How to Write Antagonists and Villains

hello everybody today we're talking about bad guys because someone's got to [ __ ] [ __ ] up in your novel am i right this topic is dedicated to two of my patrons over on patreon Chris Carlyle and Baek kay Kristen Beck Beck and Chris you're the coolest yeah Chris and Beck wanted to learn more about writing antagonists and villains and I'm always down to talk about villains there are my kind of people I'm giving you the sighs most important things you ought to consider when writing batty use the first things first what's an antagonist what's a villain and what's the difference as the name suggests an antagonist is someone who antagonizes the protagonist they oppose the protagonists goal they inhibit their plan they create conflict a villain also creates conflict but there is a little something extra added to the mix they're evil therein lies the difference just because an antagonist is getting in the protagonists way doesn't mean they're a cruel or malicious person villains on the other hand usually have sinister intentions simply put the villain of a story is also the antagonist but the antagonist isn't necessarily a villain now for the sake of consistency I'm going to be referring to villains throughout the duration of this video but all these tips apply to antagonists as well number one makes them a worthy rival there are few things more disappointing than an easily sorted villain your bad guy needs to be as strong and capable as a protagonist at an absolute minimum it would be even more exciting if they were stronger than the protagonist or better in some way give them an advantage stack the cards against your hero the reason for this is simple conflict drives the plot of a novel and if the conflict is weak or easy to resolve that's not interesting your reader isn't going to get involved in the story because there's not a whole lot of story to get involved in in the first place tighten the tension by making your villain a worthy opponent someone who pushes the protagonist to work harder and smarter than ever before this will keep the conflict engaging and your readers invested number two give them a believable motivation but Jenna of course my villain has a motivation he's evil that sounds like some shitty writing as we already covered not all antagonists are evil so that's not going to work even though villains do have evil intentions there's still got to be a reason behind it there are plenty of real motivators for awful actions like self-preservation or narcissism or greed take a real human emotion and expand upon it why do they feel such a strong need to preserve their bloodline where does this greed stem from and if you're having trouble finding inspiration flit through a history book there are plenty of deplorable people and heinous events to learn from the number one thing to keep in mind while you're crafting your villains motivation is that this person believes passionately and what they're doing I'm sure you've heard the phrase that the antagonist is the protagonist of their own story they truly believe their agenda is worth fighting for so that agenda needs to be more than pure evil it needs to be something that benefits them personally or a cause they're aligned to for a transparent reason the reader doesn't have to agree with their motivation but they should at least understand it number three remember your villain is human unless they're not human but the advice still applies create your villain the way you create all of your characters as a complex human being what are their strengths and weaknesses what are their hopes and fears what was their childhood like their family life their upbringing you don't have to include their backstory in the novel in fact a lot of the time that's completely unnecessary but you should at least know their backstory for your own personal benefit this person may be a total piece of [ __ ] but even [ __ ] has layers the villain should be written as a believable person through their actions their body language and most importantly their words that means you need to resist the urge to use textbook bad guy dialogue all of you will grovel at my feet come out come out wherever you are your schools it was I along if the dialogue reads like something that could be followed by a thunderclap or ominous laughter then you're not writing a human you're writing a cartoon character next two dudes going to be tying a woman to the train tracks and twisting his handlebar moustache ha ha ha your villain is a vital part of your story and that means they should be handled with the same care and detail as the rest of your cast don't phone it in with bad guy cheesiness give the character a personality and voice number 4 if the villains got I'd reveal give'em henchmen we've all read stories where the villain of the novel is a mystery or maybe the villain is hidden within the cast and the reader has to try and figure it out it's your job as a writer to keep their identity hidden but still sprinkle in enough breadcrumbs that the reveal makes sense but there is one issue with this format your villains supposed to create conflict and how are they going to create conflict if they're not in 90 percent of the novel this is where henchmen come into play if you can't reveal your villain for a major chunk of the story you got to do the next best thing and have their associates do the work for them if your bad guy is the leader of an evil army have his soldiers wreak havoc if your villain is a killer Klown have the rest of the clown car [ __ ] [ __ ] up the readers need to believe that this person is a threat they need to feel that facing them would put the protagonist in real danger so if the villain can't make an appearance it's time to usher in the goon and lastly number 5 validate their shittiness I've read manuscripts where the characters discuss over and over again how bad the bad guy is and that's it that's all we get you mean they're just gonna say he's bad he's not gonna actually do bad things this isn't going to fly with the reader if anything is just going to frustrate them whether it's through their own actions or through their henchmen the villains got to throw their weight around and they got to do it early in the story this sets a precedent it lets both the reader and the protagonists know that this person isn't [ __ ] around you want the reader to take them seriously and that's not going to happen if people are just talking about how awful they are whoo he's so scary are you sure about that cuz I just think he's boring writers it's not enough that you establish a character as the bad guy you need to prove that status through deliberate actions with dire consequences that's all I got for you today a huge thank you to both Chris and Bek for all the love and support and for recommending this II will top it evil hey if you'd like the chance to have a blog dedicated to you and you want access to tons of other awesome rewards check me out on patreon I got the link listed below with that said don't forget to subscribe to my channel I post new videos on Wednesdays if the awakening is still available in eBook and paperback on Amazon right now you can also order a signed copy all the links are listed below and if you have any questions be sure to tweet me at generosity bye I love being even

Channel: Writing with Jenna Moreci

Views: 180,628

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Keywords: write, writer, writing, read, reader, reading, book, books, ebook, publish, publishing, humor, funny, laugh, laughter, comedy, motivation, inspiration, mentor, literature, novel, author, antagonist, villain, bad guy, evil

Id: VDw_BBhG9DI

Length: 6min 48sec (408 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 21 2017