Of Method and Madness...and Bad Guys.

So I'm stuck.

I'm at a critical point in my plotting process, a must-happen series of events, otherwise the rest of the project won't have the necessary impact later on as events unfurl. And I'm stuck.

Not that I'm lost. I know what I need to have happen, it's all up there in my head, waiting. The thing is, the events are being carried out by my antagonist. And he's a very bad man. Evil, really. And it's some very bad stuff that he's doing. Irredeemable things. Things that make my skin crawl. I'm dragging my feet because I don't want to climb into his dark little skull.

The adage "write what you know" usually doesn't fail me. I mean, I may not know exactly what it's like to find myself on a international search for the one thing that is going to save all mankind, but looking for my wallet or keys can sometimes feel tantamount. :) Seriously, though, most things in the human emotion and experience gamut can be applied to most of the things I write. Most everyone can identify with love, loss, joy, sorrow, anger, etc. Even the little not-so-nice things people do (lie, steal, cheat) can be relate-able. But this is a point of view that is completely outside normal.

The one and only time I've had exposure to a person remotely close to what my antagonist is like was a very uncomfortable and frightening experience. The thought of purposely thinking in a similar manner leaves me a bit uneasy. Hmm, maybe I'll just bust out a copy of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and hope for the best.

Oh, well. I guess that's the price to pay for a good story. Now I just need to treat this like a band-aid: grip it and rip it. :)