Villain Monologues

[JT Woody]

Too old fashioned?
is it necessary?
exponsition-y?


Im struggling with this. I am at the scene where the villain has killed 2 on-the-page. She is goin on an unhinged rant to the FMC (a rant that ties all the strange happenings throughout the novel together).
All this as her justification for killing the FMC.

you might say, "why does the FMC wait around for all that? why not just run in the middle of it?" (this is my thinking for every tv series, movie, and novel that has a villain monologue/rant)
the FMC notices that one of the people the villain stabbed is still alive and the she doesnt want her to see him and "double tap" him.


But yeah... i need a way for the villain to ADMIT what she did. Not only so the FMC hears it, but the dude who is not-dead to hear and tell someone a lot later. (spoiler...)

 

[CatrionaGrace]

Maybe neither victim is quite dead. One of them has the sense to play dead while the other witlessly begs the villain for mercy. The villain can rant at the begger about the wheres and whys of the crime before offing the begger once and for all and leaving them both for dead.

 

[Stuart Dren]

Well villains tend to have a pretty strong ego. One reason for admitting her actions would be an attempt to justify. After all, she's been rationalising it to herself the whole time. Any other 'reasonable' person would surely understand why she had to do what she did if only she explained herself.

Sticking with ego, the FMC could provoke this confession by either intentionally or unintentionally getting something wrong in a short accusation.
"You killed Pamela because you wanted Dr. Pomello all to yourself."
"Who do you take me for, doe-eyeing that disaster of a man?"

Too old fashioned?
is it necessary?
exponsition-y?

Eh, some of our most loved parts of stories can be criticized that way. It's okay to leave some fun in. It will just take some extra work adding plausibility to the scene is all, unless of course you'd rather subvert the confession trope.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

I'm not a big fan of "villain obligingly spills all" scenarios uness it's part of a deliberate send-up or recreation of classic whodunits.

 

[Rigor Mortis]

My favourite villian monologue:

 

[Banespawn]

How much of this does the FMC already know? How much does the guy who survives already know?

It seems like the FMC, at least, should be able to put enough clues together to guess most of it by this point. The reader as well should be able to piece some things together. It's hard to judge, though, without knowing all the particulars.

I'd be inclined to keep it as short as possible. Maybe add in a bit of back and forth with the FMC so it's not a solid paragraph or more of the villain laying out her plan. And if the FMC has figured out some of this stuff on her own, you could put those revelations in her head instead of having the villain say them aloud. I know you want the guy to hear it, but maybe the FMC can tell him after. If that doesn't work, then the FMC can accuse the villain of those things. That way, the villain doesn't have to explain it, just confirm it.

 

[JT Woody]

How much of this does the FMC already know? How much does the guy who survives already know?

FMC suspects a little of it.

Things that have happened:

• Animal attacks (resulting in death)
• Poisonings (resulting in deaths including villains grandmother)
• The villains BF found dead (FMC suspects murder)
• FMC's brother figure goes missing
• FMC finds the remains of a long dead guy with the same wounds as the dead BF
• FMC has the same wound on the back of her head and a gap in her memory (she originally suspects someone else of hurting her as a child)

By this point, the FMC has only accused her of attempted murder by poison and making ther brother disappear.



The guy who survives knows nothing. He, like all the other villagers, thi k the FMC has brought a curse on them all and thats why people are dying.

 

[JT Woody]

I thiiiiiiiiink i may have a sorta kinda solution