Author Topic: Can't come up with a decent villain  (Read 9046 times)

Offline Flintlock

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 103
  • Black Council Intern
    • View Profile
Re: Can't come up with a decent villain
« Reply #30 on: April 27, 2010, 02:40:54 PM »
i can't help but think of how Mark Millar came up with a villain one of his comics

"What if Batman was a [jerk]"

Note: Millar said something faaaaaaar worse than jerk when he said that quote
Proxima est Mors

Offline trixsterjl

  • Participant
  • *
  • Posts: 16
    • View Profile
Re: Can't come up with a decent villain
« Reply #31 on: April 27, 2010, 03:05:53 PM »
 Perhaps your already too far into your story development with your main char. With the exception of books where the char. is already defined by previous media most of the best series i have read start with chars. that have no power or no knowledge of thier powers and discover a little as they go and grow and change with the storylines. It sounds like you have a fairly well defined main char, and it sounds like you could write several books just getting the main char to where you have it at. The bad guys could pretty easily flow from the quest to gain the power he has or the need to gain it to overcome them.

Offline the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh

  • O. M. G.
  • ***
  • Posts: 39098
  • Riding eternal, shiny and Firefox
    • View Profile
Re: Can't come up with a decent villain
« Reply #32 on: April 27, 2010, 04:45:20 PM »
Perhaps your already too far into your story development with your main char. With the exception of books where the char. is already defined by previous media most of the best series i have read start with chars. that have no power or no knowledge of thier powers and discover a little as they go and grow and change with the storylines.

That's because that's the easy way of doing things.

I applaud someone willing to try something harder.
Mildly OCD. Please do not troll.

"What do you mean, Lawful Silly isn't a valid alignment?"

kittensgame, Sandcastle Builder, Homestuck, Welcome to Night Vale, Civ III, lots of print genre SF, and old-school SATT gaming if I had the time.  Also Pandemic Legacy is the best game ever.

Offline kingaling

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 306
  • THE VOICES ARENT REAL, but have some good ideas
    • View Profile
Re: Can't come up with a decent villain
« Reply #33 on: April 27, 2010, 05:28:51 PM »
Thanks neurovore.

I'm not really the kind of person that's interested in introducing someone who doesn't have powers, giving them powers and then telling the story of them learning to use the powers.

I'm much more of "I think I'm gonna throw the reader kicking and screaming into this situation and see if they can fend for themselves." variety of writer. My character already has the power over demons, to manipulate them, to control them. But the question is, how well can he do that? The answer: not very well. I kind of think of him as someone who's been wrangling bulls for a year. Kind of a greenhorn at the doings of it, but competent and confident enough to that it will make for some interesting stories and circumstances.
Son of Blampira and father to the vampire in her sig.

"It's good to be King." - Mel Brooks

"I have an idea! An idea so smart my head would explode if I even began to know what I was talking about." - Peter Griffin

Offline Nickeris86

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 362
    • View Profile
Re: Can't come up with a decent villain
« Reply #34 on: April 27, 2010, 06:29:36 PM »
i just thought of an interesting villain archetype that you could potentially utilize in the long run of your story. the sidekick gone rough/evil.

now i don't mean that your character needs a sidekick, but if he has a best friend with no powers who is constantly reminded that he is just a squishy human stuck in the middle of all the scary stuff, its bound to cause some rifts in their friendship. especially if he finds away around his own squeamishness that turn him against the lead character. it would take a while for that to develop but well worth it in creating a driven antagonist that knows how your main character thinks and behaves emotionally. a very dangerous person no doubt.
In the darkest hour i shall be there.

Offline trboturtle

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 384
    • View Profile
    • Trboturtle's writing pad
Re: Can't come up with a decent villain
« Reply #35 on: April 30, 2010, 01:17:09 AM »
Who said you need just one villain or a group of villains? Use a combination of antagonists. Maybe there's TWO groups after the hero, one "Light" the other one "Dark" and both willing to go through the hero to complate their objective. Maybe it's a free for all, with every supernatural and mundane insider after the rings. Maybe another supernatural, non-demon is after the rings -- say a Vampire. Or maybe one of the demons has put the word out and arranged for the hero to be taken out so it can take the ring (and control of the other demons) for himself.

Craig
Author of 25+ stories for Battlecorps.com, the official website for Battletech canon stories.
Co-author of "Outcasts Ops: African Firestorm," "Outcast Ops: Red Ice," & "Outcast Ops: Watchlist"
http://thebattletechstate.blogspot.com

Offline The Corvidian

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 987
  • I like crows and ravens.
    • View Profile
Re: Can't come up with a decent villain
« Reply #36 on: May 04, 2010, 04:47:28 AM »
Here is another one, how about having one of the demons fall in love with him. This creature is not under his complete control, and it causes trouble to get his attention.
Clarke's Third Law: Sufficently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Niven's Converse to Clarke's 3rd Law: Sufficently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science.

Offline the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh

  • O. M. G.
  • ***
  • Posts: 39098
  • Riding eternal, shiny and Firefox
    • View Profile
Re: Can't come up with a decent villain
« Reply #37 on: May 04, 2010, 07:27:27 PM »
Here is another one, how about having one of the demons fall in love with him. This creature is not under his complete control, and it causes trouble to get his attention.

But why would anyone do a demon human enough to fall in love when interestingly alien demons are so much more fun ?
Mildly OCD. Please do not troll.

"What do you mean, Lawful Silly isn't a valid alignment?"

kittensgame, Sandcastle Builder, Homestuck, Welcome to Night Vale, Civ III, lots of print genre SF, and old-school SATT gaming if I had the time.  Also Pandemic Legacy is the best game ever.