4: Am I the Bad Guy?

Oftentimes I am, at least in my stories. Let me explain…

After years of writing Louis Sachar style books for my kids, I decided to try my hand at writing an actual full-length story with every child as a character. Choosing the main protagonist (or minor protagonists) can be difficult. Since every kid in my room plays a role, I don’t want to hurt a child’s feelings with events that seem painful, scary, or mean. Luckily this has only happened a couple of times, usually for some innocuous reason (wanting a larger role is a biggie).

If choosing a student for a protagonist role is tough, giving a kid a role as the main antagonist is impossible. This is why I have become the “evil” guy in most of my end-of-year stories. Typically I’m “over the top evil” in a sort of silly, incompetent, arrogant, “Muhahaha” way. The kids eat this up!

The funny thing about my role as the antagonist is that it’s not a huge stretch to write. I don’t consider myself evil, but my intrusive thoughts can trend towards shadowy shades. Plus, I’ve been told my humor can be a bit “over the top.” Ok, ok, my coworkers have told me I act like the students I teach. It’s my unique elementary voice that mixes well into my writing.

My latest manuscript, “Jamie,” has that same arrogant antagonist found in my older stories. I’m comfortable with this archetype. My author voice and humor also saturates the story. I hope it’s not too “over the top.” I just printed off the latest draft with plans to read it and try not to hork.

Since I’ve only used this phrase three times, here’s a few more. Over the top. Over the top. Over the top!