Moms Can Be Evil Too

Note: The ELEW is having some technical issues with posting, so in order to keep the scheduled posts coming, I (Dina) will be posting a couple of blog entries this week that aren't written by me. Today's entry is brought to you by Viking Herder Amanda Devine.

“What makes you an Evil Writer?” was the question posed to me this week by my fellow ELEW group members. It was not an easy question for me to answer. Mostly, because I do not consider myself an evil person. I’m pretty much a free-spirited, tree-hugging, dolphin-safe tuna eating chica who studied Anthropology and wants the world to join hands and sing a song of peace. I’m a mother of two who enjoys baking cookies, taking long walks and spending hours upon hours digging in my garden. Truth be told, I’m more like Martha Stewart than I am Evil Writer.

I had no idea how I was going to answer ELEW’s question. So, I took some time to really ponder how one goes from Supermom to Evil Writer. Then, it hit me...Martha Stewart has a dark side, too. I mean, she did hard time and can probably fashion a shiv out of some tin foil and a safety pin. But could I have a dark side as well?

You bet your ass I do.

Everybody does...and that includes ME.

Okay, so I am evil.

But...what makes me an Evil Writer? I’ll tell you.

I want to create characters who make my readers curl up into a corner and blubber like a baby who has had his candy stolen from him. I want to create characters that are flawed and cannot see past their own suffering to consider the feelings of others. I want to spread eviltry to the world...one page at a time.

How does one accomplish such a feat? You draw your readers in and get them attached to your characters. You take one specific character and make them incredibly lovable. Then you do something traumatic to that character, something that turns their world upside down and irrevocably changes them. Sure, they may still have remnants of good inside of them, but it has been pushed to the wayside to make room for evil. After you do that, it’s a tug-of-war with your readers. You get them to hate that character, but at the same time, they find themselves conflicted because they still remember that this character had good traits once upon a time. You tease them a little...you pull out the carrot and dangle it in front of their tiny, wiggling bunny noses...and, just as they are about to munch down on that carrot, you rip it away from them.

Why am I an evil writer? Because it makes me feel all giddy inside to do this to my readers. I have no qualms about turning a beloved character into an evil bitch. I don’t even feel the slightest bit of remorse when I have to kill off a cherished character, either. It’s all part of my big, evil, wicked plan to move my plot forward. Yes, people, that is my main objective. If everyone is peaceful, loving, etc., all the damn time, the plot will remain stagnant and it will have been a colossal waste of time for readers.

That being said, I will continue to kill off main characters in my novels and turn good ones into evil ones. And I will do so with extreme pleasure. Why?

‘Cause I’m evil like that.

Now go out there like obedient little bunnies and spread some evil of your own!

Evil hugs,
Amanda Devine