This past Fall, I came down the stairs with a book in my hand. Not exactly unusual for me, but my 10-year-old son asked me what I was doing. I flipped through the book in my hand and said to him. “I’m trying to figure out how to kill someone.” I gave him a smile and walked away. Being the curious boy that he is, he followed me into my room. “Who are you trying to kill, Mom?” he asks as if this was something he inquired after everyday. I laughed and showed him my volume on Forensics. “It’s for the book I’m writing.” This time he smiled and said. “Yeah, I figured.”

It’s good to know that my son knows I don’t carry homicidal tendencies—outside of the fictional world, that is. Then he sat down and together we figured out how the victim in my 3^rd NovelTea series book would die and how the leads of the story would figure it out.

Romantic Suspense really is a fun genre to both read and write, especially when it comes to the villain as he contemplates murder, deceptions…even treason. I’ve found the exercise of getting into the head of a psychopath completely freeing and exciting. Why is that? Why is it so fun to be bad? I know my latest villain was just deliciously evil. But I wasn’t sure if I was ready to kill him off because his whole past hadn’t come to the fore just yet. It is a series after all.

To write a really good villain, you have to understand why he does what he does. You don’t just wake up one day and decide to rob a bank or commit murder. You aren’t just evil to be evil. Something pushes us to that point. If an author can show you that path, it makes the villain that much more believable and real to life and the story becomes that much more engaging.

Think of some famous literary villains like Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes, Iago from Shakespeare’s Othello, Javert in Les Miserables, the Sherriff in the Robin Hood tales and ballads or even Voldemort in Harry Potter. Many times, the villain is the driving force of the story and your hero doesn’t shine as brightly without the reflection of that dark villain off in the shadows.

So, tell me, do you love to hate the villain? Isn’t there just something exciting in reading and writing a good villain? Why do you think that is?

To experience more of the villain in my NovelTea Series come by my website and read the Prologue from the villain’s POV. You can purchase A Night of NovelTea or NovelTea Next Door at The Wild Rose Press. The third NovelTea book, NovelTea Takes a Holiday, is coming soon.

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Cindy K. Green is a multi-published author with degrees in History and Education. Previously a middle school English & History teacher, she now homeschools her own children and writes in several genres: Inspirational, Contemporary, Fantasy, Suspense and Historical romance. Find out more about Cindy and her books at www.cindykgreen.com.