#digitalkiddo writes

saving this for anyone writing villains, con artists, or morally complicated characters. stuff i've learned the hard way.

give them a logic that makes sense to THEM. your villain doesn't think they're the villain. they have a framework for why their actions are justified. figure out what it is.

2) let them be right about something. the scariest antagonists are the ones who see something true that the protagonist doesn't. give them one genuine insight.

3) give them a mundane habit. they make their bed every morning. they always order the same coffee. small details that make them a person instead of a plot device.

4) write the scene where they almost stop. every good antagonist has a moment where they could turn back. show it. then show why they don't.

5) research real people. not to copy them but to understand motivation. court transcripts, interviews, documentaries. real human behavior is weirder and more specific than anything you'd make up.

rules: answer for one (or more) of your OCs and tag people!

1. what's the con? (fake identity, forged documents, pyramid scheme, catfishing, art forgery, insurance fraud... get creative)

2. how long would they last before getting caught?

3. would they feel guilty about it?

4. what would be their fatal mistake?

5. bonus: who in your cast would be the first to figure them out?

i'll go first. Margaret from The Confidence Game would obviously run a real estate scam because that's literally what she does. she'd last years because she never stays in one city long enough to get caught. zero guilt. her fatal mistake would be going back to a city she already hit because she got sentimental. and the person who'd catch her? honestly probably herself.

Something I've learned writing about real scammers and con artists: the research IS the character work.

When you dig into how someone actually pulled off a con, you start to understand them. Not just what they did but why they thought it would work. What they believed about people. What they were afraid of.

The best villains aren't the ones you build from scratch. They're the ones you find in court documents and old newspaper archives and go "oh. oh no. I understand you."

stage one: this is fun, im making up a cool scam

stage two: wait this would actually work

stage three: okay i need to stop googling how to forge documents before someone puts me on a list

stage four: i now know more about wire fraud than most bankers

stage five: i am genuinely concerned about myself

stage six: anyway heres a 3k word chapter about a woman stealing an entire building

Happy Wednesday writeblr! Time for a follow train.

I feel like my corner of tumblr has been a little quiet lately and I want to find new people to scream about writing with. So here's the deal.

Reblog this post if you're a writeblr looking for new mutuals. Drop your genre and WIP name in the tags so people can find you.

I'll go first: I write crime fiction and literary fiction. My current WIP is The Confidence Game, a collection of interconnected short stories about con artists, forgers, and the people who believe them. Think identity, deception, trust, and what happens when the lies start feeling more real than the truth.

I'm always looking for writeblrs who post excerpts, do tag games, and actually talk about their writing process. Bonus points if you write morally grey characters or anything involving people who are very good at lying.

stage 1: they're the villain. they're terrible. i hate them.

stage 2: okay wait. they have a point actually.

stage 3: oh no. oh no i understand them now.

stage 4: they did nothing wrong actually and i will defend them with my life

stage 5: okay fine they did SOME things wrong but they had reasons

stage 6: i am now writing a 3000 word backstory that nobody asked for to justify everything they've ever done

me: I need to know what kind of briefcase a mid-level government employee would carry in 1997

me, four hours later: reading declassified FBI surveillance reports from a completely unrelated case because a footnote mentioned a leather goods store that was actually a money laundering front