A Villainous Balance

20 January 2010 | Filed Under Tales from the Author's Desk 

In my planning, I’m having trouble coming up with a proper antagonist. Since I know this is a common complaint, I’ve decided to open the floor to debate.

I can’t just have a villain. I need a proper villain. Someone who is going to spend every iota of strength they have to screw over my protagonists. They can’t be too strong, or my book will never end; but by the same token, they can’t be too weak, or there’s no point in having the book at all. What, then, is the perfect villainous balance?

A bona fide villain isn’t required, really. Man vs. Nature/Technology/God/terrifying-mix-of-all-three can totally fit the bill. Heck, Jane Austen just uses selfish scoundrels and daunting relatives for her antagonists. And why not use them in a book centered on relationships?

But where does that leave my novel? It’s Regency, so I can have the usual slimy scallawags and horrid in-laws. But it’s also Fantasy, which usually requires a villain. I think all of my previous stories have had a legit bad guy. For this novel, I’m going to avoid the “take over the world” types, of course, but what will fit my needs? A person? An artifact? A dark force of some sort, such as spirits?

The best idea might be to just write and see where the story takes me. Perhaps my scoundrels and in-laws will develop magical tendencies all on their own. But I’ve gotten into the habit lately of planning at least major events. To be honest, I used to write off the cuff, but doing so now terrifies me. As far as this post is concerned, what if it turns out that my villains aren’t up to scratch? Or are so powerful they leave nothing of my main characters but a scratch?

In my last novel (the yet to be revised one), I think my antagonist was too powerful. So I limited him. Turned out, I had limited him too much, but I found a way to get around it, thankfully. Still not sure if that’s worked out to my satisfaction yet. That will come about in the future editing process, hopefully.

So. How do you deal with your villains and that evil balancing act?

Comments

3 Responses to “A Villainous Balance”

  1. Sara on January 20th, 2010 8:12 pm

    evil forces, evil forces! and then have minions, or people who are servants of the evil forces. i love the whole “crows are bad” thing, or something like that. then you can use the tiniest detail to be the give away that the bad guys know what’s going on and they’re going to show up soon to mess things up for the good guys! ahhh! so good!

  2. jajohnson7 on January 20th, 2010 8:15 pm

    hahaha what’s the “crows are bad” thing? Is that like in the lame excuse for a movie Prisoner of Azkaban, where the crows in the courtyard are supposed to be ominous?

  3. Sara on January 22nd, 2010 10:17 pm

    lol i was thinking more about crows in the dark is rising and lotr – but more broadly the sorts of critters that can be interpreted as “eyes” for the evil forces, informants etc.

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    Hi, I'm Jenn, new grad student and old YA fantasy writer. I've long dreamed of being a novelist, and I bet you have too. I hope you find my blog helpful, inspiring, and maybe just a little bit fun. (But not too much fun. Writing is serious business, you know.)

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