers as well. He's an incredibly shrewd and intelligent villain and, unlike most, doesn't seem to want to kill things just for the sake of it. That, and watching him nearly explode when our favourite troublesome trio rub the victory none-too-subtly into his face has to be one of my favourite scenes in the book.
And one last thing. The Master, from Doctor Who. Technically he's not from a book, but when you can be hilarious, tragic and evil at the same time, all other arguments are irrelevant.
.... MWUA HA HA HA HA HA HA! *swishes cape villainously and vanishes in a poof of smelly black smoke*
