Exploring the Darker Side

One of the pieces of writing advice that I've in tons of different 'how-to write fiction' books and articles is to get to know your antagonist. Stories don't work if the antagonistic character or forces, so goes the advice, does not have compelling, convincing motivation for their actions. A writer should get to know their villain from the inside out, to make a flawed, complicated, convincing human character rather than a silly caricature.

And lately I've heard a few songs that are dark enough, with deep enough bass that remind me of that dark side that we all. That side of human emotion and experience from which I personally drawn on for my fictional antagonists. And so this week I'd like to present my playlist of Villain Theme Songs:



Some of them might be heavy handed. But I find that I require to a heavily creepy soundtrack to get into the right mood to write a villain from the inside out.

But writing a villian, an antagonistic person or force, is more than just 'getting to know you'. About six months ago I had a conversation with one of  my friends who's into acting. He said that when you play an evil character on screen or stage, you have to look inside yourself for material. In other words, whatever evil you bring to the character is also inside of you.

Writing a character can be like that as well: all of their motivations, all of their nefarious intentions and evil plots are something that I, as the writer (or you as the write) can tap into.

So let's think of this playlist as one that you can listen to tap into your dark, antagonistic side. ;)

This is just a sampling, of course. And you probably have some of your own favorite villain themes. Care to share? :)