Thursday, October 30, 2008
Yeah, I Know
I haven't posted in awhile. But I will soon! And it's not like one of those times where I say I will and don't. This time, it's true. I really, really mean it. And there will be lots of posts. I know I've been slacking. I'm well aware. (But it doesn't mean I haven't been productive in other areas!)
Thursday, October 9, 2008
This is the Part Where I Bang My Head on My Desk
Ever write a bunch of stuff only to have the program close out before it's saved properly? Sucks, doesn't it?
It just happened to me -- well, sort of. I did save it, but stupid me tried to rename the file it was saved under. And that's apparently a big no-no. So, now, what I was working on is now lost, but it's not much of a loss. It wasn't that good.
Back to the drawing board!
It just happened to me -- well, sort of. I did save it, but stupid me tried to rename the file it was saved under. And that's apparently a big no-no. So, now, what I was working on is now lost, but it's not much of a loss. It wasn't that good.
Back to the drawing board!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
The Ever-Important Antagonist (aka Villain)
Does your villain scare you? Good. Because if s/he doesn't, then they won't scare anyone else.
But I'm getting ahead of myself here and should probably start from the beginning.
Firstly, let's look at what makes a good villain. A good villain (or antagonist, per technical jargon) is the flip side to your hero/protagonist. They are trying to thwart your hero; conversely, your hero is trying to thwart them too. Hero and villain may have the same goal or the opposing goal, but the antagonist is a negative force which keeps -- or at least slows down -- your protagonist from reaching their goal. (If they didn't do that, they wouldn't make a good villain, would they?)
Secondly, a villain doesn't necessarily have to be evil, per se (though it draws a darker line between them and your hero if they are and tends to make the story interesting). If your story is about a group of teenagers, the popular Jesus-freak cheerleader might be the villain. After all, she's a snob and is mean to your protagonist. She tries her best to make them look stupid, be miserable, and to thwart their plans. She's rude, self-centered, and extremely vapid. However, she's not exactly evil. She has no intention of killing them or making them truly suffer. She's just a bitch.
On the other hand, if your story is about a dashing young space captain, your villain might be some evil alien overlord bent on destroying Earth. The stakes are bigger, obviously, so you have to make the villain more evil to match it. If the stakes are high and the villain isn't very evil, then it's not very compelling or believable. The alien overlord doesn't HAVE to destroy the Earth. No one's forcing him. (If they were, then he wouldn't be the main villain -- they would.) He's choosing to do so per his own agenda (for whatever reasons). And he doesn't care about the billions of lives at stake. Someone who is that cold and heartless is obviously evil or at the very least extremely demented. (Extremely crazy also works for the villain. Crazy people aren't necessarily evil. In a story with high stakes, you've got to make the villain's reasons believable. No one in their right mind would do something like destroy a planet unless they were extremely insane or very cruel.)
A good villain is just as believable as a good hero. I cannot stress it enough. If your hero is awesome, but your villain is lacking, your story stinks. No one wants to read about a hero fighting the dumbest villains ever. They want your hero to be challenged. They want to know how the hero will make it out of this (whatever "this" is) intact. If they don't feel the hero is in some sort of danger, they won't care to read the story.
The rules of character creation apply the same to the villain as the hero...so long as you make your villain, well, more villainy. There's all sorts of ways you can take a villain. You could make him troubled and misunderstood or you can make them just plain cruel. They can be super serious and bent on destruction or slightly humorous (but not too humorous, or else no one will take them seriously). They can be young or old, frail or strong -- so long as they're a real threat to the hero.
And, as I said at the beginning of the post when I was getting ahead of myself: if your villains scare you, then good. Maybe they'll scare someone else too.
But I'm getting ahead of myself here and should probably start from the beginning.
Firstly, let's look at what makes a good villain. A good villain (or antagonist, per technical jargon) is the flip side to your hero/protagonist. They are trying to thwart your hero; conversely, your hero is trying to thwart them too. Hero and villain may have the same goal or the opposing goal, but the antagonist is a negative force which keeps -- or at least slows down -- your protagonist from reaching their goal. (If they didn't do that, they wouldn't make a good villain, would they?)
Secondly, a villain doesn't necessarily have to be evil, per se (though it draws a darker line between them and your hero if they are and tends to make the story interesting). If your story is about a group of teenagers, the popular Jesus-freak cheerleader might be the villain. After all, she's a snob and is mean to your protagonist. She tries her best to make them look stupid, be miserable, and to thwart their plans. She's rude, self-centered, and extremely vapid. However, she's not exactly evil. She has no intention of killing them or making them truly suffer. She's just a bitch.
On the other hand, if your story is about a dashing young space captain, your villain might be some evil alien overlord bent on destroying Earth. The stakes are bigger, obviously, so you have to make the villain more evil to match it. If the stakes are high and the villain isn't very evil, then it's not very compelling or believable. The alien overlord doesn't HAVE to destroy the Earth. No one's forcing him. (If they were, then he wouldn't be the main villain -- they would.) He's choosing to do so per his own agenda (for whatever reasons). And he doesn't care about the billions of lives at stake. Someone who is that cold and heartless is obviously evil or at the very least extremely demented. (Extremely crazy also works for the villain. Crazy people aren't necessarily evil. In a story with high stakes, you've got to make the villain's reasons believable. No one in their right mind would do something like destroy a planet unless they were extremely insane or very cruel.)
A good villain is just as believable as a good hero. I cannot stress it enough. If your hero is awesome, but your villain is lacking, your story stinks. No one wants to read about a hero fighting the dumbest villains ever. They want your hero to be challenged. They want to know how the hero will make it out of this (whatever "this" is) intact. If they don't feel the hero is in some sort of danger, they won't care to read the story.
The rules of character creation apply the same to the villain as the hero...so long as you make your villain, well, more villainy. There's all sorts of ways you can take a villain. You could make him troubled and misunderstood or you can make them just plain cruel. They can be super serious and bent on destruction or slightly humorous (but not too humorous, or else no one will take them seriously). They can be young or old, frail or strong -- so long as they're a real threat to the hero.
And, as I said at the beginning of the post when I was getting ahead of myself: if your villains scare you, then good. Maybe they'll scare someone else too.
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