More on Writing from fan faves...
May. 15th, 2012 05:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatI'm beginning to think everyone remotely interested in Joss Whedon that is also on lj has seen The Avengers now, but me.
Anyhow...speaking of The Avengers and Whedon - here's a nifty interview I found of Stan Lee (the original creator of The Avengers) interviewing Jane Espenson (with a perky and somewhat annoying assistant).
What interested me most about this interview was two things:
1. Stan Lee states that people always ask who he writes for, and he says that he writes for himself. Espenson wholeheartedly agrees. She writes things she wants to see and read.
And it's what all successful novelists have stated.
[If you want to write a story that will appeal to others...make sure it's one that appeals to you first, that you want to tell, want to read, that it is your fantasy, your adventure, something you can't find anywhere else, that you have to get out of your own head - and you are writing it because you can't find it out there. Otherwise the writing feels empty and lacks soul.]
2. Villains. Very important to create a great villain.
Stan Lee: If you don't have a good villain...you have a hero wandering around not knowing what to do.
Jane: My favorite villain was Spike, because we turned him into a hero. He was this evil villian, horrible, a big bad, and we over time turned him into a great hero, who sacrificed himself to save the world and save others.
Lee: That's amazing. Because it's new. People don't tend to do that.
Anyhow...speaking of The Avengers and Whedon - here's a nifty interview I found of Stan Lee (the original creator of The Avengers) interviewing Jane Espenson (with a perky and somewhat annoying assistant).
What interested me most about this interview was two things:
1. Stan Lee states that people always ask who he writes for, and he says that he writes for himself. Espenson wholeheartedly agrees. She writes things she wants to see and read.
And it's what all successful novelists have stated.
[If you want to write a story that will appeal to others...make sure it's one that appeals to you first, that you want to tell, want to read, that it is your fantasy, your adventure, something you can't find anywhere else, that you have to get out of your own head - and you are writing it because you can't find it out there. Otherwise the writing feels empty and lacks soul.]
2. Villains. Very important to create a great villain.
Stan Lee: If you don't have a good villain...you have a hero wandering around not knowing what to do.
Jane: My favorite villain was Spike, because we turned him into a hero. He was this evil villian, horrible, a big bad, and we over time turned him into a great hero, who sacrificed himself to save the world and save others.
Lee: That's amazing. Because it's new. People don't tend to do that.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-16 10:17 pm (UTC)But then they made him a good guy for a while, until the writers got bored with it and made him a full out bad guy again. And since then they've been going back and forth with him, from ambiguous good to utter and total evil and it's that what's annoying.
Because after a while you have to wonder why the good guys even still trust him in the weeks he decides to be a good guy, since he could turn against them at any point.
One of the reasons I love redeemed villains, aside of the redemption story, is that a good redeemed villain explains perfectly why most heroes will hold to a 'I shall not kill' rule regardless how bad the bad guy is. Because if even one villain stands a chance for redemption, then what gives the hero the right to deprive them of that chance.
But when that redemption fails whenever the book switches titles, then why should the hero bother, instead of just taking out the risk when they get the chance.