Frankly, this blog is turning a lot about what’s happening around me instead of with me and I don’t like that. So I will just correct that by writing about this new dilemma that I’m currently facing. I have this comic story to write that I just can’t seem to get started with and while you may want to insist it’s largely because of my (genetic?) ever-increasing procrastinating tendencies, I would like to prove you in the wrong. The thing is, I want to come up with a story that has as its central character, someone evil or a villain, if that’s how people may want to put it but I just end up turning him into someone people feel sorry for. That may not sound like a problem to some, but when you do eventually set out to write a story it really does become a pain in the neck (and a lot of other areas).
So anyways, what’s wrong with people feeling sorry for the villain, you may ask and well, pretty much everything! First, do people feel sorry for villains in real life? Okay, maybe in Pakistan but generally I’m hoping not. If I make him a bit funny, he might be mistaken to have gone a bit “soft”. If I add a girlfriend to his character, he might as well be turning a new leaf (and well, yuck). Can’t just turn him into a geek for I already have a lot of friends suffering from the stereotype. Seriously people, not every app developer, scientist or nerd is brewing a secret potion to unleash a super sized monster to avenge for every time they were judged.
Moreover, the thing is that the existence of a villain is almost always dependent on the presence of a hero, a phenomenon quite well-portrayed in the contemporary flick called Megamind. The character can only appear to be evil in relation to something, most probably the good guy. Is shooing away birds that come to sit on the porch evil? No. It only seems evil when you have a character doing a totally different action, to make the contrast of the two apparent.
So let’s get this straight: If I were to write a story about a villain, it’s actually impossible for me to do that without introducing the annoying do-gooder. For if I don’t, what is the villain doing in the story anyway, if not pissing people off and calling out the hero on a challenge? Should he just be bullying his friends for lunch? Should he always be wearing an evil grin? Should he be tall, broad shouldered and dark? Or should he be sleek, sly and cunning? But what he does and what he looks like doesn’t really matter, the story refuses to move forward without a Cullen (Can’t believe I just said that). For if it were a Cullen, I’d pretty much have my work cut out for me. He’d just have to grow up, spend half his time avoiding the girl, the rest justifying how it was out of utter selflessness, would probably even have to fight off a few guys and you will have a story right there.
But, coming back to square one, what do I make my evil character do? And even though, I haven’t really figured that out yet, addressing the question might get me to square two or I will just end talking about someone’s obsession with clothes and lawn. For the sake of humanity, let’s hope not.
The Dabba Brigade 