the villain who took over my plot
Imagine, if you will, a party of heroes trapped with Whirling Blades of Doom! ™ coming down on them slowly from above. Stone sides, no secret doors, no weapons or ‘I forgot I had these’ moments.
Suddenly, the door is kicked open! Maxwell has arrived!
Maxwell grabs his son, turns, and slams the door on the rest of the heroes’ faces, leaving them to their fate. Hey he never said he’d save them, after all.
…
This isn’t something that happened in my story. Yet, this is somewhat typical of Maxwell’s behavior. The greatest jerk you’d ever meet– an animated man in his late forties, armed with his black clothes, top hat and cane. A mad scientist in every way.
Since making his appearance on camera, he’s enslaved a dead man, drove through the countryside in a giant mechanical crab (terrifying more than a few farmers in the process), left my heroine to die, broken into a water factory, pulled his gun on more than a few people… only stopped short of killing because of the nice people he had to team up with.
He was supposed to be a villain. So why isn’t it working?
I can’t tear my eyes off of this guy.
Cassandra Jade said,
November 14, 2009 at 1:48 am
We all like bad-boys?
Sorry, but I think he sounds like a great character. And a realistic one. Noble heroes who risk their lives to save every random stranger, plus people they don’t like, aren’t believable to most of us in this day and age. They appeal to the romantic side of us but ultimately we know they don’t really exist. The mercenary, I’m in it for me character, that we believe.
Thanks for sharing this, I think it sounds great.
elizaw said,
November 16, 2009 at 7:47 pm
He’s really not that realistic, though. He’s completely over-exaggerated and over-the-top. Real people do not act like this. And I think that’s part of Maxwell’s charm… in a way.