Welcome Fall!!!!

So you think you want to write a book – Creating a Villain  
This is actually harder than it sounds. Unless you are writing about a sociopath (contrary to what you see on TV – there really isn’t one living on every block in America) your ‘bad guy’ has to have a reasonable explanation for doing something unreasonable (murder or another felony). Normal people just don’t kill (or rob or burn buildings down). So if you are going to have your villain do one of those things (or something similar) you’ve got to create a scenario that is believable. All fiction readers agree to suspend reality to a certain extent – but you’d be surprised how little suspension they will actually give you. So make it realistic. Also, I hate it when I get to the end of a book and the villain is some barely mentioned character that no one would ever suspect. I feel cheated and resentful that I’ve spent so much time reading a book that I had no chance of figuring out. So if you want me to read your book (and not get mad at you) your villain has to be introduced to the reader in such a way that when they later realize he (she) is the bad guy they aren’t surprised. But the villain can’t be obvious or there is no suspense in your novel. There are several ways to cloak the villain. One is to make them seem suspicious at the beginning and then explain away the suspicion so that the reader forgets about them (or at least about their suspicions). Then when the ‘reveal’ takes place the reader has one of those V-8 hit-themselves-in-the-head moments, thinking ‘Of Course!’. You can also make your villain seem so sweet that no one suspects them or so awful that they look too obvious. You can have multiple villains so that there is no one guilty party. Or you can really have the ‘murder’ explained away at the end so there is no villain. If you use one of these ‘tricks’ you’d better have a really good plot or readers are not going to like it. Or you can let the reader know from the beginning who the villain is and it’s up to the characters in your book to prove it. Another tricky way to introduce a villain is to lead the reader to believe that one person is the villain and one is the victim and in the end reverse the roles. I cannot recommend the book I am about to site because it has objectionable content, but “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn is an example of this last technique.

Recipe of the Week –
Chicken Enchiladas

10 soft taco shells
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese ( I like the Kraft Tex Mex)
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
1 (4 oz) can diced green chillies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan. Mix chicken and 1 cup cheese. Roll up in tortillas and place in pan. In a sauce pan, melt butter, stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add broth and whisk until smooth. Heat over medium heat until thick. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream and chilies. Pour over enchiladas and top with remaining cheese. Bake 25 min.

September Book Give-Away –

We will draw the winner in the morning to give people a chance to post a comment through tonight. Then tomorrow will start the drawing for the October Thanksgiving Gift Box – which also includes a book!!! So keep commenting! And remember that there is a delay between when you post and when it shows up on my blog – so don’t worry if you don’t see it immediately. If it still doesn’t appear after a day email me at betsyb8@yahoo.com and I’ll enter your name in the drawing.