Inspired by Evil: What's new with Amanda Arista

Thanks for the comments, ladies. Its good to know that I'm not the only one who likes to tread on the dark side. June M is the winner of the giveaway. See you next month!!

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           So here’s what going on with me. Writing. Writing. Writing. My muse is on some sort of crack that is illegal in most states and my brain is going in a million directions at once. But there is something about working on three projects at a time that seems to be getting me back into the swing of things. I’m plotting faster, the dialogue is sharper, and my characters are flying onto the page.

            The Villains seems to be extra sharp for these projects as well. I have to admit. I’m pro-villain. My favorite characters in literature seem to the antagonists, because they usually get the best lines. Good villains are strong, driven, have their own moral codes and usually more motivated than the heroes at the beginning of the stories. They are on their own journeys and, frankly, sometimes I’m routing for them because the heroes just can’t seem to get their acts together faster enough.

            So some of my favorites are:

1. Maleficent. Probably the first villain to really institute the adage “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” Powerful woman and sexy as hell. She is the reigning queen of villains in my book, because she almost got exactly what she wanted. In the end, remember, she was just out-manned, not out smarted (those three meddling fairies). Really looking forward to Angelina Jolie’s portrayal of her next summer.

2. Hannibal Lector- I don’t know if you guys have been watching NBC’s Hannibal, but there is something both eerie and alluring about Mads Mikkelsen’s portrayal of the psychiatrist. You know that he’s eating people, but somehow, you’re a little okay with that because you just want to know what he’s going to say next.  

3. The Nothing from The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. Though the Nothing is really a phenomenon that is happening to Fantastica, is still was a powerful source of fear for the main characters, Atreyu and Bastian. And it was creepy, because there was no getting away from it and it drove creatures insane by just looking into it. And, it had the best emissary in the world!

4. Tyler Durden from Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Now, technically I don’t know if you can count Tyler Durden as a villain, but I was routing for Project Mayhem the entire time. And I tote a lot of Tyler-isms in my life. There was a surprising amount of truth spoken by that character and yet, he is still the antagonistic force for the narrator.

5. The Joker, all his incarnations ever. Probably the best villain and hero relationship that has ever hit the page or the screen. The perfect juxtaposition of Joker’s love of chaos and Batman’s need for logic defines how heroes and villains are supposed to work together, their harmony are what make the stories good and tension-filled and keep us watching and turning the page.

There are so many more, other villains who were just fun to watch, like Miranda Priestly from Devil Wears Prada as well as others who will stay with me forever, like Lady Catherine de Bourgh from Pride and Prejudice.

For me, a good villain is the root of a good story. Do you some times route for the bad guys?  I’m giving away a signed edition of the Supernatural Underground’s Vampires Gone Wild to a random commenter who can tell me who their favorite baddie is and why. 

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Amanda Arista

Author, Diaries of an Urban Panther Series