Writing Hack! Writing Dynamic Villains

Today's writing hack is to help you write more layered and complex antagonists, love interests and side characters! Think of the villain as the hero of their own story. Really, every person is the main character of their own story.

This is something to bear in mind in a first draft, but it's a particularly useful revision tool.

#Authortube #WritingHack

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[samanthajungers]

I had a lightning strike moment in my last round of revisions. I was attempting to come up with a last name for my villain, and I had settled on one when I realized another character already had that last name. I was about to change it, when I realized it totally worked that the characters would be related. I’m not going to specify their relationship, but it adds so much to both characters.

[PhoebeWritesFiction]

I love trying to develop villains as the heroes of their own story, to the extent that when it comes to the climax and the antagonist's motivation fully comes into focus, I almost want the reader and protagonist to question - just for a second - whether actually the villain could be right (or justified, or redeemable). Ultimately that isn't the case, but where the villain's ideology and backstory is truly compelling, that makes for more interesting dilemmas for reader and protagonist.

[shanenanigans]

I love making family history for my characters! (Even though the history may not come up in the story)

[lunaraydue]

I'm so excited about the antagonists in my current project, especially the one that is definitely a villain and does terrible things and kills people but has very complex reasons and a tragic past. The main character, who spends like almost half the book trying to kill them, has to team up with them to deal with a Worse villain that happens to be manipulating them. There's also an "antagonist" who really wants to help the MC and convince her to leave the path she's on, but MC perceives her as shallow and selfish when she's trying desperately to be the opposite. I have a Lot of plans.

[santanasg]

I always try to do that with all of my “secondary” important characters- try and think, “okay, how would they tell it/ feel if they were the protagonist; it also helps finding the importance of the character, and if their voice or presence is really needed

[TheWordNrd]

I feel so called out. 😂 I know all my villains motivations, but I still think he comes off a little flat. Which means I probably need to do some writing from his POV.

[JoeyPaulOnline]

This is really good advice. I think back to my earlier works and I realise that I've grown as a writer since those days because the villian/antagonist ends up with a story. They're not just the bad boss, they have reasonings and thoughts and feelings and all the rest. As usual, a great video. Happy writing Alexa!

[tavonwright]

I've run into this problem often with my own villains and love interests. Even though I try to aim to make them three-dimensional fleshed out characters, they always end up being either bland, Hallmark movie love interests, or Saturday morning cartoon villains. Your writing hack has certainly given me a lot to think about for this year's NaNoWriMo project, as well as other future projects. Thanks!

[gjori]

Thank you for this. Thank you for all of the tips you're giving, and all the videos you're making, because they really help me, and I kinda just swallow up everything you say like a sponge.

[margaretwhittaker]

I love this one! I've been having trouble with my antagonist and this definitely helps. Thanks for all the tips.

[phoenimatix]

Imagine finding two books, hoth almost completely different in story but then you find out both books are the same story but one ids from the antagonists perspective

[eilidhis]

Figuring out my villain is one of the hardest parts of NaNoWriMo prep so far. 😈 Thanks for this video.

[cleopatra]

Great help, once again. Can’t thank you enough!

[macronencer]

In a short story I'm writing I have an antagonist whose mother killed herself, and her actions before that event are the main reason for his character flaws. However, at the moment I'm struggling because I have to reveal this information near the end to avoid a pointless middle, so I do have a monologue. I need to fix that! It's tricky to get that kind of complexity into a 'short' story (in this case, almost 13k words!)

What do you do if an antagonist isn't even human? Monster stories fit into that context. My shelved first novel even has a demon who represents 'all the evil in the world', and therefore doesn't even need a reason to act evil. It was one of many things about that novel that painted me into a corner...

[devdevlin]

Your content is always gold! 💖Just want to say thank you.

[myahg]

You should do a "all about my novel" video!! I'd love to hear about the stories youre creating

[LauratheHun]

This really helped. Keep these videos coming!!!

[HannahKimLawrence]

I love this video, such great advice!

[AMoniqueOcampo]

Somebody watched Infinity War. It's basically why Thanos works so well as a villain. I still hate his guts, but everything you said applies to him.

[Artsingitup]

My main character is an " i'm doing this because i love you" antagonist to someone else's story and ends up ruining the her life, even though she had good intentions.