Gracen's Villainous Plotting

Hi, everyone! It’s Gracen here.

Plotting…first off let me say, I do not outline my story before writing. I tried it and I ended up never writing the story. My attention span is not long enough for outline development. I get too impatient not writing the story and lose interest. So, I guess that makes me an “organic” or a “pantser” writer.

Generally, I start with a basic thought about a story. I generate how I want the hero/heroine to look and what their personalities are, what makes them special to the storyline. For instance, I just finished writing a book where my first concept of the book involved two points only:

1) The heroine would loosely be considered a “wicked” witch; and
2) The hero was a good vampire. (I know, typically speaking good and vampire do not belong together in the same sentence).

That was it. No other plot lines or ideas when I started writing the novel. I had some basic concepts that I wanted to happen, so I wrote toward those goals and along the way discovered he depths of their lives and how entangled those lives were from the beginning.

I “channel write”. At least that is what I call it. I will write storylines that I never planned, had not even conceived of, until they wrote themselves into the plot. It is intriguing and a bit spooky. Truly, I almost feel as if I am in a hypnotic trance. When I get in this mode, I will go back and reread what I wrote and sometimes I think, “Wow, I wrote that!” This “channel writing” really excites me because that is when I seem to be the most creative and most likely to have thought outside the box.

My favorite plot theme: Supernatural characters. I’m currently writing book two to the witch/vampire story mentioned above. The hero is a god from a different dimension and the heroine a witch and sister to the first character (she is not bad though). Seriously, that is fun stuff with the sky as the limit (or rather my imagination as the limit). Paranormal plots are fun for me because there are no boundaries, no society rules (except for the ones I create) and the path is not straightforward.

I like my characters to be a bit villainous too. It spices things up for me and it is a scream to write. To me it is so much more fun to watch the character go from bad to, well…not so bad. Like a real person, I do not allow my villains to completely reform by the end of the book. (I think Molly can attest to that. She read my first book, The Devil’s Den). Rather, they have to be accepted by their love interest with their flaws intact, much like we want in real life. So, I guess it is more about watching the anti-villain adjust and accept the villain. Either way, all my monster villains get their happy ending. Even bad boys and girls deserve love.

Okay, for an example of bad, Aysha, the “wicked” witch mentioned above, here is a snippet of the first time you see her in action (please note, this is unedited):

“Let’s go,” Aysha said without glancing at Brok and stepped over the edge of the cliff into the darkness below as if she were stepping onto solid pavement.

For only a brief moment she felt the dead-drop, but acclimated herself to the free-fall without effort. A moment later, she landed on her feet with a soft thunk and then walked leisurely into the doomed Compound.

All around her, Dogfaces killed the humans. Some lay on the parched earth, bemoaning their imminent death. Others, the earth was already soaking up the blood from their mutilated bodies.

With a flick of her left wrist and a twirl of her index finger, blood spiraled from the dead and splattered across the walls in her unique style of graffiti. None of the Compound would be burned this time. It would prove to the vamps how easily she could victimize her prey. No one matched her at her game or in power.

Except for him. That little voice inside her head wheedled. Damnit, she would destroy him! And soon before he realized his own power. The same latent power he had utilized to try and protect this Compound.

“No,” she said again, harshly, as a gleaming silver knife appeared in her hand. The handle was jeweled with twinkling gems. Its blade serrated for maximum damage.

Strolling to the Dogface, she held his eyes, while he held the sobbing human beneath him with little effort, a single hand pressed to the woman’s shoulder. Calmly, Aysha flipped the blade into her palm and handed it to him, the jeweled handle sliding coldly into his hand.

“Finish it,” she said coolly, glancing at the woman mouthing ‘please’ like a broken prayer beneath him.

Without a single sound, the woman died as he savagely slit her throat. Aysha cocked her head at the deceased woman as she watched the life fade from the human’s eyes. With her expression belying no emotion whatsoever—especially not remorse for an innocent human—she turned away to finish her bloody spray-paint.
Copyright © 2008 Gracen Miller

Aysha is bad, really, really bad, with a huge ego to go along with her power trip. In a lot of ways, though, she has reason to be so egotistical. There have been centuries of attacks against the witches and they have won every skirmish. So, now when threatened by a new stronger power, she is not about to sit back and let it rip apart her clan. Thus, she goes on the attack.

Aysha was the first time I have ever written the heroine as the villain and let me just go ahead and say, Aysha and I had a blast writing her storyline.

By the end of the book is she redeemed; a little yes, a lot no. We are dealing with supernatural forces here and the supernatural does not spawn massive redemption—at least not in my opinion and not in my books.

So, tell me what you like to read, what you write and even what you want to read? What is your favorite plot line, your favorite genre? What are the traits of your favorite characters? Tell me whatever, just so long as you talk to me. ;-)

I hope everyone has an awesome weekend! Take care and be safe.