Author With a Problem

[Guest]

Hello all,

I have a problem and I HOPE someone here can help me out with it. Give me some idea of how to solve my problem. It's a doozy.

You see, I have this idea for a Science Fantasy story (It's a story that happens in the future, in space, but involves dragons, elves, dwarves and all that. Trust me, the way I've got it figured, it all works.) I won't give specifics.

What I want to do is introduce a character out of time. I want the main character to be introduced to this world he is now living in right along with the reader. Kind of like what JK Rowling did with Harry Potter. This isn't the problem. It ends up being a quest story, where the main character and this oddball assortment of "hero's" end up going out and trying to save humanity/the world. I have the characters, I have the ship that they will be traveling on and I have a BASIC idea of what I want the storyline to do.

My problem comes in that I can't seem to write a beleivable "bad guy." I write my stories as I type. I don't outline or anything like that. Never have been able to write a story like that. This means that I can do very little foreshadowing. I can't show the bad guy making evil plans for my hero's. I can't even think devious enough to figure out how the bad guy would do what I want him to do. I can't see the machinations he/she/they would have to go through to get to the point they want. I can't think "Evil" enough to figure out why the bad guy(s) are working to destroy humanity or the world or whatever.

I know I'm not explaining myself real well but I hope I've made myself clear enough to get my point across. I don't really want to work with someone else. I know people who have done it in past stories but I would like to write the story myself. Any one out there have any kind of ideas on how to fix my problem? SOme exercise I can do? I've never been very good at Chess. I don't think about what I'm going to do in three moves and in this case, that's what I need. Any ideas?

Thanks
Doffy
Aka Jefferson

 

[English Lady]

Well congrats on getting the story idea in the first place!


Some suggestions :

read some bad guys....look at bd guys in the sc-fi/fantasy genre and see what they're generally like.

ok then think what kind of bad guy your looking for..male/female/group of folks. Are they going to be super out and out evil or just simply making a few bad decisions based on hunger for power etc.

you need to get a solid character in your head and from there the plot bits should come...


hope that helps

 

[doormouse]

Um... maybe have the bad guy striving to get some valuable resource from the good guy's planet. He sees the good guy as a threat and plans to rid his planet of him... but before his plans are carried out, the good guy befriends a few of the local inhabitants and also learns of the bad guy's plans??

Sorry, best I can do lol

 

[Weird Harold]

My problem comes in that I can't seem to write a beleivable "bad guy." I write my stories as I type. I don't outline or anything like that. Never have been able to write a story like that. This means that I can do very little foreshadowing. I can't show the bad guy making evil plans for my hero's. I can't even think devious enough to figure out how the bad guy would do what I want him to do. I can't see the machinations he/she/they would have to go through to get to the point they want. I can't think "Evil" enough to figure out why the bad guy(s) are working to destroy humanity or the world or whatever.

It isn't always necessary to get into the bad guy's head so the readers understand WHY he's doing something.

Part of your probem is you're writng a hero character who has to react to the vilian instead of act towards a goal the villian is trying to thwart.

You need to start by defining the goal of the quest (which I'm sure you have the basics of already then you can start putting evil minions in the way of that goal without worrying a lot about WHY they're trying to stop your Hero -- the head bad guy told them to is sufficient for most encounters.

For example, if your Hero needs to go to a specific place by a specific route, collecting clues along the way, just think of how you would protect the clues he needs and how youwould block the route he has to take. i.e. If your Hero has to go to the Planet Orgasmia to find the original copy of the Kama Sutra, the head villian would probably send a bribe to the space control center to keep your Hero from getting permission to land, assassinate the head librarian who knows where the poriginal is kept and dispatch a squad of evil minions to steal, destroy the original, or replace it with a forgery.

BY the time you reach the climactic duel with the Head Villian, you should have a better idea of what he's capable of and possibly even know WHY he's trying to stop your Hero.

 

[TheEarl]

Doffy: The best way to write a villain is to realise the great truth about bad guys. They're all actually good guys.

There's no separate sub-species of 'bad guy.' They do bad things, but they always have a perfectly good reason for doing them. The best bad guys are ones where we can understand exactly why they're being bad, even if we don't agree with their reasons. A bad guys who is just bad because the story needed a villain is a cardboard cut-out. There is no quality of 'evil.' There are qualities which will make people do evil things, but you can't just stick a handlebar moustache on a character and tell him to be dastardly.

Why is your villain evil? To take WH's example - if your hero is travelling to the Planet Orgasmia, why does your villain want to stop him? Does he want the original Karma Sutra for himself? Why? Does he want to be better at sex and is selfish enough to want it for himself alone? Is he worried about the stability of his empire if the hero gets it? Is he worried about the stability of his empire if the hero gets some?

Think of some really good villains. Think Steven King's Misery. Annie isn't scary because she cuts off Paul's leg, she's scary because she thinks she has a perfectly good reason for doing it. It doesn't even occur to her that this might be an 'evil' action.

Think Hugo Drax in Fleming's Moonraker (the book, rather than the travesty of the film). He's not trying to destroy London for shits and giggles. He's doing it because he thinks it will be suitable revenge for British bombing raids on Germany in WW2 and dreams of reigniting the conflict and freeing Germany.

Don't ask how to make a villain. Ask why a good guy would do despicable things.

The Earl

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Have you considered making your Bad guy an entity rather than a guy? Like the Empire in Star wars? You can then give the empire a face, like Vader, but it dosen't limit you to just vader as the bad guy and you can win minor voctories along the way against faceless beuaracrats and minor cogs of the over all entity?

Just a thought.

 

[Op_Cit]

To illustrate what Earl said, read some Orson Card. (Like the Alvin Maker series)

He does an excellent job of going inside the bad guys in a truly real way. His may be more than you need but you may pickup an understanding of what goes on to make people "bad".

 

[Weird Harold]

Doffy: The best way to write a villain is to realise the great truth about bad guys. They're all actually good guys.

There's no separate sub-species of 'bad guy.' They do bad things, but they always have a perfectly good reason for doing them. ...

Why is your villain evil? ... Why? Does he want to be better at sex and is selfish enough to want it for himself alone? Is he worried about the stability of his empire if the hero gets it? Is he worried about the stability of his empire if the hero gets some?

Colly is a bit closer to what I was suggesting. It doesn't really matter "why" -- or at least it dosn't matter if the Hero understands "why" the Antagonist is "evil."

Have you considered making your Bad guy an entity rather than a guy? Like the Empire in Star wars? You can then give the empire a face, like Vader, but it dosen't limit you to just vader as the bad guy and you can win minor voctories along the way against faceless bureaucrats and minor cogs of the over all entity?

For Doffy's Hero -- a character out of time. ... introduced to this world he is now living in right along with the reader. -- the "minions" are going to be his main contact with the Antagonist for most of the story and "minions" are usually just "people doing their jobs." Of course, a truly Evil Antagonist is going to employ mostly "bad" people who enjoy abusing the petty powers they have within the system or are just "evil' by nature -- like Orcs, Wraiths, etc in Tolkienesque Epic Fantasies.

For a "Stranger in a Strange Land" scenario, it's almost better if the "Why" remains obsure as the Hero learns about the new world he's in -- especially for an author (like Doffy admits to being) who doesn't really know the "why" yet himself and is "learning" about the Antagonist in the same incremental stages as the Hero is.

If he starts with obstructionist "minions" then when it becomes time to reveal the "Anatagonist's" motives, he can "reverse engineer" the "Why" from the "What." Minor Villians and minions are easy to write because everyone encounters them in real life all the time -- they're the grumpy and uncooperative clerks and functionaries who almost seem to seem determined to thwart your goals by directing you the wrong aisle for the product you want to buy or refer you to somone else who, in turn, refers you to someone else until you're ent back to the first functionary, etc.

A Great Villian is often defined by the quality of his "minions" -- even if you never actually meet the "Great Villian" in person -- even if he's really just a regular guy trying to hold things together.

 

[Guest]

Thank you all for your answers and yes, it was of great help. I'm glad I chose to ask my question. I got a lot of good answers and some great advice. I do have my villian planned out a little better and have even started writing some on the story. Thank you all very much. This is gonna be one heck of a story. hehehe.

 

[nushu2]

My problem comes in that I can't seem to write a beleivable "bad guy." I write my stories as I type. I don't outline or anything like that. Never have been able to write a story like that. This means that I can do very little foreshadowing. I can't show the bad guy making evil plans for my hero's. I can't even think devious enough to figure out how the bad guy would do what I want him to do. I can't see the machinations he/she/they would have to go through to get to the point they want. I can't think "Evil" enough to figure out why the bad guy(s) are working to destroy humanity or the world or whatever.

Power. To ge it. To get more. To keep it. To dispose of anyone that could challenge it.

Foreshadowing isn't so tough. Sometimes it's just setting a tone or atmosphere with basic senses. A more complex way, among many, would be a circular plot, where the character ends up where he/she started but changed. Circular plot points happen twice with different results, almost like rewriting the story in reverse. Foreshadow is more of a horror device than SF.