A Villian's Motive

In my struggle to understand the villian of the story I found a great website that is helping me get a better grip on the villians in the Remmington Pirates books.

Here are my notes on VILLIAN MOTIVATION:

“Good villains think their actions are justified. They think they’re doing what’s right.” (Mike Shea)

FIGHTING FOR THE PACK – fighting for the flag, the religion, skin colour, the tribe, the empire, undead might for death against life – Their way is the RIGHT way, the ONLY way and will fight to the death over it.

THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS – we build laws around ideals. Sometimes, in order to protect those laws, we must break them. – Sometimes we must do evil in order to protect good, which is the flawed philosophy of many villains – Consider the wizard must call on the undead and make pacts with evil to save his city – Consider the paladin who must slay a child prophesied to open up the gates of hell – Consider the lover who must use any power he can to bring back his lost love. – The end justifies the means and drives good people to perform evil deeds.

WANTING TO SEE THE WORLD BURN – Sometimes the world has become so twisted, so broken, that only a clean slate will save it. – Like the forest fires that feed the future lives of the Sequoia tree, sometimes the only way to bring new life to a world is to the world burn. – Perhaps it is the furthest form of vengeance, where all life must pay for a single horrible incident.

ROMANCE – villains frequently have ulterior motives – like marrying to steal the nuclear power plant she inherited – improper means (like sabotaging rivals) – OR true romances  

REVENGE – a villain getting back at the love interest that rejected him – revenge might be heroic if the crime is particularly heinous and/or the regular authorities are not willing or able to resolve the situation – it might be villainous if the character is overreacting or not being careful enough about hitting only the people responsible. – It’s more interesting if the revenge develops into something more than just killing/stopping people A, B, and C.

TO DISTINGUISH ONESELF – it depends on why the character wants to distinguish himself – being true to yourself, unless being true to yourself involves physically decapitating people and sucking out their brains.

TO FIT IN/GAIN ACCEPTANCE – wants to impress someone and/or people

JUSTICE – is like revenge, but usually less lethal and targeted more carefully against the perpetrators. Nonetheless, justice can sometimes be villainous (like the main goal of the robot antagonist in "I Robot" is to prevent humans from getting hurt, and they think that putting human under house arrest is the most logical way to do so.)

GREED – maybe the character is hoarding something (money, power, remote-control ninja stars) on behalf of somebody else. – let antiheroes go all the way in being greedy

FEAR – maybe Lex Luthor is correct that Superman will eventually turn on us – fearful villains/heroes usually perceive threats that are current rather than potential, but they may be paranoid wrecks anyway.

DESPERATION – a desperate character can’t back away from the plot. He can’t escape the conflict. (While a greedy character is usually driven by stupidity – stupidity is the only reason he can’t be satisfied with what he has)

SOCIAL COHESION – means keeping the family together, or significant racial group or class-based conflict (like X-Men)

A DESIRE TO BETTER ONESELF – depending what character is trying to change about himself – Here’s a thought for your hero, is he trying to change anything about himself besides becoming more powerful? What about the villain? – the villain’s desire for self-improvement or self-advancement more sinisterly could get other people hurt

A DESIRE TO BETTER HUMANITY AND/OR SOCIETY – altruistic villain – unselfish – belief in acting for others’ good

CURIOSITY/SEARCH FOR KNOWLEDGE – a hero searching for understanding may be an amnesiac, some sort of wanderer – a villain is probably uncovering secrets better left untouched, although his intensions may have been pure – an eventual villain might go on an innocuous search for understanding but come away with exactly the wrong lessons from life.

A DESIRE TO GAIN POWER TO ACHIEVE A GOAL – like the villain is a time-traveller that knows of a some grave threat, so he’s trying to take over the world because he’s the only one that knows how to avert disaster. If alien invasion starts in 20 years, he doesn’t have very much time to unite the Earth (A sequel would be hero stops the villain at end of book but discovers he has to defeat impending alien invasion.)

TO ESCAPE ONE’S DESTINY – a super-villain is usually born into a decidedly mundane and powerless family – another type of escaping destiny is fighting with one’s parents and/or dealing with stereotypes

TO ACHIEVE ONE’S DESTINY –the villain might be born under a rare astrological sign, the subject of a great prophecy, the heir to an ancient and illustrious organization, etc.

What Actors and Actresses are Saying About Their Characters and Other Characters

In my search to understand characters and what makes them do the things they do and what makes them them, I watched interviews of actors and actresses on youtube talking about their characters and their fellow characters. They said some very insightful things, so I took some notes...and this is what I got:

Thor – strong and powerful physically – in Avengers his noble, warrior trait is tested, his brother or his new team, his family or civilization

Iron man – the battle of wits and strategy and tactic –he realizes that “we” is better than “I” – he’s a tough guy and has general-ship – a funny, quirky kind of a guy, he’s straight-shooter

Hulk – you have anger management to contend with – he looks up to Tony Stark, because they’re both scientists that experimented on themselves, while Tony is looked up to and wanted, Bruce Banner is hunted and haunted

Captain America – is good for the sake of good – he is like a parent, trying to look out for people, he throws himself into it – is a little sad about his responsibility like the Hulk and both are brought to a place they don’t want to be

Loki – motivation to gain absolute respect through power – is a god of mischief – he knows who he is, he knows what he wants, he doesn’t need his family anymore, he doesn’t need his father or brother – he’s given way to his darker instinct – he’s born and told he “was always born to rule” he is desperate for an identity because he will never Odenheim or Asgard, so he wants to fashion earth into his own kingdom

Morgana – in the beginning she is a genuine person and felt like she had to play a role as being a good princess and then finds out that she’s denied by her real father and her magic she knows magic is forbidden – she gets an idea in her head and runs with it – so at first her fighting was about being accepted for being magical – then it’s about revenge, she wants everybody to feel what she’s felt, because she was imprisoned and tortured for two years – she has difficulties with Gwen being queen, because that’s her birthright which is a small goal – her overall goal is revenge – she’s thinking of revenge but mostly she’s thinking about herself and people like her with magic, she wants everything to be all right for them, but she’s so angry and so hurt and damaged by wants been done to her – she uses people to her own end – she still loves the people she’s had relationships with but she can’t deal with it anymore

King Uther – he rules out of fear of magic – is single-minded and dark-minded, both fight for what they believe, they believe they are doing what is right, and making the hard choices for the greater good just like Morgana

Merlin – chooses to help certain people and not, like Morgana when Morgana starts to realize who she is, a magical person – everything little thing he does sort of leads characters down a path like he

Arthur – he needs Merlin to be a good king

Kazaam, Prince Dastan’s Uncle – he is corroded with envy and regret

Angelica Teach – is trying to save her father’s soul

Pirates (from one of the Pirates of the Caribbean interviews) (one of the actors or actresses said) - pirates are manipulative and dangerous

Captain Barbossa – is annoyed with how Captain Jack Sparrow finds himself in some sort of a trap and always manages to get out of it.

Quoting...

Hannah's WW # 4

Hi Warriors! I've been thinking, maybe I'll just post one workout a week (give me more time to do my priority stuff, if 'n ye knows what I mean?)

So Warrior Workout #4

DO 3-4 Rounds (and if you are short on time do 1-2 Rounds) - Do whatever works best for you!

5 Burpee
10 reps (each leg) Single Legged Lunge Jump with back foot resting on a chair
10 Push-Ups
30 reps (each leg) Mountain Climbers (bring each knee up to head 30x)
20 reps Sumo Squats
60 sec. Jump Rope

Modified Versions Here: (Which ever is most challenging for you that you can actually do)

Burpee - Take out the push up (and just do a high plank)
            - OR do push-up on the knees
            - OR eliminate the jump (and just stand up)
            - OR eliminate the hopping feet (just walk feet out when going into plank then walk feet back to your head when going to stand or jump up)

Single Legged Lunge Jump - don't lower self down so much before jumping off the ground

Push-up - don't go all the way to almost touching the ground
              - OR do push-up on knees

Mountain Climbers - instead of sliding or jumping feet towards head, simply do slow steps

Sumo Squats - don't need to modify, they're already easy, but if they're still hard pause during, between reps (like do 5 reps then pause for a bit then do 5 reps then pause then 5 reps then pause...repeat till 20 reps total)

Jump Rope



    MY TIME:
On March 3, 2013 was 3 Rounds = 17 min.
On April 8, 2013 was 4 Rounds = 13 min.


 

Interesting Historical Facts of Early Modern England

These past months I've been doing a lot of research for the Remmington Pirate Series. Want to know some of what I've found?

Well, first, Early Modern is considered by most historians the time basically around 16th, 17th and 18th century. The Remmington Pirate Series is set in early 18th century.

So! Did you know...

"A variety of entertainment was introduced in the 16th century, like ballet, masque, intermezzi and opera."


Did you know...
"Ladies were looked down upon to marry someone beneath her."

Did you know in late 17th Coffeehouses were introduced for men to socialize and in the 18th century also read the newspaper? This was also the place men of marriageable ages would sit and nonchalantly look out the window in hopes of seeing someone they knew and get introduced to someone who may know a marriageable lady.
       There was also a place for ladies to sit and do the same, but I don't recall what that's called unfortunately.

Did you know that elite ladies were not without a man-servant and a maid to carry heavy things and deliver letters and do other things for them?

Did you know that Unmarried ladies between ages 17-21 were at the ripe and perfect age to get married during the 18th century? Their families also wanted to them well married off, so their daughter's husband could take care of them.

Did you know that unmarried ladies always had a chaperone? The only time they were without a chaperone was when they were dancing, which also the only time they got to be really close to men (and the only time marriageable men could really close to ladies).

Did you know that ladies and gentlemen (I know ladies are for certain, but uncertain about how strict with men) could only meet a stranger by being properly introduced by someone they both know?

Common Question 4

Common Questions 4

Sorry it's so late! But as promised another common question I get asked about The Remmington Pirate series is:

"Where did the idea come from for the book?"

     Well, back in 2009, when I had finished reading some pirate books by Marylu Tyndall and still in love with Pirates of the Caribbean movies, ;) I hungered for more pirate adventure stories set between 17^th and 18^th century, but I could NOT find any!

      So one day, driving to my best friend’s house after college classes to meet her family and my family there to then go to Tae Kwon Do classes after supper, I got an idea for a character. A country girl just had an argument with her father (and mother) and was dashing out of the house with frustration, because she wanted to go stay with her rebellious Uncle but was not allowed.  

Encounterment with the Royal Navy

       And then, driving closer to my friend’s house, I thought why not turn it to a pirate story? And a trilogy? And I got to thinking of my friend and sister and then thought, why not make it about three girls? I never find any stories about three girls. So when I got to my friend’s house I told them and we were all excited and spouting out ideas for names and the guys the girls would fall in love with, what they would be like, and Voila! My Remmington Pirate Series was born!

Favourite Scenes from one of my favourite movies: "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl"