I always fall in love with my heroes. They are delightfully flawed and wonderfully heroic, even sometimes against their better judgment. But I tend to enjoy writing my villains a bit more. I enjoy exploring the depths of the villain's psyche and seeing what it is that made them cross that fine line between hero and villain.
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The villain in Savage Grace has gone beyond villain into full-blown evil madman. But he didn't start out that way. He could have just as easily been the hero of the story, but for one fateful decision. Much of what I wrote about him didn't make it into the book (though some of it has leaked into my next free read, a short story that will be available on my website in the next couple of days). Still, it was fun exploring his past and seeing what pushed him into the devil's embrace. He's a fascinating character and one that is utterly unloveable, which ironically makes him loveable. A thrill to write and, I hope, to read.
So what makes a villain villaineous, or a hero heroic? A perfect hero is dull and a purely sociopathic villain is unrealistic. I don't believe there is much that separates the villain from the hero. Circumstances don't create a villain or hero. How they deal with their circumstances, however, does. And often it is just a matter of perception. For what villain truly believes that, at least on some level, he is not the hero?
