Fantasy Supervillain

As a speculative fiction writer, I'm always looking for new and interesting creatures. Often villains and magicians in fantasy have special abilities, things they do that are beyond normal,and might be terrifying.

Imagine, for instance, a creature with visual omnipresence. Omnipresence means that you can exist everywhere at once, able to see and witness everyone and everything. Unlike an omnipotent character, who knows everything, an omnipresent character would be able to see everything themselves. It'd be impossible to keep any secrets from this godlike ability, because everywhere you go, whether sleeping or awake, the character's there, watching. Imagine for example, Sauron with visual omnipresence- he takes one look at the Ring- book's over in chapter one. Same thing with Voldemort, President Snow, Darth Vader- you get the idea. Even in history this idea is terrifying. Want D-Day or the next drone strike to be a secret? What if the villain sees everything all the time? In nearly all fiction, the protagonists do things the villains aren't aware of. Crafting a story around this feat is daunting.

Let's make this supervillain more three-dimensional. As of now, he just has a superpower, albeit an impressive one. Imagine the villain also has a supernatural means of transportation. While he's still able to see everything anywhere, he can't actually get to places without traveling. We won't let him fly directly, that's too Marvel Universe for us, so instead we give him a flying car. Yes, he can hop on a flying car and travel rapidly to any location in the world. How fast? Let's assume he can get anywhere he wants within a single night, even making multiple stops. Scared yet? This character can see everything, and now get anywhere within one night. It's like having a TARDIS with the viewfinder always switched on.

The guy's still not interesting enough, though. Let's give him some minions. All villains have them. This character's got dozens of them- all enslaved to his will. They do whatever he says all year round, making anything he asks for. Yeah, now we're cooking, a character with visual omnipresence, able to travel anywhere within a night, who has a horde of servants.

Now we need to stop focusing on the evil/supernatural aspects and give our character some personality. President Snow and his blood breath and love of roses, Darth Vader's persistent asthma and respirator- that sort of thing. Hmmm... well, let's start by making the character fat. Too many villains are really thin and gaunt. It seems the skeletal look usually frightens people, so let's make our character as chubby as possible. In fact, give him nice red cheeks, almost comical looking. 

Let's also give him a backstory. Maybe he used to be a farmer. Yes, he was a farmer long ago, before things went terribly wrong. His mother used to say "Plant, plant, plant! Plough, plough plough!" He's never forgotten the last thing his mother demanded, asking him to hoe the fields, right before the accident. To this day, the guilt around her final words consumes him, and he can't stop repeating them. 

This character, by now, should be truly terrifying. Let's take a look at what he might look like, if an artist was to draw a rendition:

Click HERE to see an artist rendition.

And no, I won't even get into the obsession with little kids. That's too frightening, even for me. :-) 

  

Two Meetings

The following story is true.

1. From the point-of-view of Bandit, a precocious Shih Tzu, newly adopted.

People!
People people people!
People looking at me, oh boy!
People people people people!
The nice people put me in their shiny car.
Woooh!
What's this place? Where am I? Where am I?
People? Where am I, people?
Hello? Hello?
Who's that over there?
Is that a stuffed toy for me?
Is that a stuffed toy?
Hungry.
Food. Food. Food.
Stuffed toy thing got up.
Wait, not a toy.
People?
It's a cat.
Hi cat! Hi! Hi! Hi!
Wanna be friends?
Friends? Friends? Friends?
Hi! Hi! Hi!
Why're you looking at me like that?
People?
Help?
Cat's hissing.
Hey! Hey! Hey!
Dumb cat.
Want to play?
Want to play?
Hey! Hey! Hey!

2. From the point-of-view of Faith, our cat

The subjects again neglected to administer the proper amount of royal pets to my backside. The peasants. We shall have to have words when they return. As usual, my meal this morning was too dry, and my requests for mountain fresh water have been ignored. Again.
Sigh.
Today is a busy day. After a bath behind the royal couch, I plan to sunbathe for two hours. I have considered taking a nap, but might instead take a stroll to the eastern window, where the sun is warmer. The plants will need tending, of course, I haven't bitten them in days.
Yawn.
Where are the subjects? I grow weary of their absence. I certainly did not grant permission for this extended leave from my presence. How dare they ignore me this long? I shall be sure to pay them back during their repose tonight.
Sigh.
Ah, finally. My subjects have returned, no doubt with some tokens of their affection with which they shall shower me. I shall receive them in the western chamber. But, oh, what is that hideous noise they make? It pierces the ears, shattering the calm.
What?
What is that thing?
I do not grant is presence, remove it at once.
Hiss.
You dare approach me? Peasant! Back, before I release my full fury on your tiny carcass. Subjects, I am most displeased. You think this thing will amuse the likes of me.
I think not.

Are Writers Timelords?

Last June, I wrote a blog piece comparing writers to Voldemort, the notorious villain of the Harry Potter novels. That blog can be found HERE.

Today, I look at an equally possible, and similarly nerdy connection: are writers actually timelords?

Timelords are a group of aliens featured in the BBC sci-fi show Doctor Who. The protagonist of the long-lived series is a timelord himself, constantly helping humans. Timelords come from a planet called Gallifrey, and are an ancient and very tech-savvy race. They have only one real "superpower," which is the ability to regenerate, instantly healing themselves and turning into a new person (allowing for multiple actors to play a single role). 

Aside from their ability to regenerate, and their two hearts, timelords are basically just like people. Their name derives from their ability to go anywhere in the universe and to any time, using a device called a TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension In Space), which is a fancy box that can bring you anywhere. As I said, very tech-savvy. 

So how do writers fit in?

Well, let's start with the timelords' ability to heal and regenerate. Every writer has faced rejection. A traditionally published author has about as much chance of success as you have of becoming a world-famous Hollywood actor, maybe even less. Yes, there are new options now, like self-publishing. But for those who go the traditional route, as I did, rejection comes swiftly. Each agent or publisher who turns you down, sometimes after only reading a two paragraph blurb, hurts your pride. An author who can't heal himself, allowing a new face to come forward, won't succeed.

And let's not forget the writer's TARDIS. Timelords can go anywhere or to any time. They've got a box that brings them places. Well writers have a box as well. In fact, I'm typing on my box right now. This magic box allows me to explore any place in space or time, or even places that only previously existed in my imagination. In fact, writers are perhaps more powerful than timelords- since a writer is limited only by the margins of his or her imagination. 

Writers show us the world, sometimes to give us an escape, sometimes to help change things. Our motivations are identical to the Doctor's motives. What writer doesn't want to grab their readers in the night, and whisk them away on an amazing adventure? Something funny, but dark; incredible, yet honest.  

And let's not forget that writers have a lot of heart. Maybe even two hearts...

Each story I write is a new adventure, a new journey. Each time I face disappointment, I throw on a new face, and heal myself. And the power of my imagination, keeps plugging away at this magic little box, a box that can take me anywhere...

Are Writers Like Voldemort?

Two recent reviews compared School of Deaths to the Harry Potter series. I decided to play on that a bit with this question: are writers like Voldemort?

I say YES.

The first similarity is that both writers and Voldemort use magic.  Voldemort's magic mostly involves torturing and killing people.  He seems especially obsessed with a teenage boy, and finds ways to get into the boy's mind.  A writer also uses magic.  Writers use a group of arcane symbols arranged into clumps they call words.  Like a spell, they can take an image, something that only exists as a slight fancy in their imagination, and dump it into the imaination of their reader.  As I type, an elephant walked in front of my window stinking of manure.  Did you picture an elephant, or smell manure?  What if I then told you there was no elephant?  That transference is the most real form of magic imaginable....

"Writing is magic." - Stephen King, On Writing

Another striking similarity is in what both writers and Voldemort want: eternal life.  Voldemort is obsessed with the idea of immortality.  He kills people to create horcruxes, ironially causing his own downfall and death, when one of the horcruxes fights back.  Writers are no different.  It's true that many might simply want to share their ideas, but in the end, by creating stories that will endure, a writer has taken part of their soul and created something eternal: a part of their soul that can be shared in another's mind, and could last forever.  Sounds a lot like making horcruxes- only without all the murders.  

So what do you think?  Are writers like Voldemort?

Also, don't miss this stellar new review for School of Deaths:  http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=20235