Have you ever preferred the anti-hero or villain in a show or book? Did you ever wish you could read only their story?
I know I have. It used to bother me that I was more interested in these kinds of characters until I found the wonders of the internet. Apparently, I am not alone. There is just something so exciting about a character that skirts with and even succumbs at one point to the dark side. I like my hero’s to fit somewhere in the shades of grey and not wear a white hat.
In writing romantic fanfic, it is the morally ambiguous male characters that have always inspired me. My hero in The Blood Concubine starts out very much the villain. I have been told by a lot of people he is too dark and there isn’t much of an audience for this kind of character in romance, especially mainstream romance. From my sojourn in fan fiction I have learned that there is an audience for just about everything. We will soon see if readers love Sethan Baelin as much as I do.
Recently I read a post on Io9 about ways to get people to like your amoral protagonists. You can find it here. It is a very interesting read. I found that in writing Sethan I used half of the plot devices listed. I can only hope that when it is all pulled together people can actually root for my anti-hero to get the girl.
Who are your favorite anti-heros or villains? What plot devices make you cheer the villain on? Is there an act so unforgiveable by the villain that you would never be able to see him as the hero?
