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Anthony Horowitz has written an article for the Daily Mail on Villans and political correctness at this link:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=459926&in_page_id=1770
It's mainly aimed at children's fiction, but I think there are points there for the rest of us too.
I've just read it. It doesn't leave us much to work with that won't offend at least one of the pressure groups. Perhaps the answer is to stick to historical fiction, then we can cite less enlightened attitudes in the past.
I think that it acts as a warning against writing two dimensional characters. That it is no longer acceptable for someone to do a bad thing just because they are Muslim, or Russian etc that a motive should go deeper, more psychological. Give a them a backstory that would explain why they do these things.
I know when I first started writing my novel, my villian's motive for kidnap was so weak I can't even remember it now(!), but now he is the father of a boy who has been killed by a convicted Paedophile, and is wreaking revenge against the Politicians and Judges that failed to send his son's killer to prison.
What I think it means is the days of the James Bond villian are gone.
Comments
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=459926&in_page_id=1770
It's mainly aimed at children's fiction, but I think there are points there for the rest of us too.
I know when I first started writing my novel, my villian's motive for kidnap was so weak I can't even remember it now(!), but now he is the father of a boy who has been killed by a convicted Paedophile, and is wreaking revenge against the Politicians and Judges that failed to send his son's killer to prison.
What I think it means is the days of the James Bond villian are gone.