Thursday, April 09, 2009

Nice Villains?

I got a late start this morning because when I woke up at what turned out to be my usual time, it was really dark, so I thought it was still night and went back to sleep. Instead, it was just very cloudy, which hadn't been forecast. That's the downside to using the sun as your alarm clock.

I'm still on a roll with organizing and getting things done. Generally, my enthusiasm for this sort of thing tends to wane quickly, but if I can keep it going long enough to become a habit, then maybe some of it will stick. Expect ongoing reports as a way of creating some accountability. I want to be able to report that I've done something, so that means I have to do something.

Then again, I do write fiction ...

It's Easter week, which is kind of busy with choir stuff. I have to sing for a service Friday night, but we're getting a bit of a break on Sunday. Normally, the choir has to sing for all three services on Easter (extra services to accommodate those who only come to church on Easter), but this year we don't have to do the 8 a.m. service (probably because quite often the choir outnumbers the congregation for that service). We only have to sing twice, and we aren't doing a lot of extra music. We had a funny moment at rehearsal last night when we learned that one of the pieces we're doing for Good Friday is one we did earlier this year, and most of us out of habit turned it in after that service, but no one knew where all the music went. That meant the people who had music had to share, so there were three of us reading one piece of music, and at one part that was just the men singing, the director jokingly said to pass the music over to the men. I hope they find the music before tomorrow night (though we sounded pretty good even without music).

On a totally unrelated note, under the "points to ponder" category ... why is it that every automated phone call I get comes at about five before the hour? Whether it's the church's phone tree or a telemarketer, the call always seems to come at the same time. I know that calls have to be going out constantly throughout the hour, but for me they always hit right at the point in any hour-long drama series where the resolution comes, or else they hit right at the end of the noon news when they give the five-day forecast. When I was getting caught up on NCIS, there were episodes I had to see several times before I really got the ending because every single time they were on, the phone rang right at the revelation of who the bad guy was and why he'd done it. I sense a conspiracy.

And now, off to work. I "met" one of my villains yesterday, and I'm afraid I like him. Not enough to not make him a villain. He's just that deceptively charming kind of villain who lulls you into lowering your defenses, and at this point, he has no ill will toward my main character. He only really becomes the villain when their goals clash and when the main character ends up siding with someone he is out to get. Still, it would be nice if I could bring myself to write someone truly awful, aside from maybe Mimi (and I think I managed that only because she was largely based on someone I really disliked. It's hard for me to create truly fictional people I don't like).

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