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IWW
Practice-W Exercise Archives
Exercise: Villains Make the Story (Version 2)
These exercises were written
by IWW members
and administrators to provide structured practice opportunities for its
members.
You are welcome to use them for practice as well. Please mention that
you found
them at the Internet Writers Workshop
(http://www.internetwritingwor
kshop.org/).
Prepared by Carter Jefferson
Posted on January 7, 2007
Posted on June 29, 2008
Revised and Posted on July 12, 2009
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Exercise: Exercise: In 400 words or less, write at least the beginning of a story
or memoir in which we see a villain at work and learn something of his or her motivation.
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Villains come in both sexes, in all shapes and sizes. Some know they're doing harm
for their own benefit, while others think they're doing the right thing, even though
someone will suffer. Every mystery has a villain for the hero to hunt down. They
are common in novels of every genre.
Not all villains have curly mustaches. The schoolyard bully might be one; so might a
designing woman or a man intent on getting what he wants. Family members have
been known to hurt each other physically or emotionally. Some villains are subtle,
using their offices in corporations or government to help one group of people at the
expense of others. Some villains have redeeming features, and sometimes readers find them
engaging.
There's Inspector Javert, who believed in enforcing the law at all costs. Hannibal
Lecter liked to eat the census taker's liver with fava beans and chianti. The Big
Bad Wolf ate Grandma, but couldn't keep her down. The evil-doers in Lord of the
Flies are children. In Ann Patchett's Bel Canto, revolutionaries are the villains.
Read Shakespeare for a veritable gallery of villains, one of whom was an ambitious lady
who lived in Scotland.
Most of us will write about villains of some kind at some point. Let us have the
beginning of a story in which you let us see the villain at work and give us some idea
of what prompts those evil deeds.
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Exercise: Exercise: In 400 words or less, write at least the beginning of a story
or memoir in which we see a villain at work and learn something of his or her motivation.
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In your critiques, let the writer know how well the villain is portrayed. Is the character
evil through and through, or simply someone tempted beyond resistance? Is the sin
something truly villainous, or just an inadvertent error that causes someone pain? Is the
motivation clear? Would you read more to see what happens? And, of course, critique the
writing in general.
Web site created by
Rhéal Nadeau and
the administrators of the Internet Writing Workshop.
Modified by Greg Gunther.
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