What does it take to be a villainous, evil mastermind? More than you might think! For, as Caitlin Rozakis points out in this Big Idea for Dreadful, there’s a reason for the look and presentation of The Dark Side, one that feels surprisingly… modern.
CAITLIN ROZAKIS:
Like most books, Dreadful is about a lot of things. Amnesiac wizards, the nature of evil, second chances, whether some things can never be forgiven, toxic masculinity, the unfathomable power of garlic, moat squid. As one does.
But I’m a marketer by trade (at the moment, I’ve done a lot of things), which is why it’s also about one more thing: branding.
These days, as writers–heck, as anyone–we’re all encouraged to create and maintain a personal brand. We’re supposed to come up with a neat little easily-digestible package that will help people quickly wrap their heads around what we do and what we represent. Better people than me have dissected this to death–whether it’s healthy, whether it’s fair. But we still do it even though we’re all pretty sure it’s both unhealthy and unfair, because it works. Playing the branding game well can open doors that raw talent often doesn’t.
This is going to sound like a topic shift, but it isn’t–we’re all familiar with the trope of the evil overlord. It’s like there’s a starter kit for poorly conceived villains. Black robes, skeleton decor, lots of guttering torches. Nasty brutish minions, leering and lascivious carvings on the furniture. Isolated castle, downtrodden peasants. Probably some bats around somewhere. The tropes have multiplied and parodied themselves for decades at this point. There was even a delightful list that went around the more text-oriented Internet of the late 90s called “The Top 100 Things I’d Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord” that consisted entirely of common sense rules for avoiding the kinds of stupid mistakes sword-and-sorcery or James Bond villains kept making. So why would villains continue to make such stereotypical choices, especially given the price of black velvet and the difficulty in maintaining it around bubbling potions and bloody sacrifices?
Branding…
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Source: The Big Idea: Caitlin Rozakis
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