Hunting Down a Villain in the Grocery Store

“A figure sat there in thoughtful silence. Shrouded in darkness as he preferred, he thought about the recent activities of that company, and the meddling woman who was solving the trouble he was creating.”

– Twisted Lies, Bee 2016

I’m searching for a villain. Everywhere I look, everywhere I turn I am hoping to spot him. Or maybe a her this time. I actively search as I pass each person for something to pull this villain out of shadows. Many villains out of shadows.

A few blogs ago I wrote Busting Through Writer’s Block  in order to share with all of you how I go about getting over writer’s block. I am in search of a good villain. My novels as of late are focused on the darkness of life and overcoming struggles more than having one person out to get them all. Many of my villains are also male, and I am wishing to find a female villain. Do you know how hard that is on a Thursday morning in suburbia? That is like taking Super Mom Sally and trying to twist her into Super Villain Sally.

One of ten people in the store, I eye each of them probably enough to figure out how to make them evil. All of them were smiling and polite to everyone they interacted with. (I might have hung around the coffee shop like I was waiting on another coffee). I wanted to find evil today.

The sweet looking school marm might be a villain. With her floor length flowered skirt and hair in a bun (I can’t make this up friends!), I try to solve if that sweetness is nothing but a cover for possible pencil smuggling. Maybe she steals library books. I know she can make kids cry. But that would hardly do for a plotting antagonist bent on stealing something from the hero.

A man walks in that looks like Lex Luthor. Way too cliché. But he gives me a nice smile and moves up to order his coffee which is hardly the drink of a villain. So I eye the workers. All of them are the nicest of workers still smiling and laughing as it is early in their shifts. None of that will do either. Where are the grumpy people bent on being miserable in life? I blame the perfect sunny day and the hour of morning.

With sad disappointment I leave the store with no good muse. Nothing caught my author’s eye. Then I consider it. What if I am the villain? Maybe that is why I did not see one in the store? I believe in a group there is always one villain. Which is why there should never be a group of odd-numbered people together. A villain will emerge that the others will like less in that moment.

Now I begin to wonder what would the story look like from the view of a villain? Surely I have been a dream crusher at some point. I am sure I am a villain to someone! Justification is all that changes me from hero to villain. So perhaps today I am a villain and I should be wary of the hero. Now, if I am the villain in need of education to turn my mind back to good. Go for it hero. Just come in a loincloth and look as handsome as I prefer.

“Both of them braced for it as she approached with a smirk on her full lips and rubbing her hand over her perfect caramel skin. She was tall and divine with curves and yet a trim waist. Layah wished she could polish up so well. “My tank is nearly freezing.” She began without preamble. “Instead of trying to suck up to Dr. Jones try actually working.” She drawled.”

– Wild, Bee 2018