Stupid Evil

There is the theory out there that anything that is evil is by definition also stupid. It’s not actually a science or anything, but I come across it a lot. Especially amongst fiction writers, who have a tendency to follow it like a religion. Let me explain. The writing usually portrays the bad guys outnumbering the good guys a million to one, but they run in straight lines only and are slow thinkers as they all belong to retarded races, the hero or heroine outwits them at every turn and the evil people never see any of it coming, they all live in dull flea ridden villages and cannot read or speak foreign languages, they leave keys or incriminating evidence out in the open for the hero to find, and so on and so forth. I wonder why that is? I mean it is a good thing to see a clever protagonist but authors should realize that there is a big difference between smart heroes against normal people, and clichéd heroes against an even dumber people.

For those out there who are interested in writing believable bad guys Peter Anspach has a humorous list that can be reached by clicking here. It has some interesting pointers to keep in mind when writing.