1.1 Your favourite fictional villain
You will now turn to think about your own favourite villains from fiction.
Activity 1 Baddies I have known and loved
Think back to your own reading of books over the years and make a list of some of the fictional villains that you can remember. These might be from very far back in your childhood, perhaps from fairy tales or fables, or could be much more recent characters, perhaps the latest baddie in some crime fiction you are reading.
Looking at the list of characters you have generated are there any that jump out at you (excuse the pun) as being particular favourites? If so, what is it about those favourite villains that you enjoy? Try and write a couple of sentences summarising why you found that particular character so appealing.
There are any number of reasons that you might have found a villainous character appealing. It might have been that you particularly like the setting that the villain was in. For example if you enjoy history and period drama you might have found that your chosen villain is one who stalks the corridors of an old stately home. It might have been that there are particular aspects of the chemistry between the villain you chose and some of the other characters in the story (including the hero) that made that particular character appealing or it might have been that there are aspects of that person’s disposition or character traits that drew you to them (something that you will come back to later on in the course).
It is also possible that the reason that you were drawn to a particular character is because of how they have been written by the author that created them, and in the next section you will meet some authors of crime fiction and learn a bit more about how they have created fictional characters, particularly villains.