I’m currently taking an online course on serial killers given by one of the RWA chapters. Frankly, so far, they haven’t discussed anything I didn’t already know. Well, what do you want for $25? Besides, I’ve already done extensive research on my own so I’m no newbie. I’ve even had some experience with real-live whack jobs, so I know ‘em when I see ‘em. But what I’m finding interesting is the discussion on how these folks come into being. My take is that, like greatness, some folks are born to it, some are made and some have killing trust upon them.
The easiest to comprehend is the last. Some regular guy or girl has to defend themselves, their loved ones or their property and takes a life in the process. Facing such a dilemma we all have the capacity to kill.
Comprehensible to is the made killer, to some extent. The man or woman who was abused, neglected, or otherwise deprived psychologically of the right socializing influences. They know no remorse, no conscience, no compassion, no understanding. As the saying goes, they’d cut you as soon as look at you. You may not like what they are, but you can see where it came from.
Then there’s my least favorite–those folks whose warpedness seems to have no genesis. Their wiring must be screwy since nothing in their background explains why they behave as they do. The “just plain crazy killer.” I hate this guy, partly because I want my villains to make sense, both in real life and in fiction. I want to be able to say this crazy mo fo is crazy cause of X and Y, and I don’t mean his faulty chromosomes. I know there are folks who love this just plain crazy guy, but I don’t.
In fact, I’m reading Allison Brennan’s Killing Fear right now, which has a “just plain crazy” villain. Even though this is the first book I’ve read by her, I can say I like her work (though her heroine in this one suffers from what I call Pretty, pretty princess disease). Her villain is nasty enough to overcome any of my misgivings about his origins as a bad guy.
So I ask you, what kind of villains do you prefer–the crazies you can figure out or the ones nature made that way? Do you prefer nature as an explanation or nurture? Who’s your favorite fictional killer? The creepiest? Who made you sleep with the lights on? Do tell!
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