As a writer of fiction, my work
predominantly consists of creating distinctive characters that move
my story forward. There’s the hero, the conventional sidekicks, the
supporting characters and the villains who keep posing obstacles in
everyone’s path. Each one must be different from the other.
While it’s easier to write about the
hero struggling to come to terms with her destiny and the
circumstances that will lead her to it, the problem always comes to
writing the part of the villain. Here’s the thing: as humans, we
all have something or the other going on, something that makes us
fall and then get up again. Writing a character similar to us and
making them heroes in a way is the easy part, it is when you have to
write someone who is dissimilar to you is when the problem begins.
When Stephen Kind wrote ‘Rose Madder’
he was able to create a character like Norman- an abusive husband and
a demented man- so convincingly that it was eerie. I had actual
goosebumps when I read the story because I had yet to learn that such
people existed and could be a threat to innocents. I knew I could
never write a character like Norman with as much clarity as Stephen
King did. Any degenerate villain I would write in any of my stories
would be slightly inspired by Norman.
For me writing a character like Norman
would also be disturbing since I would have to think like a person
whose only thoughts would be about gaining control and making people
do as he said. He would want to use violence and he would regard the
whole world as something he could manipulate.
He was a person with so much hatred
that it was scary and I hoped that people with these characteristics
only existed in the pages of books that could be closed and stowed
away in bookshelves.
So it is absolutely heartbreaking when
you find out that these people exist in real life and use violence
and fear to manipulate people. And for what? I would never be able to
understand how the killing of innocents will ever achieve anything.
Is it the intention of terrorists to
destroy the world and rule over the ruins?
Their purposes can never be understood
and perhaps I do not want to know what goes in the mind of people who
spread only hatred. The media labels their acts as ‘cowardly’ but
I believe their acts are that of ignorance, for they live in delusion
that their deeds are nonpunishable and ‘good’. But most
importantly, they feel like they are achieving greatness for their
cause and this excuses their savage activities.
These people spread hate and when they
cause destruction, they confuse the people and make them question and
suspect people that do not belong to their beliefs and culture, thus
causing division.
Hopefully there will come a day, when
hate and intolerance will be expelled from this world. Until then,
I'm just praying for the world.
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