What Cats Think About Heroes & Villains | IWSG

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is a place to share and encourage, where writers can express their doubts and concerns without appearing foolish or weak. It's a great place to mingle with like minded people each month during IWSG day.

Every month there's an optional question which may prompt folks to share advice, insights, a personal experience or story. Some folks answer the question in their IWSG blog post or let it inspire them if they're struggling with what to say.

This month's question is:

"Whose perspective do you like to write from the best--the hero (protagonist) or the villain (antagonist)? Why?"

Check out how people have answered this month's question, as well as the other insecurities and writing topics they may have shared by visiting the IWSG sign-up list here. You can see how I answered the question below. 

Editor's Note: I'm knee-deep in editing the latest installment in my cozy mystery series, so Simon the Time Traveling Cat volunteered to take over the blog and answer this month's IWSG question. Okay, okay. He didn't really "volunteer"--but the threat of a visit to the vet for shots and cutting off his supply of full-fat milk seemed to have motivated him to help out. So, without further ado, I'll turn things over to Simon.

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This is ridiculous. Whoever heard of a cat answering questions about writing? It's not like we have opposable thumbs and can type on a keyboard or use a pen. Sure, I like knocking pens off of the table but writing with one, that's a different story. She set me up with some dictation device. Stupid technology.

By the way, I just coughed up a hairball on my human's pillow. That'll teach her to threaten me with the vet.

Hang on a second. That stupid lady is calling me. Normally, I'd ignore her, but she said something about catnip.

I'm back. For some reason, I'm feeling really relaxed. Maybe writing this blog post isn't such a bad idea after all.

Let's see, where were we. Oh, yeah. The human likes to write from the hero's perspective cause she writes in first person. How come no one ever writes in first cat? Why is everything so human-centric? First person, third person--enough with the person things.

I heard her tell the other human that lives with us--the tall one that sneaks me cat treats when the other human isn't looking--that she likes first person because it puts the reader in the narrator's head. Why would anyone want to be in Mollie McGhie's head? That's the hero of her cozy mysteries, by the way. She's a silly lady. Always going on and on about chocolate and murder investigations.

If it was me, I'd write the whole thing from the cat's perspective. Her name is Mrs. Moto and she's the real star of the series and way more interesting than Mollie. Without a doubt she'd be far better at describing the villains of the stories. By the way, it's always the dog that did it.

Okay. I met the stupid word count goal she set for me. Time for a nap, then a saucer of full-fat milk. Maybe some more of that catnip too.

Do you ever secretly root for the villain? Who's your favorite villain in a book, TV show, or movie?

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