Crunch Time & Writing Villainy

Writing Progress

A week and a day until I send off The Mark of Thieves for editing! Aaaaah!

(Also aaah! — remember that time I finished The Queen of Lies [finallyyyyyyy] and launched my newsletter? Wheeeeee!)

Send good vibes, friends — I may need them. And why's that? Well, I'm on the final chapter that needs to be actually written. (Remember that time I skipped writing four chapters for . . . reasons? sigh.) That's good news, right? However . . .

Image ID: A screenshot from the Kindle app showing that 715 annotations to be dealt with.

(Ignore the Chapter 1 thing. I was lazy when I exported my Scrivener doc to an ebook to annotate, so it's all just one big chapter.)

What's crazy is that those 715 remaining highlights are all just from the end of the book (Chapters 28-35). I guess I found a lot of stuff that needs fixing in the confrontation-cliffhanger. 😅 Oops, did I say cliffhanger? I mean resolution. Yeah. Resolution.

Okay, so, a week to finish writing one last chapter and go through 715 annotations of typos, awkward bits, and things to cut. I can do it. Totally.

(Send caffeine.)

Baden Hatchett's Dark Night of the Soul

I kept procrastinating on this particular chapter — a new version of an event from TPOT, told from a different POV and with very little actual similarity to the original except the end revelation, where Baden Hatchett learns a crucial piece of information. My main reason for procrastinating was simple — and highly embarrassing.

I really didn't know what to write.

Once I committed (mentally) to letting go the sequence of events from TPOT, I found myself at a loss for what to replace it with. So I got to Colette's last POV chapter, which I severely escalated in action and tension, and while I knew I wanted to give the same treatment to THIS chapter, I still didn't know what to do.

Procrastination struck: Just move it. Aka — deal with it later.

Putting it off yet again, it turns, was exactly what the book — and this infernal chapter — needed.

Do you know your story beats? My favourite ones, you won't be surprised to learn, are the angsty ones: Save the Cat's All is Lost >> Dark Night of the Soul (or Disaster >> Dark Moment, if you prefer 3-Act Structure).

This chapter is Hatchett's Dark Night of the Soul.

Thanks to [spoilers], he's at his lowest. He's been humiliated and betrayed. He's irrational, angry, reactionary, unstable. By the end of the chapter, he'll take one more blow.

But.

But.

That last blow is going to propel him into the headspace I need him to be in as we Break into 3. He's going to make the leap from antagonist to straight-up villain. From loose hinges to utterly unhinged.

screams in nerdy author satisfaction

Creating a Worthy Villain

As I prepared myself to write the last chapter from Hatchett's POV, I reflected on my efforts throughout the manuscript to make him a compelling antagonist. What makes an interesting villain? I think most people will have their own answers. For me, it boils down to a few things. So here's why I think Constable Baden Hatchett is a strong antagonist.

• Hypocrisy: if hypocrisy is defined by Oxford Languages as "the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own [behaviour] does not conform," then Hatchett's got it down pat. He hates criminals, but does immoral things. He despises Will for being violent and defiant, but gets physical and breaks rules when it suits him. He sees his own humanity and the humanity of other police officers in spite of their moral shortcomings, but can't extend that same grace to Will, Bree, and the rest.

• Denial: Remember when I got all Freudian with Jamie? Here's another instance. Hatchett spends most of TMOT vehemently insisting he doesn't give a damn about Bree and their past. He doesn't care what happens to her. He doesn't have residual feelings. He's only using her. So on, and so forth. But how long can a guy keep lying to himself? And what's going to make him see his own truth?

• Misogyny/toxic masculinity, victim-blaming, and a hint of gaslighting: Bree, obviously, takes the brunt of these ones, although you could argue that Will gets a little bit of the latter ones, too. Undeniably, Hatchett's been hurt — Bree ran away from him, after all, and that stung, you know? Hit him right in his pride. So is it any wonder he doesn't have the highest opinion of women? It's her fault. Speaking of things being her fault, all the shit that happens to her? She totally brings it on herself. What other choice does he have? She deserves it.

• Pride: Oh, this one goes without saying. He has a reputation to uphold. He wants to be respected. He wants to be feared. And he hates when he doesn't get what he wants.

Snippet

We're doing something different today in honour of Hatchett's last POV chapter. Enjoy!

(Don't be surprised if these show up on Instagram at some point.)

Examples of denial and hypocrisy in Baden Hatchett lines.

Examples of victim-blaming.

Examples of toxic masculinity.

That's it for this week, folks. Wish me luck with my deadline — and good luck to you in all your endeavours, too!

***

Image IDs

I'm really having a hard time with adding the alt text on the second two images (Wix keeps crashing) so I'm adding the lines from the pictures below!

Pic 1 - denial & hypocrisy

Sometimes, it seems, even brutes have a smidgeon of humanity within.

I note with triumph that … a rough, grey shirt now hides the boy’s bare skin … which [was] on full, shameless display before. I care not for the fox-thief’s comfort or lack thereof, but I suppose it wouldn’t do to have him freezing to death before I pry from him all of Iustitia Aecum’s secrets.

Pic 2 - victim blaming

She has the audacity to look astonished when I give her a well-earned slap for her disrespect.

“You gave me no choice. You brought it upon yourself, and you know it. Perhaps if you hadn’t insisted on acting like a madwoman in front of everyone, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Pic 3 - toxic masculinity

Now, we’re both trapped. If he goes back on his word, he’ll look weak in front of everyone.

“Get her out of here,” I growl at the owner. “This is no place for a woman.” Overly emotional and soft-hearted, they are, and as deceitful as they are fickle.