villain

Writing a Villian You Love

A good friend once asked me who my favorite literary character was and why. I immediately responded with Mary Katherine (Merricat) Blackwood from We Have Always Lived in the Castle. As I described Merricat—destructive, chaotic, manipulative—my friend interrupted to ask why I liked her. Clearly someone with so many negative qualities was the villain of… Read more »

How Mirror Characters Can Illustrate Literary Themes

Stories often feature characters who share traits or functions but use them in opposite ways. Think about Frodo Baggins and Gollum, Harry Potter and Voldemort, or Marianne and Elinor Dashwood. The characters in each pair reflect one another’s similarities while contrasting their differences in approaching those similarities. These pairs are known as “mirror characters” –… Read more »