I was raised in the height of the Disney era so it's no wonder I love to root for the underdog but what about when we fall in love with the bad guy? I've been writing recently(quite a lot actually) and I started thinking, most romance stories always have the good guy triumphing over the bad. That started me to thinking what about the bad guy? Can he be redeemed? Can he turn over a new leaf and find a love of his own or is he doomed to be lonely and miserable forever? Also does he have to convert to the good side. Can he still be evil and find someone who thinks that evil is sexy. Is it okay for the bad guy to come out on top sometimes? This really has my mind spinning and I have to admit that the idea of the bad guy winning once in a while has me intrigued. What do you think?
Beth Wylde
Born 2 B. Wylde
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bethwylde/
For a free PDF sample book email me at b.wylde@yahoo.com
13 comments:
I'm VERY intrigued by this, always have been. Mostly because some of the so-called bad guys are downright sexy. Go for it!
What an interesting question, Beth! I think it probably depends on the bad guy, but we all know that in real life, there are shades of good and evil. I've got a series I'm writing with multiple couples and a war in the background where one of the men is on the right side of the war, but is still a real bastard. And I'm pretty sure that in the end, he's going to end up with the girl he wants. She's still pretty sure he doesn't like him, but damn, he gets her hot!
Ariel
"So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb."
OK, so maybe Dark Helmet wasn't sexy, but I there's something to be said about the attraction to a dark, anti-hero type of character. I know I'd rather have Batman over Superman any day. Maybe it's because they're forbidden fruit to "good girls". The catch is to give your anti-hero/bad boy some small glimmer of redeeming quality.
As for me personally, I love writing about anti-heros, both male and female.
That is a very interesting questions, Beth! To be honest, I've been thinking about that a lot myself mainly because my new lead (anti) hero is a convicted criminal, an assassin for hire.
I've come to believe as long as there one good thing about him...he's redeemable.
Great blog, Beth!
I confess that I love stories in which a villain from a previous book is redeemed and becomes the hero. It's a tricky thing to do well, especially if the villain seemed horrid in the previous book, but if done well a bad guy can make a perfect tortured hero.
You can walk the line so some people will think you are evil.
A bad boy gets more girls but some of them he doesn't want.
You've asked so many interesting questions....but my opinion in general is that the answer to all of them is yes at one time or another. My personal taste in reading tends toward complex resolutions rather than happy endings, actually. Thanks for writing this!
SB
I think a villan needs their time in the spotlight. He doesn't need to turn good, but just make better choices.
Funny thing is that I am working on a story where my lead dude is nothing of being a good guy not he wants to be one. He's an ass. But even he deserves his happy ending.
I think a villian can be turned to the good but let's face it the best parts in the soap operas belong to the villians. They can be so deliciously evil you root that they get their comeuppance but you also watch it to see how bad they can be. It's the same in a book. The villian's role can be crucial to the book. It can be the turning point where the villian can change just by making different choices. For example, in ELANTRIS by Brandon Sanderson, Hrathen is the villian. I hated him but as the story progressed his became the most interesting storyline. He changed from seeing that his role was black and white, his destiny laid out and no one was going to defy him then he had his moment of doubt and questioning then began to make choices based on what was right or wrong for the whole group not just for him. It was an interesting transformation. I won't say how it ended but he didn't get the girl.
I always like the bad boys. They are more interesting characters to me. Sometimes the hero is not 100% good. I like to write characters with shades of gray. This post made me think of Spike and Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As long as the bad boy has redeeming qualities, there is no reason why he can't come out the winner.
Depends on what the bad guy does to be bad. Nobody who abuses women, kids, or critters should ever come out on top.
And I'm not sure I could root for a hired killer in a book or movie.
So I guess I'd rather the good guy win out after all.
Thanks for the interesting post and comments.
I thnk that it would be different and intriguing. He would have to somewhat reform, but not entirely. A compromise on whatever he was doing that made him say a true bad guy. say if he was killing, raping, or things like that now that's different. But a milder bad guy, say he just made bad decisions in life, I'd think it would be sexy if he at least halfway reformed, or stayed bad. But my idea of abad guy is a biker, lol. Those are the sexiest. Say bad attitude? What if one woman made him see that having such a bad attitude wasn't always the answer. He could keep his bad attitude but find other ways to express it. AMbrown
I always fall for the bad guys, and all my characters have a touch of bad to them.
I just find evil much more interesting. What turns someone from the straight-and-narrow path? What is it about them that makes this "evil" seem like the right thing for them to do?
Fascinating
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