Often I read a villain but they become the hero in the next book! Some do take a few books to redeem themselves! Sometimes too they are from a dark past they had that made them as bitter as they were and there comes time to forgive/grow after time. I recall that in a Jennifer Ashley pirate historical romance, James Ardmore, that ended up with his own story in THE PIRATE HUNTER. I really think that there were pirates I read that no way I can see them becoming the hero, but with James, I could sense it because I starting feeling sorry for him. I didn’t always excuse how he behaved but I got soft on him!

You know, with contemps, I don’t see as much redeeming, I couldn’t think of one that did over time. Nora Roberts earlier books had a woman named Gloria DeLauter that was a villian over a number of books (Sea Swept, Rising Tides, etc) she was the estranged sister of all the books, and a secret throughout. I could be wrong on the details, its been so long since I read them (I can’t count the years, it was after HS around then, LOL.. … now I want to go back and read again! LOL.

I might not have answered this well but it was fun chatting about it!!

Marisa, great question! The answer is yes, no, sort of, I dunno maybe.

Lord Frost became more evil than I had intended because I realized the story needed something a little more powerful. Originally, he starts off as a good guy with bad judgement. Guilt and regret do a number on his sanity. So it evolved.

When creating Lord Phillip, the bad twin in HEIR/SPARE, I definitely gave him every bad trait I could think of: total drunk, excessive gambler, bad kisser, and I claimed he had ruined not one, but four, women. Naturally, he sheds these terrible habits in The Rogue And The Rival.

When you create a villain do you have specific character traits in mind?

It’s pretty cool to see how much consensus there is on the kind of villains we like! Ones that aren’t pure evil. Ones that could go either way–greatly reform or go off the deep the deep end.

And I dunno about y’all, but I automatically assume villain=male. I then correct myself. After all, the qualities we’re listing aren’t really gender specific. And we seem to find Dolores Umbridge the worst of the worst.

Orannia and Karin, I thought you both had really interesting points.

Now onto the funny stuff…Buffie, Fedora: Yes I did find it amusing to use the ex’s name. I didn’t laugh hysterically every time I typed it, but my friends and I did laugh over it. It was also satisfying to make Lord Frost deranged with desire for the heroine (that part was purely fiction).