Morgan Mandel, author of the newly released KILLER CAREER, joins us today as my guest blogger. Morgan says she enjoys variety both as a reader and a writer. Her past works include GIRL OF MY DREAMS, a romantic comedy about the misadventures of a reality show contestant, and TWO WRONGS, a romantic suspense involving wrongful imprisonment. Because romance quite often goes hand in hand with murder, Morgan joined both RWA and MWA when she began her writing career. She is a past President of Chicago-North RWA, presently serves as Library Liaison for MWMWA, and belongs to Sisters in Crime and EPIC.
And now, without further ado, here's Morgan!
Villains & Heroes – Gotta Love ‘em.
I love villains, don’t you? The more outrageous they are, the more intriguing they seem. They get away with stuff normal people can’t do. They kill, maim and destroy people, animals, even inanimate objects. We expect that of them.
That’s not all we expect. We want to know why the villain is bad. We need some kind of hint or reason, even if it’s flimsy, to make the bad guy more human. It could be a horrible childhood, a cheating spouse, an incurable disease, getting fired from a job, anything that could drive someone over the edge.
In Killer Career, the villain kills someone by throwing a rock at the back of her head. From my clues, readers should be able to deduce the reason behind the murder. At other points of the book, I slip in hints and flashbacks to explain the villain’s thinking. Yes, his thought processes are twisted, but at least the readers have something to grasp onto. That’s important. The more readers can bond in any way, even with a bad guy, the more satisfying the book will be.
So, even when villains are bad, we can still find ways to like them. What about heroes?
There’s so much to like about them. They look like we’d like to look. They do what we wish we could do. They’re clever and strong in mind and body. Despite tremendous odds, they come through and do the right thing. If only we could be like them.
But, let’s face it, nobody likes someone who’s too perfect. So, make sure to throw in a weakness or two to make your hero or heroine more human like the rest of us. It could be a quirky imperfection, like unruly hair or freckles, or a major one, like a physical or mental illness.
In Killer Career, the heroine has claustrophobia. The hero has a jealous streak. I gave good reasons for their thoughts and behavior, so readers could sympathize with them. That didn’t let my hero and heroine off the hook. Readers expect the good guys to rise above their weaknesses and do the right thing. I’ll let you guess how it all turns out.
What about you? Do you like to write or read about villains or heroes both, or maybe you like one more than the other? What tricks do you use to make them more human? Please share with us.
PS. Mary, thanks for hosting me at the first stop of my Killer Career Blog Book Tour!
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And thanks to you for joining us here today, Morgan!
For more information about Morgan and her books, please visit her website, www.morganmandel.com, her daily blog, http://morganmandel.blogspot.com, or any of her group blogs at http://acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com, http://makeminemystery.blogspot.com, and http://bloodredpencil.blogspot.com. You’re also invited to join Morgan’s Ning site, at http://bookplace.ning.com
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