A great villain needs to be monstrous.
There are no half-measures when it comes to writing villains. Go big or go home.
I knew that, but my latest villain for the third Evelina hadn't quite come into focus. Until, I dreamed about him last night. Really, it was more of a nightmare in that moment of drifting between awake and sleep. He was far more evil than I'd imagined. He scared the pants off me!
He was demonic--oozing all kinds of evil. I couldn't get him out of my head. I had to pray him away to go back to sleep.
Now that's a villain.
It wasn't until I was cleaning my office this morning that I remembered the dream and realized who he was. Luckily, he's shown his face, just in time, when the story is taking off and I can't type fast enough.
If you're going to write Teen\YA fiction you have certain choices to make.
When I decided to write a YA Fantasy about Water Witches I had to decide on a heat level- sex or no sex. In the end, I choose to try to reach the broadest audience out there. I wanted to create a Teen\YA Fantasy with a lot of good clean fun --a wild witch adventure. There is some violence-- people die, it is scary, but nothing graphic.
I guess some of the older teens might be disappointed, but, I couldn't please everyone. There seems to be a lot of sex and violence out there already. Other authors have that covered. I really felt there needed to be more options for readers-- Teen\YA fiction without sex.
Besides, I wanted it to be my story with a lot of wild and crazy magic.
In the end, I gotta be me.
