The IWSG Wants Your Perspective

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Spring! It’s so close I can almost taste the green in the air. Sure, it’s 41 degrees Fahrenheit and raining right now. Still. Warmth and sunshine are just around the corner and I CANNOT WAIT. My pale mushroom self is ready to finally leave the house and feel the heat.

The awesome co-hosts for the March 6 posting of the IWSG are Fundy Blue, Beverly Stowe McClure, Erika Beebe, and Lisa Buie-Collard!

March 6 question – Whose perspective do you like to write from best, the hero (protagonist) or the villain (antagonist)? And why?

Oooh, this is a fun one. When it comes to writing, I say I love writing a good villain, but what I really mean is that I love writing my anti-hero protagonist. Flawed, strong, occasionally mistaken, sympathetic characters. When it comes to an actual antagonist, I can’t think of a single one who’s gotten a POV chapter in one of my books.

(Bonus post: how to Make Your Characters Flawsome)

I guess, in practical terms, that means I like to write from the protagonist’s perspective the best. They’re the only ones getting any real screen time in my books. I’m not writing romantic thrillers here, there’s not usually any Big Bad coming after my protagonists to kill/capture/imprison/hurt them. My books tend to be super low angst and more about my main characters taking on their obstacles together.

• In Big Mistake the fact that my characters are a teacher and a student with roughly twelve years age difference is what keeps them apart. No antagonist required, on top of that crazy mess.
• In the current work in progress, tentatively titled The Sidekick and The Supervillain, the fact that my characters work for different sides, plus my heroine’s unique power and the hero’s secret supervillain agenda, all work to keep them from having a relationship.
• Step Into Love has a more traditional villain in the form of my hero’s father. He’s a real piece of nasty work (modeled on a real-life narcissist example—piss off an author at your own peril, is what I’m saying). And he definitely doesn’t get a POV. But he’s not as deadly for the relationship as my hero’s own personal insecurity when it comes to dealing with his bipolar disorder. 

I’ll never say that a villain won’t exist in one of my books, or that they won’t get their own chapters . . . but that day is yet a long way away.

Still, I do love to hate a good antagonist in my reads. Here are a few of my absolute favorites in Top Ten Tuesday, Villain Edition.