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Q: SD, Why do
stories have to have a villain?
A: They don’t.
Depending on the type of story you are writing, having a bad guy or girl isn’t
actually necessary. Although, I must say that having someone everyone is
rooting to lose at the end makes life easier and simplifies both yours and your
readers' emotions, blurring the lines is always a wonderful ride on both sides
of the velvet rope (a term to describe
the line separating the audience from the entertainers or entertainment).
Who Done It(s) are famous for
blurring the line where you don’t know who the bad person is until the very
end. Even the stories where you are on board with the person who you believe is
good until you hear the reason why they are constantly doing (what is considered the right thing to do)
until you realize that they have no flexibility in their thought process and
are actually a tyrant or mad man (woman).
Sometimes good intentions aren’t actually good. I hope this helps. SD
Q: SD, Why is it
funny when good characters are embarrassed, but a tragedy when the same thing
happens to a villain?
A: That’s all determined in the mind of the author. For me
(disclaimer) a good character uses
the embarrassment as something to overcome where the villain use embarrassment
as their reason to do bad things. the good character is normally embarrassed by
a person who knows they likes something or someone all because they feel the
good person is trying to show everyone that they are better than them. Because
of the embarrassment, the good character is finally noticed by the person they
like. Now that person sees the good character in a different light where they
had once not seen them at all and the one who had caused the embarrassment no
longer is seen by everyone as someone who is special. I know this is a simple
ideology, but it works. The same thing can be said about the bad person, but if
you throw in that they also just wish to be left alone or prefer to be alone,
then you have the makings of a believable villain (or at the least a good place to start). No matter how you look at
it, good characters overcome adversity were bad characters seek revenge through
destruction. I hope this helps. SD
Q: SD, I got into an
argument with a friend (co-author)
about what is most important in our story and what events we need to go into
deeper detail. (More Written). How do
we solve this small problem?
A: The problem isn’t small and a consensus has to be made.
Reading your question reminds me of an old saying (several actually). You can have the best plans in the world drawn
up, but once the first shot is fired, the plan goes out the window. I
understand sticking to your guns on matters that you consider a deal breaker
and so does your friend. If the two of you can’t agree, then agree to disagree
and throw both ideas into personal Magic Boxes (Shameless Plug) and use the idea in a manuscript of your own. With
both of you removing what the two of you will never settle on and approaching
the event in a different way, it should end the argument. Another way to settle
disagreements when working with a co-author is for each of you to come up with
three ideas each on a given event or character’s trait and see which one(s) are closely related and meld both
ideas together. There are many ways to settle a disagreement, but remaining
steadfast and unyielding will never have positive movement towards a continued
blissful collaboration or the end of the story. It’s OK to argue one point over
another, but it’s never good to threaten to end everything if your way isn’t
adopted. I hope this helps and the two of you can work through this…
misunderstanding. SD
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