forum Things You Want MORE Of In Books

Started January 21, 2019 by @HighPockets group

tune

Characters that do stuff they like but are genuinely okay with being in the background of said stuff

Yeah, I have one like that!
Another character, however…..
Glares at Henry "I Always Need To Be The Best On The Field" Harrison

parts of the story told from the side characters point of view. Not because they went off to have their own mission and what not, but standing right there next to the hero.

I love that.

Yessssssss

More justifying villains/antagonists. I don’t care how evil they are, they are a person (or not, sometimes) and have motives, passions, feelings. They don’t need to be an emotionless block of evil to serve a purpose in plot.

^^^^ yes, but also doing that without making people too sympathetic towards them. There’s a fine line between “oh, wow, they’re a person too and their motives make sense and I feel a little sorry for them,” and “yeah, they killed a child, but they had a bad past so it’s okay.”
I love well-written antagonists tho

But pure evil antagonists are also great if done well.

But pure evil antagonists are also great if done well.

True true. Some stories benefit from a less complex villain, especially ones with more interpersonal relationships among the cast.

Yeah, if well done. Those are sadly few and far between though

Loved that Trope Talk.

Yeah, if well done. Those are sadly few and far between though

I agree. My first villain -a generic force of pure evil- sucked.

Yeah, if well done. Those are sadly few and far between though

I agree. My first villain -a generic force of pure evil- sucked.

Personally I find that making a pure evil villain a magnificent bastard helps because intelligence and pragmatism in villains is important and also needed.

Oh yeah, what kinds of things do y'all think make the best pure evil antagonists? I really struggle with seeing through their eyes and I'll be the first to admit I'm not so great at writing them.

Give them a reason to be evil perhaps? Also make them able to feel emotions.

Yeah, but that goes for any character, so I do at least try to cover those bases.

I have a lot of antags that could be considered ‘justifying’ villains, but my newest antag named Guts is something I’m developing to have little to no redeeming qualities. Just make him a pure evil guy. Ateris is another one, but Ateris does villainous things because they believe that will get rid of their curse.

With writing emotions it’s something I’ve had trouble with so don’t expect me to the best with my antagonists either. Although with what I have prepared so far Guts, despite his
brutal nature he does feel surprise, pain, anger, humour and such throughout his story, but in different ways (seeing as he’s not human.)

Emotions can help though with creating villains. Even the ‘pure evil’ villains.

I'm not sure how to feel about not so innocent/dangerous I guess things being told through the perspective of little kids because it's so hard to do well and when you do it right I just want to hug the character and take them away because they're too trusting and they're not safe and they don't know what's going on but I do and it's so heart breaking and nerve wracking and I want more

The Boy in Henry V

Anyways I do that with some of my characters, not really little kids but naive or young ones (Ansel, Lysander, Iam, Kira, Ophelia, almost all of the Creston cast, etc.)

Characters that make up their own sayings. You know, ridiculous ones like "well stick me in a pool and call me a dead slug" or "well I'll be an elephants butt" or something. I'm bad at it

I don't know why those are always so entertaining to me but I love them

Characters that make up their own sayings. You know, ridiculous ones like "well stick me in a pool and call me a dead slug" or "well I'll be an elephants butt" or something. I'm bad at it

Robin has entered the chat

What saying though???

They just say whatever pops into their head

"That really fries my cheesecake." - Eris Woods, 2019, when something mildly inconveniences her.