Years ago, I loved acting in plays. I loved stepping into someone else’s shoes, trying on their personality for a while, speaking how they would speak, moving as they would move. I am a fairly calm and peaceful person, but quite honestly, the more enjoyable parts to play were the villains. It is exciting to be fierce and angry, to seethe with fury.

Thankfully, I haven’t gone over to the dark side – taking these evil personas for my own. But as a writer it is fun to unleash the anger that sometimes boils within us, that we refuse to let out until it is only the smallest bit of steam.

I’m not sure what this says about me as a person. I don’t believe that I crave a Mr. Hyde to take over my Dr. Jekyll-ish self. After all, my main book characters, while flawed, are never villains. I believe it actually explains why I write. Sometimes it helps to get the anger out, to say those things I sometimes think but would never utter. What better way to deal with such words and thoughts than to give them to a villain, to give them away.