In the evening I often sit outside, relaxing and enjoying Mother Nature’s concert. The musicians involved include Wrens, Cardinals, Robins, Bluebirds, assorted Finches, Blue Jays and others I have not identified yet.

Oh, did I strike a note of discord? Blue Jays, you ask?

Yes, I know. Most of my friends think I’m crazy. The birds are noisy, brash, rude, and most of the time just screech and cause trouble. But have you ever heard one sing?

I did, early one morning. I was working in the yard, and heard a note that wasn’t familiar to me. I searched the trees, looking for some new bird, turning my head and honing in on the sound. It was a Blue Jay.

They don’t stop screaming often. But when they do, the song is enchanting.

Okay, there’s a point to all this.

There’s something good to be found in everything. The most wretched being has some quality that is, or was, good or loveable to someone or something (even if it’s just his dog). Everything has its own song.

Did you read Wicked, by Gregory Maguire? What made you look at Elphaba as the heroine? Like her, few villains just want to destroy the world. They want to destroy the world because of something – some injustice done to them early in life, or a betrayal, or their childhood, or maybe they see themselves as victims.

You knew the rogue in your favorite novel was the bad guy because the author led you to see the evil. That’s his job – to make you hate the villain and root for the hero. But did you ever try to really get to know that villain?  To understand the story from his point of view? Try to step out of the book as it is written, and figure out his personal demons. How does he feel about the world around him? What would make him happy, and why? Find his song.

Do this with your own villain, or make your hero a bad guy, and see his world through the other side of the looking glass. When you step back through the glass, you should have a new knowledge of both characters. How you use that is totally your choice. You can increase the depth of evil, now that you know where it comes from. You can draw upon the anti-hero’s own fear, or build the tension by allowing your reader to have a little sympathy. You have the unique opportunity to control how people – your readers – feel about each of your characters. It’s an awesome responsibility.

You have the power to turn a screeching, murderous, thieving Blue Jay into a songbird, if you choose to let them listen.