I don't know about you guys but I love love love crime thrillers. And I love love love all the new crime thrillers in YA. Therefore I am over the moon to welcome Sam Hepburn to my blog today to talk about her new and awesome YA crime thriller Chasing the Dark. Enjoy the brilliant post - and awesome book trailer! :)
Writing the bad guys (or girls) is great because
they are so active. They are the ones committing the crimes, causing mayhem and
driving the plot. However, to me the evil genius who lurks in a luxury
mountain-top bunker, stroking furry animals, shrieking mwahahaha and getting his
minions to carry out his evil plans for world domination are far less scary
than the creepy villains who slip unnoticed into the warp and weft of ordinary
life, brush past their victim in the dairy aisle of the local supermarket and
take an up- close-and-personal role in making the hero’s life miserable. That’s
because this sort of villain is so much more credible. To increase that credibility the bad guy must
have a proper motive for his actions. Just being evil isn’t good enough. It’s
not going to hold the reader’s attention for very long or make for a very
complex character, which is why the writer must spend as much time getting inside
the head of the baddie as she (or he)
spends thinking about the hero. Just as we
care about the protagonist because we believe that his actions are rational and
good so we love to hate a villain we understand, and who appeals to that little streak of dastardliness inside
us all. Therefore, there must be a logic
to the villain’s malevolent actions and the reader must understand why he is so
convinced that those actions are justified. The villain must also be portrayed
as a worthy opponent, capable and intelligent enough to outwit or destroy the
hero. The cleverer, more devious and inventive he is, the more he forces the
hero to up his game and the more interesting the plot becomes. That tension and
sense of uncertainty is what keeps the reader turning the pages, desperate to find out if the hero really does have what
it takes to win through. And that’s why my villains all have the tiniest hint
of my worst traits lurking inside them!
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3 comments:
Sounds really good. I haven't come across much YA crime fiction, so I'm glad there's some coming to the forefront at last!
Sarah
I love YA crime fiction, so I'm always on the lookout. As well as this one, The Empty Coffin Series by Gregg Olsen, Street Duty Series by Chris Ould and The Diviners by Libba Bray are all recommended by me! :)
Thanks for inviting me to post - it was great visiting you!
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