And a writing question for you

[feuervogel]

I'm plotting a superhero spy novel. Should I use villain-perspective scenes or not? Would it add to or decrease the suspense?

There's one thing that I think would heighten the suspense for the reader, because it shows they're barking up the wrong tree and also [spoiler], but villain-perspective scenes can mess things up if done badly.

Your thoughts?

Comments

[twistedchick]

Unless the entire thing is villain-perspective, I wouldn't do it. It is too easy to mess up, and done successfully only rarely.

[feuervogel]

I think I'm mostly worried that I won't have enough words to be a novel. I was thinking only one or two scenes, though one of them could just as easily be relayed through a non-villain character. But it gives the villain's motivation, so I don't know. I'll see what happens as I make the outline...

[anthimeria]

First of all, superhero spy novel?! Can I help? Please? I love superheroes and more people writing awesome superhero stories makes me happy. Though I have Opinions about superhero-related things and thus you may have to occasionally tune me out.

But superheroes are pretty much my favorite genre.

As for the supervillain-POV-scenes, I would say, try it and find out. I had them in a few drafts of Skywatch and ended up scrapping them mostly because they were too cliche, but done well for the right story, they could be brilliant.

According to my intro to film class, Hitchcock described tension as the audience knowing something the characters don't--like, there's a bomb under the table, there's a ninja in the chandelier, etc. In my experience, that works best for scenes, not plots (because obviously while you have to play fair with the reader, they also can't know everything or why would we bother writing?). So write up your plot and see if having villain-POV increases or decreases tension, and then go with the option that increases tension.

Er, sorry about the length of this comment. I'm a little talkative this evening.

[feuervogel]

I've got some character sketches posted under lock, if you want to see them :)

(If you like superhero stories, have you read the Extrahumans series? There's 3 books right now, and she's working on the 4th I think.)

There's a thing I want the audience to know that I don't want the characters to know (at first; they'll learn it about halfway through), and it's also kind of a ... not really a fake-out, but an "oh there's more than one? what if there's Even More?" thing. (Once I get the synopsis written, I'll post it under lock here. Then I'll make a scene by scene outline, because that was fairly useful in the short story I wrote last month when I tried outlining the Mary way. And hopefully it'll keep me from writing myself into a corner.)

[anthimeria]

The Extrahumans series has been on my to-read list for a while. I unfortunately have no disposable income at the moment.

I went back and read your character-backgrounds, and while I can see the worldbuilding you're doing, and I like it, the characters are--well, everyone seems to agree to everything so quickly! I get that these are not actual scenes, just enough to let you know how they joined up, but except for Christine (she wanted to meet other parahumans), I can't tell WHY they make the choices they make.

Martin shows no evidence of wanting to get rid of the Soviets before these foreigners ask him to spy for them--and what does he care about the Soviets, anyway? He doesn't live there. If he, independent of the CIA, wants to get rid of the Soviets to protect his family, and agrees to spy because of that, it makes much more sense and gives his character that wanting-something that's so necessary. Matthew might want to get out of his situation, but it's not clear in the background, and Richard needs something other than doing his job well, something personal--or at least, a personal reason for 'doing his job well' to be his main motivation.

Also, just a nit-picky thing, I would change either Matthew or Martin's name--two characters with names that start with MA are confused me. Also, Robertson and Richard, especially if they're agents who are going to be referred to by their surnames regularly. Mielke is different enough that it's fine.

So, er, I hope that helped? On to the synopsis!

[feuervogel]

Yeah, I wasn't going to write a novel of backstory for these. I don't have time for that. Realistically, recruiting a locally based agent would take weeks or even months, from befriending to sussing them out to asking them to get information for you. The CIA, at least when Dulles was director, because I'm reading his book, preferred to get local agents whenever possible, and they'd find someone who had the right access. Martin grew up in the East, and his family is still there, so he goes back to visit regularly (until August 1961, when they stopped letting Berliners cross the border at all), which is reason enough for the CIA to be interested. They wanted real information about what life was like in the Soviet sector, and he could easily do that. They also wanted to keep an eye on him.

I can't change Erich Mielke's name.

[annathepiper]

I'd say, if there's information that helps tell the story you want to tell, and if that information is best conveyed in a scene from a villain's POV, then go for it. You can always try it in the first draft and if it winds up not working, cut those scenes or change them.

I tend to find that villain POV scenes work better for me though if they aren't just glimpses--if there is enough material there to convey character development and to show their side of the story. In suspense novels I've read where villain POV is only briefly glimpsed, where in fact the goal is only to show me just enough information to indicate that Something Is Happening That the Protagonists Do Not Know About, that doesn't work for me as well. In those scenarios there's more of a risk of a villain's POV just being there to serve the purpose of Look How Evil the Bad Guys Are Being!

But if you actually spend enough POV time with the villains that they get a chance to be actively interesting characters, that's way cooler. And really, if you're going to write superhero spies, that pretty much demands equally awesome supervillains. ;D

[feuervogel]

I'm trying *really hard* not to turn this into the X-Men and make Mielke into Magneto (though he's got Xavier's superpower *cough*spoiler*cough*).

I feel like I should show what Mielke's doing and why and what terrible luck he's having (and also that afa he knows, the KGB doesn't know about it, because Russia is REALLY BIG did you see that story about the family that lived in the woods undetected for like 40 years? So imagine there's someone with superpowers who goes into hiding in remote somewhere or other. It'd be hard to find them. And also Russia is REALLY BIG.) But I'm kind of squeamish about humanizing him (the softer, cuddlier Stasi), because he was a right bastard. I don't want to have a 100% evil villain (even Hitler wasn't 100% evil), but the Stasi is a pretty sensitive subject.

All this is to say I have no idea!