In this episode we cover: 

• Elements of a multidimensional villain
• Villain’s relationship with the protagonist
• Common mistakes when creating villains
• Developing back stories that add depth
• Building anticipation in your story

Links I mentioned: 

Support my Kickstarter

Find out more about Dana:

Danja Tales

Rebel of the Week is: Matthew

If you’d like to be a Rebel of the week please do send in your story, it can be any kind of rebellion. You can email your rebel story to rebelauthorpodcast@gmail.com

1 new patron this week, welcome and thank you to Kylie Haddix. A big thank you to my existing patrons. If you’d like to support the show, and get early access to all the episodes as well as bonus content you can from as little as $2 a month by visiting: www.patreon.com/sachablack

This episode is sponsored by Fictionary

The post 260 Crafting Multidimensional Villains with Dana Pittman appeared first on Sacha Black.

Halloween is by far my favorite holiday of the year. So I figured why not celebrate by talking about my favorite things: Villains.

I’m going to run my first ever LIVE writing craft masterclass. In this 2-hour ish session, we will have a structure presentation, a Q&A opportunity as well as exercises done live in class to help you craft the perfect villain.

The class will be recorded. This is so that after the class all attendees will have access to the recording and materials to rewatch at their leisure. So the slide deck, transcript, audio, video, and cheat sheet will be available to you forever. [Though give me a week or two post class to get those things loaded]. Interested?

Join the Class Here

About the Class

Would you like to create better villains? Would you like to have a villain for a protagonist?

Whether you want to improve your villains, brush up your character creation or just improve your craft, join Sacha Black for her first LIVE villains masterclass.

WHEN: October 31st: 8pm GMT, 4pm EDT, 1pm PDT and for ACDT it’s 6:30am Monday 1st Nov.

WHERE: Zoom links will be given out once you’re registered. And a reminder sent a couple of days before the event.

The session will be recorded.

NOTES: Fancy dress encouraged, bring a poison of choice, steal candy from kids as masterclass snacks

CONTENT:

• How to craft a villain protagonist
• Villain arcs
• How to get your origin story right
• Creating unlikeable characters, villains and antiheroes your readers will love anyway
• Save the Cat villain style
• Exercises live in class to help you craft better villains
• Takeaway cheat sheet
• Q&A portion of the class

PRICE: The class is £66.60 and yes, that price was on purpose, thank you Crys Cain for the ‘devilish’ idea!

FAQ

Q. Do I have to dress up, steal candy from children and drink poison?

A. I mean no… but where’s the fun in that?

Q. What if I can’t attend?

A. A replay will be available to all those who register.

Q. I don’t like my face appearing on zoom, especially if the session is recorded.

A. No problems, Zoom enables you to have your camera and microphone switched off. I’ve changed the settings to reflect that so everyone will join with mics and cameras off. It’s up to you if you choose to turn your settings on.

Q. If I don’t attend live and don’t purchase the live session will I be able to learn in my own time at a later date?

A. Yes. I’m recording the session and it will be available as a mini masterclass but at a higher price of $99.

Q. What if I change my mind and want a refund?

A. Sure, no problems. You can get a refund right up until 48 hours before the live class. This is because I’m limited on numbers and want those that can attend to secure a place.

Join the Class Here

The post Villains Halloween Special LIVE Masterclass appeared first on Sacha Black.

What happens when the villain wins?

Sick of dashing debonairs? Fed up of being blinded by shining armor?

Sometimes, all a girl wants is a villain for a hero. The Rebel Diaries is looking for stories starring characters with a dubious shade of morals. We want characters who aren’t afraid of getting what they want, causing a bit of chaos, dabbling in mischief, and mayhem and slathering on the sarcasm.

We want stories that slip into the grey areas, and are bulging with villains, deviants and rebels. We’re after sassy tales littered with questionable morals and happy endings—for the villains anyway.  

We are not looking for horror or gratuitous violence but dark stories that are fun, light hearted explorations of the characters usually hidden in obscurity. 

We actively encourage submissions from own voices, characters or authors with disabilities or from underrepresented backgrounds, LGBTQ+ etc.

Submission deadline: June 30th, 2021

Word count: 2,500–7,500 words.

Payment: royalty split 

For all the submission criteria, information and to submit your story, please visit sachablack.co.uk/rebelsubmissions  

The post ANNOUNCING: The Rebel Diaries: An Anthology CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS appeared first on Sacha Black.

IT WAS, PEOPLE. IT REALLY WAS.

I raised a solitary eyebrow. I hate hype. I hate popular things. I was loathe to watch it. But watch it I did. And thank all of the literary gods that I did. For those that haven’t watched it, here’s a short blurb from the BBC:

“Killing Eve topples the typical spy-action thriller as two fiercely intelligent women, equally obsessed with each other, go head to head in an epic game of cat and mouse.”

Killing Eve is essentially about two women, Eve an MI6 agent and Villainelle a bonafide psychopathic assassin.

Here endeth the spoiler free area. Fair warning, in order to explain why Villainelle is so good, I’ll have to talk about the plot. If you read on and you haven’t watch BOTH series, then read on at your peril.

Season 1 introduces both Eve and Villainelle. Eve is commissioned to find and capture Villainelle. But so begins a cat and mouse game that rapidly dissents into obsession and maybe even love?  Season 1 ends with Eve finding Villainelle. They’re alone in V’s apartment. Eve, knowing Villanelle is attached to her, leads her to the bedroom where she seduces and then promptly stabs her! Cliffhanger, Villainelle vanishes.

Season 2 opens with Villainelle in hospital and Eve wracked by obsession: she knows Villainelle is alive. Her obsession rapidly leads to the demise of her marriage, her job, her life.

Okay, that’s a nuff plot. Let’s get to the good bits.

Blurred Lines

Villainelle pushes Eve way outside her comfort zone. Their obsession with each other mingles and blurs the lines of good and evil to the point that Villainelle essentially coaxes Eve into killing someone. Granted Eve kills a villain, but it’s not the point is it my little wordsmiths? Eve killed a man. Eve’s meant to be good. A hero no less. Heroes don’t actually kill people. They bring them to justice. They arrest them and put them in jail.

Not Eve.

*glinty eye*

Eve is driven by an uncontrollable obsession with Villainelle. She doesn’t know what she wants to do with V. She just knows can’t keep away from her. V’s obsession is derived from the point of view that Eve is ‘like’ V.

Villainelle sees herself in Eve. And to an extent, Eve sees herself in V. That’s why Eve descends the spiral of villainy until she actually kills a man… More on that in a minute.

The Ultimate Forbidden Love Trope

I’m a sucker for romance. Slather me in it like you slather oil on a muscled torso. When you give me forbidden love… well, just look at that GIF a few paragraphs down.

The reason forbidden love works is because psychologically, we all want the things we can’t have. Everybody loves the bad boy. It’s a fantasy. And this is the ultimate display of forbidden love.

Not only is Eve unavailable… She’s married… to a man! Point is, she’s unavailable and seemingly straight.

Villainelle gives zero fucks. She gon’ have Eve no matter what it takes. More to the point, V will would do anything for Eve. Kill. Maim. Torture. Throw it all in. Mix with a litre of blood, a can of mace, a sprinkling of 9mms and were not even close to the lengths Villainelle will go.

Heroes aren’t meant to love villains. Which is why this is such an epic plot twist.

And of course, the writers keep us on the edge of our seats because Eve – poor confused little mite – goes all sexy hardcore on her hubby. Whose rather more confused

Killer Villains

And let us not forget what Villainelle actually is. A blood soaked assassin people. A BAD ASS ASSASSIN. What makes a villain convincing is when they play to type. Which V does. She has cruise liner loads of integrity because when she says she’s going to do something, we watchers, know without a shadow of a doubt that she will do that thing.

Case in point…

Eve get’s stroppy with Villainelle in a coffee shop and this is V’s response:

“Don’t speak to me like that, Eve. I like you, but I don’t like you that much. Don’t forget, the only thing that makes you interesting is me.” 

Nnnnngh.

*mops drool*

I think that has to be one of the most exquisitely crafted lines of script I’ve ever seen. I actually let out a gasp when I heard it. The reason it worked so well is threefold:

1. 1. V is obsessive about Eve. To the point that we viewers are lulled into a false sense of security. We question whether V does – despite her psychopathy – actually ‘love’ Eve.
   2. This is a short sharp slap in the reminder-balls. DON’T FORGET BITCHES… Villainelle will cut you down faster than you can ‘but but’ her. Can you hear the script writers cackling as they slurp on gin with a face full of smug smileitis?
   3. V has proved herself a woman of her word. She’s also proved that she doesn’t care whether you’re man, beast or child. She’ll put you out your misery without a sideways glance. Which she does, in one of the early scenes to a child with a mutilated face. If you’re squeamish about kid death – which I am – you’ll find this particularly hard to deal with.

It Ends Where It Begins

One of the things that makes my toes curl as a reader is when an author full circles a metaphor, scene or image. It’s like some gloriously fated serendipity. That’s exactly what happens with the endings of both season 1 and season 2 of Villainelle… Sorry, ‘Killing Eve’. But let’s be honest, they should have called the series Villainelle because oh sweet, sweet villainous gods it’s all about her!

Where was I?

Right.

At the end of season 1, Eve stabs Villainelle. At the end of season 2? Villainelle shoots Eve. Excuse me while I squeal like Sally…

via GIPHY

This is so good because #Karma. Eve is the protagonist. Protagonists don’t get shot.

*shakes story manual*

*beats chest*

*ARE YOU LISTENING SCRIPT WRITERS?*

The protagonist getting shot is the last thing a viewer (or reader) will expect. Especially because it’s Villainelle – the devilishly brilliant villain who supposedly loves Eve – who’s doing the shooting.

But this is the glorious magic of this ending.

1. Because Eve is the protagonist no one expects her to die
2. No one expects Villainelle to hurt Eve because she’s spent the entire (ENTIRE) series protecting her. the magic of characterisation happens when characters are consistent to a fault until suddenly, they’re not. BOOM.
3. Villains don’t change. And even though we’re led for the entire series to think Villainelle has… she hasn’t. She’s a villain and a psychopath at her core. Which is why her reasoning… ‘If she can’t have Eve, then no one can’ makes total sense.
4. This ending is the perfect mirror of the end of season 1. It makes total sense. It’s the exact kind of thought process an obsessive psychopath would go through.

Learn how to create killer villains with tips from Killing Eve #selfpublishing #IARTG #writetip #amwriting #writingcommunity
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If you enjoyed the tips in this post, you can get more villains tips in my book 13 Steps to Evil – How to Craft a Superbad Villain.

And if you sign up to my mailing list, you get a free 17-page cheat sheet to help you create superbad villains, as well as bonus tips and my latest book news just click the button below:

Get my cheatsheet

Image credits: Villainelle – By SexyAndHotTv, CC BY 2.5 and Killing Eve Logo: By BRFZ2 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0.

If you enjoyed this post, you might like this from my archive:

Warning: These 5 Points Will Help You Create Awesome Female Villains

The post Create Killer Villains: Lessons From Villainelle appeared first on Sacha Black.

But today, for Valentines, I’m proposing a rather more alternative form of giving. To appease my villainous rants, I need y’all to be a doll and give your damn villain a heart.

Don’t screw up your latest villainous scribbles just yet. Indulge me, and I’ll explain why your villain needs a heart.

Oh, and should you want more detail, this is a topic I cover in my book 13 Steps To Evil – How To Craft A Superbad Villain. 

Everybody Loves To Hate A Villain

Readers love to hate villains, it’s a fact of life in the same way my need for caffeine the instant I peel my eyes open in the morning is. They want to swim into your story-net and throw themselves onto your hook and all so they can fall in love with their badassery and then be horrified when they realize he’s so cruel and nefarious they couldn’t possibly have sympathized with him. Only we know they did because we designed our villain that way.

Your job as a writer is to:

• Make the reader feel for your villain
• Make the reader agree with their insane ideas for a nano second

Why? So you can bitch-slap them back to reality with a side salad of villain crazy. 

Making your reader empathize with your villain before they do something awful to your hero makes the emotional turmoil the reader feels that much more compelling. 

The point? Getting your audience to ‘love to hate’ your villain is VITAL. It’s reader-crack, which also means it’s winner winner chicken dinner for your KDP Sales dashboard!

But how do you get them to fall for your villain in the first place? 

Include at least one positive trait.

Rookie mistake number #1 when creating a villain is to have a ‘bad dude hell bent on ending the world with no fucking idea why he wants to do it.

No children. Just no.

To make a villain realistic, you gots to include at least one positive trait or redeeming quality. I know, I can feel your scrunched up faces from here. “But Sacha, villains are evil, they can’t have a heart.”

Yes, yes, they can. Why? Because even a villain has mommy.

Look, if you don’t give your villain at least one positive trait, they’ll turn out to be one track minded, hell bent on destroying the world (and your hero) but without any substance behind them. What does that lead to? A flat villain. And a flat villain = flat conflict. And THAT is tantamount to story death.

But you also need them to have a positive trait because no one is pure evil. Giving them a positive trait makes them far moe realistic as a character. You go from flat pancake to chubby panda.

Nobody Likes To Be Cheated

There’s a danger when getting your readers to like your villain that they get lulled into a false sense of security. They end up liking your villain a bit TOO much. Don’t do that, cause you’ll cheat your readers. Cheating readers is bad. BAD-BAD. Like turd burger bad. Okay, you get the point.

If you set your villain up to make the reader empathize with him early on, be sure to plant a seed of doubt in their mind about his or her ‘goodness’.

So there you have it. Be loving this VILLaintines and give your bad guy a heart.

Who’s your fave villain with a heart? Let me know in the comments.

***

If you liked this post, why not get even more awesome writing tips in the book 13 Steps To Evil – How to Craft Superbad Villains. Click this link and just tap the logo of your device or regular bookshop and it will take you to the right page. You can also get a FREE villains cheatsheet by joining my mailing list just click here.

Read Keepers, the first book in my Young Adult fantasy series now. Or to hear more about the release of the sequels as well as get regular CogMail updates you can do so here.

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads

The post Happy VILLaintines – Why your villain needs a heart #amwriting #ValentinesDay appeared first on Sacha Black.

How do you become the best writer you can?

Is a question I constantly ask myself in my quest to write full-time.

One of the most obvious answers I’ve discovered is by continuing to learn lessons and develop your craft.

But lessons only take you so far, right?

Why?

Because you have to put them into practice.

***

At the tail end of May, I released 13 Steps To Evil – How To Craft Superbad Villains which was jam-packed with resources and tips to improve your villains and help you take them to the next level.

But what was missing from that book, was a way for you to put those lessons into practice. I promptly rectified that, which is why today sees me launch:

 13 Steps To Evil – The Workbook

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads

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The post Putting Theory into Practice – 13 Steps To Evil Workbook Launch appeared first on Sacha Black.

It’s been a while since I saw a film that was so good I practically combusted over it. But I just saw the Dark Tower, and oh my sweet, sweet deliciously-evil villain heaven was it bloody amazing.

Now before anyone whips out their red pen and corrects this post:

Two caveats:

ONE – This post will contain some spoilers, if you haven’t watched the film and intend to, please don’t read on.

TWO – I have not read The Gunslinger by Stephen King, that’s the book the film is based on. Therefore all comments are in relation to the movie the Dark Tower only.

I lied, there’s a third caveat, this is all my opinion. If you don’t like the Dark Tower movie, I can’t do anything about your bad taste in films. :p

Why am I talking about Dark Tower? Because it had a villain that was off the chart. And you know how I swoon over a good villain. But Walter (the villain) was also a total cliché, and yet, despite that, he worked. Like really, REALLY well. So well, that I was salivating literary story joy all over the screen.

Which means the film provides a cracking lesson on how to make a clichéd villain work: 

First, what constitutes a clichéd villain?

In 13 Steps To Evil – How To Craft A Superbad Villain, I give you a whole list of clichés to avoid. But simply:

“Clichés are words, phrases, expressions or scenes that have been overused to the point they’ve become predictable and unoriginal.” p.117 13 Steps to Evil, by ME!

For example:

• The priest saying ‘Does anyone object?’ and the protagonist’s true love bursting into the church
• A villain or a witch with a ‘muhahaha’ laugh or a cackle
• And then I woke up and realized it was all a dream

Why was Walter from Dark Tower a cliché?

Cliché 1 – Black 

For a start he only wore black. Not something I mind, given my fave color an’ all. But still. A black clothed villain is a cliché, even if Walter was particularly stylish and unacceptably handsome.

Cliché 2 – Lack of motive AKA evil for the sake of it

Now, I refused to believe that Stephen King wrote a book with a motiveless villain, so as soon as I got out of the movie, I googled it and discovered, that of course, in the books, he has an excellent motive. However, in the film, not so much.

Walter is one of those, evil for the sake of it villains. His mission is to destroy the tower and reign life ending apocalypse over the universe by letting in all the hell demons and beasts that are outside the universe.

Cliché 3 – A hoard of motiveless minions

There’s one thing that a dark-lord-evil-for-the-sake of it villain is great at, and that’s amassing an army of minions who do absolutely everything the villain says in fear of death, but with frankly, zero motive. It makes it a bit hard to swallow for the more seasoned plot critic.

***

But enough of the bad stuff. Because despite everything I just said, Matthew McConaughey nailed Walter. He was an amazing villain, and yes, that was partly because of his acting but also because the role was written well.

Here’s how he combatted the cliché

ONE – Coohey – Look Over Here…

Divert attention away from black.

Think about the weapons your villain might have, or the mannerisms, or physical features. What is it, besides the black clothing that makes your villain evil and interesting? Make those things the defining feature rather than the use of black clothing. That way the clothes become background noise in amongst your strange and quirky villain.

Walter’s got so many other features, his narcissism, his Jupiter sized ego, his disturbingly warped mindset, his ability to wield amazing powers of villainy delight and sorcery. The black clothing was practically invisible. If I hadn’t been looking for it I might not have seen it!

TWO – Hurt The Hero 

Heroes need to suffer for their win.

Readers don’t give a damn whether your hero runs off with the maiden, or if he dies pulling hairballs out of his pet cat unless, that is, you make them invest in the hero’s journey.

And how do you do that? By giving the hero a character arc and having a villain that makes your hero’s life hell.

And boy does Walter make Roland pay. Walter ruthlessly kills everyone that walks with Roland and murders everyone he ever cares about or loves. Dead. ALL OF THEM. Without exception. The last of which is his father and it throws him into decades of isolation and self-loathing. GENIUS.

THREE – Target everyone’s weaknesses

Not only does Walter hit Roland (the hero) where it hurts, by killing everyone he loves. He does the same for the protagonist (Jake). Jake is a young psychic boy, and who the story is about. His dad is already dead, so to make Jake vulnerable he prays on his only weakness, the only thing he has left – his mum. Walter kills Jake’s mum and the rage Jake feels over it, sets off his psychic powers, enabling Walter to track him down.

Not only does Walter target people’s weaknesses, he does so with an unrelenting consistency that is terrifyingly brilliant. He is one bad motherfu…

FOUR – Make the villain impossible to beat unless…

…Your hero gets over their personal barrier, i.e. their character arc.

Walter IS impossible to beat. He’s stronger, more manipulative, more cunning, and more devious and the whole universe is terrified of him. There’s no way a single gunslinger (Roland) can beat him. Especially when Walter has broken Roland mentally.

Roland’s character arc is a lie arc. I’ve talked about the lie your character believes before. But Roland, in particular, believes that he is no longer a Gunslinger because his heart isn’t pure because he wants revenge more than he wants to protect the tower.

It isn’t until our cute little psychic kid helps Roland remember that he is still a Gunslinger at heart, that he’s able to make the shot that kills Walter.

And there you have it. Four ways to beat the cliché.

Have you seen the movie? What did you think? How else have you included a cliché in your book but turned it into an awesome character?

If you liked this post, why not get even more awesome tips in the book 13 Steps To Evil – How to Craft Superbad Villains

OUT NOW

Click this link to purchase and then click the logo of your device or regular bookshop, and it will take you to the right page.

You can also get a FREE villains cheat sheet by joining my mailing list just click here.

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads

The post Villain Clichés That Work – Four Lessons From The Dark Tower Movie #MondayBlogs appeared first on Sacha Black.

In a couple of weeks, (around mid-July) I will return to blogging, full force sarcasm and odd metaphors to fill you in on all the lessons, fuck ups and ‘how to’s’ I’ve learned from publishing 13 Steps. I promise you it will be interesting!

But for now, launch week is nearly over. If you haven’t got you copy of 13 Steps To Evil, now is the time. Because tomorrow the sale ends and the price goes up to 2.99. Get your copy here by clicking your reading device logo or regular bookstore.

Why should you get 13 Steps To Evil?

Well, if you’ve ever suffered from cliché villain, or perhaps a villain with a saggy middle and soft heart, then this book is for you.

Not convinced? Here’s what the early reviewers have said:

“Imagine sitting in the living room with your best friend, pages of your novel manuscript spread out between the two of you, and spending days dissecting your story and rewriting it together. That’s what reading Sacha’s book and learning from it is like.” Jade W

“Sacha writes in such an engaging style that it made the book impossible to put down. The humour she writes with made this so much more than just your standard villain creator textbook. It’s well written, informative and hilarious.” Melanie R

“13 Steps to Evil is the kind of book that a writer could easily return to again and again for inspiration.” M.J. Moores

“When I read the title, I imagined a short book consisting of checklists and summary information. I did not expect a 40,000 word conversation with Ms. Black about the art of crafting believable, well-rounded villains.

I said “conversation”, and that’s what it is. The reader absorbs the knowledge presented without having to slog through pages and pages of words that have zero cohesiveness and the innate ability to induce sleep. The writing is a blend of the topics and marvelous word-crafting, occasionally highlighting the author’s irreverent sense of humor.” Kevin K

If you’d like to try my FREE 17-page cheat sheet to mastering your villain first, you can grab that here.

***

AND DON’T FORGET. You can win a villain critique, signed paperback, Amazon voucher and lots more goodies by entering my villain competition. Find out more here.

***

Here’s the book blurb:

Your hero is not the most important character in your book. Your villain is.

Are you fed up of drowning in two-dimensional villains? Frustrated with creating clichés? And failing to get your reader to root for your villain?

In 13 Steps to Evil, you’ll discover:

• How to develop a villain’s mindset
• A step-by-step guide to creating your villain from the ground up
• Why getting to the core of a villain’s personality is essential to make them credible
• What pitfalls and clichés to avoid as well as the tropes your story needs

Finally, there is a comprehensive writing guide to help you create superbad villains. Whether you’re just starting out or are a seasoned writer, this book will help power up your bad guy and give them that extra edge.

These lessons will help you master and control your villainous minions, navigate and gain the perfect balance of good and evil, as well as strengthening your villain to give your story the tension and punch it needs.

If you like dark humour, learning through examples and want to create the best villains you can, then you’ll love Sacha Black’s guide to crafting superbad villains. Read 13 Steps to Evil today and start creating kick-ass villains.

***

And the link to grab you copy before the price goes up to £2.99 tomorrow is here.

The post Last Chance To Get 13 Steps To Evil For £1.99 appeared first on Sacha Black.

I know, I know. I can hear the groans of  ‘about freaking time, Sacha. What took you so long? It’s not like you’ve been writing for 7 years straight, Sacha, I mean Geeeez.’

All I can do is raise my weary eyebrow, wipe the sweat off my brow and down my glass of champagne.

FINALLY, today is the day I take the first steps toward fulfilling the dream little nine-year-old me had. Because right now, at this very moment, I get to put on that shiny gold badge I’ve been lusting after for an eon.

Today I become an author.

Fuck yeah, I do, people, Fuck YEAAAAAH I DOOOOOO!

The time for talking is over. 13 Steps To Evil – How To Craft Superbad Villains, is here.

Let me ask you a question… Do you want to write the best villain you can?

I’m guna assume the answer is yes! Well, finally, I can help.

For those of you that don’t know, for the last few months, I’ve been writing a non-fiction book called 13 Steps to Evil. It’s been carefully designed to give writers a step by step guide to creating the most kick-ass villain possible.

And today is launch day.

13 Steps To Evil is now on sale and for one week only, you can get it at the bargain price of £1.99. After the 7^th June, it will go up to its normal price of £2.99. So make sure you download it ASAP to avoid missing out on the launch promotion.

You can buy your copy here:

AmazonUK

AmazonUSA

Also from iBooks, Kobo, Nook, Inktera and Barnes & Noble. Just click your usual bookstore or device logo and it will take you to the right store.

***

Alongside the launch of 13 Steps To Evil, I’ve created a short villain’s companion course and free checklist to help you put into practice all the things you’ll learn. In order to make sure you have the support you need, there’s an exclusive Facebook group where you can work through the course with others and ask questions. I’ll also be on hand to answer questions too. If you’d like to join the course, click here.

If you do purchase a copy of 13 Steps To Evil, and you have a few spare minutes, I’d really appreciate a short review on the site you bought it.

***

Want to know a little more about 13 Steps To Evil?

Here’s the book blurb

13 Steps To Evil has been carefully designed to give writers like you, a detailed guide to creating the most kick-ass villain you can.

Are you fed up of drowning in two-dimensional villains? Frustrated with creating clichés? And failing to get your reader to root for your villain?

In the book you’ll learn all kinds of awesome stuff like,

• How to develop a villain mindset
• The step-by-step guide to creating your villain from the ground up
• Why getting to the core of your villain’s personality is essential to make them credible and believable
• What evil pitfalls and clichés to avoid as well as the tropes your story needs

Finally, there’s a comprehensive writing guide to help you create Superbad villains. I’ve spent hundreds of hours researching and interviewing writers to make sure 13 Steps To Evil is tailored to your exact needs.

Whether you’re just starting out or a seasoned writer, this book will help power up your bad guy and give them that extra edge. It will also help you master the perfect balance of good and evil as well as strengthening your villain to give your story the tension and punch it needs.

You’ll get the same dark humor, you find in my blog posts and newsletters and I use a ton of well-known examples to help explain the steps.

***

HERE’S A SHORT EXCERPT

Why Writers Fudge Up Their Villains

Villains are like newborn infants. So much glorious potential. Until we writers get our grubby mitts on them and balls it up. With the careless flick of a pen, we can turn a finely sculpted baby villain into a cringe-worthy cliché because we didn’t make him bad enough, or we create something so heinously evil it’s unrealistic.

A villain might be a plot device, but he still needs a purpose and a goal, or he’s unworthy as an opponent for your hero (See STEP 3 for motives and goals).

While researching this book, writers told me all kinds of problems they encountered while creating their villains. From getting the dialogue right and avoiding clichés, to knowing how evil to make a villain, to how to reveal her motives without using blatant exposition.

Behind all these issues lie two basic barriers that are the Achilles in every writer’s villainous heel:

1. Depending on the point of view (POV) the book’s written in, the villain is usually seen through the eyes of your hero.

A solitary POV gives you a page-limited amount of time to show your villain’s best, most authentic and devilishly evil side. Page-limited to the point it makes it eye-wateringly difficult to convey her backstory effectively without information dumping. You have to be better, clearer, more tactical and more concise with your words to create superbad villains.

2. Writers are hero worshippers.

We love our heroes and protagonists more than our spouses. And as a result, we spend shameful amounts of time honing our protagonist’s muscular heroics into shape. But that relegates our villain (the plot-driving conflict-creator) to the corner of our book, complete with a nobody-loves-you-anyway hat. In other words, writers don’t pay enough attention to their villain.

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I’ll be on a blog tour for a couple of months, so make sure you check out these awesome authors sites for my guest posts.

Don’t forget to get 13 Steps To Evil while it’s on sale. You can use this link, just click the logo of your device or regular bookshop and it will take you to the right page.

If you’d like to join the villain’s short course, click here.

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads

The post 13 Steps To Evil – How To Craft Superbad Villains Is HERE! appeared first on Sacha Black.

I’ve been absent sometime now; I burnt out. Which I am sure, for anyone that knows me, is not a surprise. Am I back? Yes, and also no. But that’s for another blog post. Today I have something exciting to announce.

In typical Sacha fashion, despite burning out and sleeping A LOT, I continued getting 13 Steps To Evil – How To Craft A Superbad Villain ready for publication.

Well, guess what?

 It’s ready.

That’s right, FINALLY, after a 5-year long road, that’s been bumpier than the Himalayas, 2017 marks the year I release the first of hopefully many books.

 I can’t believe I am really going to say this, but:

13 Steps To Evil is coming to you on the 30^th May 2017.

 So, because I’m launching in just a couple weeks, I’d love your help with two things:

1. I’m looking for advance readers, who would be willing to leave an honest review on Amazon and or Goodreads.

2. The second thing is help with the launch. If you’re willing, I’d be grateful for help spreading the word on social media come launch month. I’ll be setting up a file with info/images/shareables that I can send to anyone willing to help.

What will you get for helping?

My undying gratitude obvs. And a big fat hug when we meet.

For everyone willing to review 13 Steps to Evil, of course, I’ll give you the eBook for free.

For everyone that joins my street team, I’ll be running a street team only competition to win a free signed paperback as well as a 1000 word (or first chapter) critique from me (open internationally).

If you’re willing to help let me know in the comments, drop me an email, or ping me on social media (links below)

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Want to know a little more about 13 Steps To Evil?

13 Steps to Evil has been carefully designed to give writers like you, a detailed guide to creating the most kick ass villain you can.

Are you fed up of drowning in two-dimensional villains? Frustrated with creating clichés? And failing to get your reader to root for your villain?

In the book you’ll learn all kinds of awesome stuff like,

• How to develop a villain mindset
• The step-by-step guide to creating your villain from the ground up
• Why getting to the core of your villain’s personality is essential to make them credible and believable
• What evil pitfalls and clichés to avoid as well as the tropes your story needs

Finally, there’s a comprehensive writing guide to help you create Superbad villains. I’ve spent hundreds of hours researching and interviewing writers to make sure 13 Steps To Evil is tailored to your exact needs.

Whether you’re just starting out or a seasoned writer, this book will help power up your bad guy and give them that extra edge. It will also help you master the perfect balance of good and evil as well as strengthening your villain to give your story the tension and punch it needs.

You’ll get the same dark humour, you find in these blog posts and I use a ton of well-known examples to help explain the steps.

Want to write the best villain you can? 13 Steps To Evil is your book.

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As part of the publication, I’ll also be launching a short villains companion course and a free checklist. If you’d like those sign up to my mailing list and I’ll give you all the info shortly.

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest

The post 13 Steps To Evil Is Coming… ARC & Street Team Request appeared first on Sacha Black.