This week I’ve been figuring out my villains. I’ve known a long time about my Big Bad, but the Big Bad has henchpeople, and they were kind of vague for me. I knew their general profession and demographics, but they had not yet differentiated into individuals with distinct reasons and levels of intensity to their malfeasance. (Older Kid’s favorite word right now is malfeasant, so its variation are slipping into everything I write.) It’s still coming clear how many henchpeople there are, and which ones are still alive by the time we meet them. As a fantasy reader, I’m most excited about the fantasy element that’s coming into focus along with them: bonus monsters!
Or maybe they’re essential monsters, and they only feel like a surprise gift from the book because they’re new to me.