On Thursday, I had the pleasure of spending the evening with my
Wonder Twin and the lovely
Laura Benedict both at and after their joint signing at
Davis-Kidd Booksellers here in Nashville. While I was there, the WGH did the dad thing and fixed lasagna. It's become a bit of a running gag at our house – I'm not a big fan of lasagna, so he'll make it for the kids when I'm going to be out for the evening. The other day when I told Little Bit that I was going to be gone Thursday, her immediate response was, "Is Dad making lasagna?" The WGH was hesitant, but when The Boy chimed in with, "Dad, you should
totally make lasagna," he relented.
It turned out to be a little different from what he normally makes ... a little extra cheese of different varieties, some spicy sausage that Little Bit picked out ... when I got home I found the leftovers in the casserole dish in the fridge, covered with a length of foil upon which Little Bit had written the words LASAGNA EXPERIMENT. When I saw this, my rather warped sense of logic melded these two unrelated concepts into a moment of lucidity.
JT's third Taylor Jackson novel,
Judas Kiss, was released just before Christmas. In describing the writing and research process for this book, she talked about how with a series you have an established cast of characters, and the fun of writing the book is coming up with new situations in which your characters show you what they're made of. This is, of course, a point of debate amongst our circle – some writers say they have complete control over their characters; some, like JT and I, have no earthly idea what they're going to do until they do it. For the sake of argument, let's take the Wonder Twins' point of view; to wit, sometimes you have to throw some unusual things into their paths and then sit back and watch how they react. Vis-Ã -vis the lasagna, when you add different "ingredients" to your story, the end product can be a gloriously delicious thing.
This morning I was reviewing the notes from the sermon our associate pastor delivered last Sunday, and I came across a verse that sparked something in my brain with respect to this post. In Mark 7:21-23 (NIV), Jesus tells his disciples, "For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'"
Is this the perfect recipe for a villain or what? Just like your story, your characters have ingredients too – personality elements, quirks, attributes and flaws that comprise who they are and drive them to do the things they do. Your villains, for example, can be as evil as you want to make them – imagine taking all of the characteristics described above and putting them into one person. That would be one killer lasagna. Um, pardon the pun.
Think about your heroes, too. All the good guys aren't completely good – the most interesting ones are inherently good but still have some sort of flaw, a tiny chink in their armor that makes them more real to your reader. More human. Easier to identify with and believe in. And root for. What's better, not all the good guys are the same, either. They all have a different mix of ingredients that blend into something we can sink our teeth into, something special and tasty that keeps us coming back for more. There's that old saying, "Think about how boring life would be if everyone were the same." I may have paraphrased, but you get the general idea. It's a solid truth. This isn't Pleasantville (the black and white part), and it isn't 1984.
Most of you know I am a great fan of Shakespeare, and he has drawn some of the most intriguing villains I've ever read – take MacBeth, Don Giovanni and Claudius, for instance. Each committed heinous crimes to further their own agenda. Even Don John wasn't such a swell guy, though his 'crime' was more of a cruel prank – maybe there has to be a lighthearted element to the evil that men do in comedy?
All people – real or fictional – are made up of different ingredients that make us palatable (or not, in some cases). Our world – both literally and literarily – is full of fascinating characters. I hope you have a plentiful supply to keep you entertained. So what kind of lasagna do you like – who are your favorite literary villains and heroes, and what makes them so?
It's good to be back, and I'm glad you've come round to see me again. Pull up a chair and relax for a few minutes – the iced tea is cold, and today's special is ... what else? Lasagna.
Read a book. It's good for you.
=) JB
"And thus I clothe my naked villainy With old odd ends, stol'n forth of holy writ; And seem a saint, when most I play the devil."
-- William Shakespeare (King Richard III)