Quote

Both villains and heroes are a bit boring, really, unless they're flawed and broken somehow. If they're not flawed and broken, then clearly they need to be broken and made flawed. That's what an author does if he or she has any dignity.

In reality, there are very few villains who view themselves as villains. They just have a certain agenda at a certain time.

My hope is that each of the villains I write will have his or her own motivation that readers can understand, whether they agree or disagree.

When you are a hero you are always running to save someone, sweating, worried and guilty. When you are a villain you are just lurking in the shadows waiting for the hero to pass by. Then you pop them in the head and go home... piece of cake.

It is much more fun to write about villains then heroes. The villains are the ones that think out the scheme, and the heroes just kind of come along for the ride.

People have their complexities. They have their heroic moments and their villainous moments, too.

I try to give both my heroes and villains an emotional dimensionality which provides the motivation for their actions.

I don't do villains often enough. There are two approaches: give them sympathetic, reasonable motivations for doing the most unspeakable things, or get inside heads that are interestingly broken.

But at the same time, the commonplace statement about them is true: every character is the hero of his own story. Each has a justification for his actions that is convincing to him. It's fun to give these people voices.

Villains are very, very boring to do. They're so much easier than heroes.