Every good story has an hero -- the character with whom the reader is meant to identify. Some of our favorite sorts of stories also have villains. The best sort have deliciously tricky villains whose motives are obscure, actions indistinct, and minds labyrinthine. Unfortunately, for this to be one of those sorts of stories, I'm going to have to outsmart myself. Like playing a single-player game of chess, I will have to deviously plot for either hand, depending on my faulty memory for my fog of war.
Every good villain is two things, though. Fully-fleshed, even off-screen. Thought-out and colorful, with motives and character traits, he prevents the heroes interactions with him from being dull and brings tension and conflict to the external interactions of the hero with the world even as the hero's character traits may bring internal tension to the scene. And he is a threat.
Without a challenge, there is no story. No need for heroism. A non-threatening nemesis is unworthy of the name, a disappointment at best, a side character.
This having been said, now we must figure out why the antagonist is doing what he's doing, how, and why it matters to the hero. For that, we need a hero. And for that, we need a world.
I think that this - truly thinking about your antagonist's motivations - is one of the most important things you can do for a story. So kudos on that.
ReplyDeleteBut tell me, why do you need a hero before you figure out the what and why of the antagonist?
The antagonist's motivations aren't reliant on the hero...not if he has any level of depth to him.
Wouldn't it be interesting, just once, to START with the "bad guy?" To give flesh and thought and reason and desire to a character...to give him passion and purpose, and perhaps (if you're feeling particularly daring) even a bit of a sympathetic cause, and THEN set your hero against him?
The stories I find most compelling are the ones in which the antagonist has a clear, logical reason for doing what he or she is doing, and a sense of conviction in their cause. In real life, very few people of consequence set out to do something just because it's "evil" or "bad." They don't see themselves that way - rather, they're doing what they have to do to achieve X or in response to Y.
So why not in your fiction?
I want to be surprised!
DeleteIt's a silly thought, the idea that I might be ABLE to be surprised by what goes on -- to leave story-weaving to random chance, however complex the rules I make are -- but what if I manage it?