So, I’ve been thinking a lot about villains and what makes one popular while others are laughed at. The answer I came up with is that it really depends on the individual since most villains have fans. Sure, we live in a world where it’s more important to tear down what you dislike than build up what you do, but I’ve seen every bad guy have some level of popularity. This makes it difficult to give a general answer, so I’m just going to say what I look for in a reader/viewer and try to do as a writer.
As a Reader/Viewer
I like villains to be dangerous and a challenge for the heroes in some way. They don’t have to be physically overpowering, but they have to have an aspect that makes them a danger to others. For example, Lex Luthor isn’t as strong as Superman, but he’s smart and charismatic enough to be one of his deadliest enemies. I need to feel like I’m looking at a guy who could win if the hero makes a mistake. Now, I’ll admit this isn’t always the case if the villain is entertaining to watch. Yet, I really do need some sense of weight and risk when he/she interacts with the heroes.
Much of the weight in my mind stems from the villain’s motivation as well. This one is hard to explain, but I prefer bad guys who have a plan that doesn’t really boil down to ‘I like being evil’. Now, there are villains like that because their personality is that of a psychotic, but I give them a pass because they are written that way. It’s the ones that act like they’re a higher class of antagonist when it really comes off with them being driven by the desire to kill, destroy, and steal. Just fess up to that if that’s what you’re supposed to be. Sadly, I see more of these bad guys turning up lately. Maybe I’ve become more nitpicky though. It’s just that if I can hear a bad guy’s plan and immediately think ‘well, why don’t you just do this instead since it brings you your goals without being a villain?’ I mean, doing evil things in the name of helping others tends to work off a twisted sense of morality, but that can be easily undone if there’s a clear and obvious path that even the twisted can see.
As a Writer
I try to make a variety of villains, which can range from ‘benevolent’ conquerors like Baron Kernaghan, sniveling servants like the Lich, and unwilling antagonists like Queen Trinity. This connects to me going primarily for ensemble stories, so you have a team of heroes against a team of villains. This requires that I have multiple personalities, goals, and methods within the same group. I’ve found that doing this with a band of immoral bastards doesn’t really work because then you have the backstabbing issue. Why would villains who have no morals and wish to be the main antagonist work together for an entire story? I think we’ve come to expect villains to turn on each other too, so I try to minimize the use of that story point.
As strange as it is, one of the most important things I try to do for my villains is giving them a human aspect. This can be positive or negative, but it helps create a bridge with the reader. I think we can enjoy bad guys more if they have depth and desires similar to our own. Sure, it might be a darker version of our own beliefs, but that can make us feel like we’d be the same if we took the wrong path. Having even the evilest of villain develop a speck of sympathy from the readers can do wonders for him/her because it means they’re more than the final obstacle. Look at Darth Vader who spent the first two movies as a really evil character, but then did one thing in the finale to gain a little redemption from the audience. This is an extreme example though because not every villain deserves redemption. Most villains should really stay there even if there are some aspects of their personality that are positive. Then, you have characters like Stephen Kernaghan who are totally irredeemable.
So, what does everyone else look for in a villain or do to create one for their own stories?
One could say that War of Nytefall is a loose prequel to Legends of Windemere. It’s pretty easy to say since it’s true. They take place in the same world with the same races, magic system, and many shared cities. There may even be a cameo or two from familiar faces that can survive the centuries. It creates a bigger web of world-building and opens up more of Windemere for other stories. The foundation has grown wider and higher, but there are risks.
First, one runs into a problem with readers thinking they have to read the first series to get into the second. This isn’t true since they are separate stories that happen to take place in the same world. You can follow the adventures of Clyde without knowing about the adventures of Luke Callindor. Yet, many readers will see this and get confused about how they fit together. Some may think this takes place afterwards too, which will hurt the story and result in people asking if Nyx will make an appearance (got this one already). There really isn’t much you can do either because pushing them apart too much will make the stories feel like they aren’t supposed to be together. You need to find a balance and simply hope that it carries over.
Second risk is the threat of ruining the continuity. We’ve see it a lot in movies where you get prequels and they undo parts of the original. The pieces don’t always match up like Legolas meeting Bilbo and the dwarves in ‘The Hobbit’. He never told Frodo that he met his uncle or Gimli that he knew his father. There wasn’t even a sense of familiarity when they were meeting to discuss The One Ring in LOTR. The reason is because nobody knew ‘The Hobbit’ was going to come and have Legolas, which means there was nothing set up for the crossover. I’m actually going to be posting tips for doing prequels on Wednesday, so I won’t go into details here.
Third risk . . . Well, the continuity thing covers a lot of ground. You could end up making a prequel that causes the original work to become impossible or non-canon. You could make the prequels so mild that they hold absolutely no weigh to the overall world. The risks and challenges are so numerous, but they’re also oddly subtle. You don’t see these issues happening while writing the newer series unless you keep going back to the original or do an outline that specifically focuses on continuity. I did my best with that to make sure I didn’t ruin cities that I used in Legends of Windemere. In fact, I did my best to minimize the use of them, but that isn’t easy when you have such large metropolises like Gaia and Gods’ Voice. Needless to say, this aspect of a new, but connected series is fairly nerve-wracking.
So, let’s open up the floor to thoughts. What do people think about prequels? Keep in mind, I don’t mean the Star Wars prequels specifically. I’m talking any like ‘The Hobbit’, Young Indiana Jones, etc.
Happy Monday to all the Story Empire readers. It’s so good to be back with all of you once again to share a few helpful (hopefully) thoughts. Today I wanted to share a few tweaks so that you can use Dragon Naturally Speaking with Scrivener. Let’s jump right in and get to it.
Dictation with Dragon & Scrivener
Nuance created Dragon NaturallySpeaking
For those who may have missed my last few posts, I will include a few links back to those so that you can get more detailed information about Dragon. I’ve been using Dragon now for a couple of months which has allowed me to make significant progress in two novel projects. In fact, I am working on both projects at the same time as I write this post. That’s the power of Dragon; I can dictate while I’m in the car and edit the other book at nigh…
Last week, I gave a list of possible replacements for Teaser Tuesday to cover me until it’s time for Quest of the Broken-Hearted promos. Most people liked the idea of ‘Question 3’ or just one question that I put my thoughts on. Some suggested that I get topics from blog readers. Well, that’s what I’m going to do.
So, do you have a question or topic that you would like to see covered on ‘Legends of Windemere’?
This was a week . . . That’s really all I’m willing to say for sure. The plus side is that didn’t need a second hand to count my anxiety attacks this week. Not sure what happened, but I was able to handle the stress. That or I didn’t have as much because I really got into the editing vibe. We’ll see how next week goes before considering that this is a permanent upswing. The two days where I felt like the joy had been drained out of me should probably be mentioned as a strike against me. Anyway, I’ll save this stuff for my Anxiety Journal, which started Thursday.
It took me two days to finish editing Quest of the Broken-Hearted and that’s because last weekend didn’t go smoothly. I was supposed to get some done, but the wacky weather gave my son a bad asthma attack. Spent most of last Saturday tending to him while my wife went out looking for kid rain boots, which don’t exist. She came back with a Pokemon sheet set and plush Togepi for the little guy. I’ll put a picture of him at the bottom for those who don’t know. Sunday was not any better since the morning saw me suffering from exhaustion and the little energy I gathered sleeping in was absorbed by playing Lego Indiana Jones with a very irritable kid. Heads were butted, feet were stomped, and scowls were exchanged when it was time to turn the PS2 off. All of this means I didn’t get back to my editing until Monday.
After the first project, I tackled War of Nytefall: Lost, but that ran into some issues too. It’s 17 chapters and one would think I could do 9 in three days, but I only made it through 7. It was disturbingly warm this week, which drained me a bit and I made the tactical error of asking if people needed anything from the grocery store. My list grew much larger on Thursday, which saw me only getting 1 chapter done. I tried to make things up by slipping a few July posts into the mix. The later part of the week really did have a lot of ‘use what little time I have’ with various levels of success.
A great belated birthday present showed up too on this day. A pair of headphones that I could plug into my laptop when I’m working downstairs. That’s going to happen more often if the heat remains because the upstairs gets sweltering rather quickly. The headphones are padded and make it that other people can’t hear what I’m listening to while I can stay hear them. I thought this would fix the interruption issue, but there’s a small caveat. People have to see me before they start talking, so a person walking into the room talking will still get me. Even so, I do enjoy the comfy headphones infinitely more than earbuds.
Want to say other things happened this week, but it was the usual author and father dual role. Since my son got moved up to the older martial arts class, I’ve had to rearrange the schedule a bit. We’re still trying to master that since it requires an early dinner and negotiating away from snacks. I can’t dive into night writing as easily, but that’s probably more my mental state. I’ve been going full tilt on writing and editing since January with only two weeks of rest. By the end of June, I’ll have published 1 book, written 3, and edited the published and 2 of the 3. That’s in the face of anxiety attacks, blogging, family events, holidays, and birthdays, so I think I should be proud if I can make it. Definitely a pizza reward moment.
This week will be kind of the same with editing and then I’ll be using the end of the week to do July blog posts. I don’t want to tackle War of Nytefall: Temptation until I have most of a week to start it off. This is the December release, so getting it done this early in the year would be great. I might even do something crazy and rest throughout July/August while the kid is home for summer. Not sure what I would do with myself though. That’s down the road. For right now, I’m just going to take my projects in turn with some planning. Besides, I can’t go for long without writing in some form. I’ll probably just outline.
Small aside before the goals: I keep bouncing around with my superhero series by having it on Earth or in Windemere. I’m leaning back towards the latter because I worry that the trend is dying. Putting these superhumans into a world of magic and monsters will give it an interesting twist. It means the characters who use guns or giant robots might have a small problem, but I can try to design magical equivalents. Considering I already mentioned the Mylrixians, I should probably consider doing this since the superhumans were supposed to be these mystery beings.
So, what’s the plan for the week?
Finish editing War of Nytefall: Lost
Work on July posts
Look into a promotional opportunity
Contact cover artist about Quest of the Broken-Hearted
Snooze at times
Read more ‘Ready Player One’ and march to the end.
When deciding on a vampire society and how public it is, one has to consider as many angles as possible. After all, they have to live alongside their prey similar to lions and cheetahs. You don’t see those other predators pretending to be gazelles, so it’s more difficult for vampires. That makes it fairly complicated, but maybe the following list can help.
Pros to Hiding Among Humans
Easy access to prey.
Being around modern society reduces the risk of anachronism.
A vampire can create and maintain a business to cover a pack who would work for them.
Easy way to find new recruits.
Be aware of new threats coming into the area.
Cons to Hiding Among Humans
Higher risk of being found out.
Having to deal with the fictional vampire fandoms without laughing.
Being discovered by mortals who are desperate to become vampires.
Easier to be found by hunters.
Takes more time and effort to hide bodies.
Excuses needed for avoiding sunlight, garlic, or other weaknesses.
Pros to Staying on the Outskirts of Society
Able to build up a vampire society with little outside influence.
More space to plant traps and secret hideouts.
Privacy for training new recruits.
Room to create a storehouse of food with little chance of discovery.
Less fear of being discovered.
Easier to dispose of bodies.
Limited exposure to vampire fandoms.
Cons to Staying on the Outskirts of Society
More work and travel to find prey.
Less chance of knowing when danger has arrived.
One slip up can take out the entire thing and you have run further into the wilderness.
Anachronism is much more possible.
Infighting and upward mobility become a form of entertainment.
These are only a few and the lists would be different for other authors. Feel free to add your own in the comments.
Don Massenzio It’s time for the next subject for my 2018 author interview series. Author interviews are posted every Friday throughout the year. I am honored to continue this series with Scottish author Rebecca Howie You can catch up with … Continue reading →
My guest this week is a name that often pops up on my social media as he’s very ‘into’ marketing and very successful at it too. Charles has a new book out and we have timed his guest post to coincide with the publication. But first a little about this weeks author.
Charles Yallowitz was born and raised on Long Island, NY, but he has spent most of his life wandering his own imagination in a blissful haze. Occasionally, he would return from this world for the necessities such as food, showers, and Saturday morning cartoons. One day he returned from his imagination and decided he would share his stories with the world. After his wife decided that she was tired of hearing the same stories repeatedly, she convinced him that it would make more sense to follow his dream of being a fantasy author. So, locked within the house under…
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Nuance created Dragon NaturallySpeaking 
Legends of Windemere 