tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post1660153431876610737..comments2024-03-27T10:02:56.747-04:00Comments on Fiction University: I'm Not Evil: Writing from the Antagonist's Point of ViewJanice Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02356672149097741248noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-7660746135745411682021-01-10T07:24:21.991-05:002021-01-10T07:24:21.991-05:00Very. It's such a cliché now Pixar gave it a n...Very. It's such a cliché now Pixar gave it a name, lol. Janice Hardyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02356672149097741248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-37174319596816702312021-01-07T08:56:29.697-05:002021-01-07T08:56:29.697-05:00It always seems a bit odd when the villain expound...It always seems a bit odd when the villain expounds his reasons at the end. V.M.Sanghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02587346074785148671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-23809093239462822312016-08-09T08:02:10.135-04:002016-08-09T08:02:10.135-04:00I like that theory! Makes a lot of sense.I like that theory! Makes a lot of sense.Janice Hardyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02356672149097741248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-52272841411180053182016-08-09T08:01:30.684-04:002016-08-09T08:01:30.684-04:00-grin--grin-Janice Hardyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02356672149097741248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-70203604576962446182016-08-05T20:31:09.216-04:002016-08-05T20:31:09.216-04:00Love this post! Especially if you're writing a...Love this post! Especially if you're writing about one of those villains who falls from heroism, getting into the antagonist's head this way seems like it would be really useful.<br /><br />I like stories that feature some of the antagonist's perspective early on in the book. I often wonder if maybe the reason villains stereotypically monologue once they have the hero captured (apart from giving them time to escape) is because the author didn't have time to give them any characterization beforehand. Visible bad guys are more fun. :)Laurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15725049899131699912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-11427217486592537862016-08-05T13:44:14.463-04:002016-08-05T13:44:14.463-04:00Thanks for reposting. I followed the link to the &...Thanks for reposting. I followed the link to the "10 ways to make a great antagonist" and was going to put it on my class wiki (teaching writing again. Yeah!) and found it was already there. :) Great minds think alike--or something like that! Carol Baldwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10444182118975929045noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-33827926439369998602016-08-05T11:57:54.653-04:002016-08-05T11:57:54.653-04:00This is great advice! I don't have any scenes ...This is great advice! I don't have any scenes my series antagonist's POV yet, but I used an idea that I either read here or over at Kristen Lamb's blog, about plotting from the antagonist's perspective, and it really solidified the arc for the series. <br /><br />What my antagonist is trying to do, what the protagonists *think* she's trying to do, how it changes and escalates... <br /><br />What I'm hoping to do, when she does get scenes in her POV in book 2, is show that she's doing all these terrible things not because she's evil, but because she loves her people and wants to protect them from what she is convinced is a threat, not greed, or personal gain. <br /><br />Fingers crossed that it works... Nicole Montgomeryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05965868885700569766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-28536835329107994932015-02-11T06:52:41.383-05:002015-02-11T06:52:41.383-05:00I'm currently writing a script for my comic bo...I'm currently writing a script for my comic book series and there are a number of villains that pop up in it throughout the series. One of the early ones is a vampire (it's a horror/supernatural themed comic). Real ugly looking fellow and ruthless when it comes to the blood drinking process, but when it comes to turning others into vampires he can be really picky. He seeks strong people, warriors, leaders. He sees his condition not as a curse, but a gift. He sees vampirism as a sort of "natural progression", a new stage in evolution, so to speak. One of the primary protagonists is suffering from his own kind of curse and has done evil things while under his own alter ego's influence, and this vampire preys on this and yet sympathizes with him.<br /><br />Long story short, the vampire makes one hell of a convincing argument, using the protagonist's own faults and past misdeeds against him. Naturally he does not see himself as a bad guy and even uses the line about glass houses and those that throw stones while in them.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03791585632810600704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-42321611277272387202012-05-07T07:18:48.343-04:002012-05-07T07:18:48.343-04:00Heather, sounds like my kind of antagonist! The ba...Heather, sounds like my kind of antagonist! The bad guys can be so much fun.Janice Hardyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02356672149097741248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-44125707633767989122012-04-16T11:08:47.928-04:002012-04-16T11:08:47.928-04:00Great post. I heartily agree.
I've recently a...Great post. I heartily agree.<br /><br />I've recently added my antagonist's POV and I'm finding it so elucidating. The things that go on inside his head and the skewed way he rationalizes it all! He's more sympathetic when you can see the evil is prompted by madness.Heather O'Connorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13853422535855029569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-43607392168109661222010-01-24T08:22:51.696-05:002010-01-24T08:22:51.696-05:00I've always loved villains. A good bad guy is ...I've always loved villains. A good bad guy is a thing of beauty. I'll have to do a villain book one day, though no clue what that might be!Janice Hardyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02356672149097741248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-47537574923193958882010-01-23T11:41:58.190-05:002010-01-23T11:41:58.190-05:00This is such great advice. Even if you don't w...This is such great advice. Even if you don't write any of your story from your antagonist's pov, you have to understand him/her like your other characters. And like you say, he/she has to want what they want for some reason that makes them think they are right. Otherwise they are just evil for the sake of being evil and are not very interesting characters and your story lacks depth.Natalie Aguirrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03756087804171246660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-89092914660968250902010-01-22T16:17:02.186-05:002010-01-22T16:17:02.186-05:00This is such great advice. Writing from my antagon...This is such great advice. Writing from my antagonist's pov, I've found that I *empathize* with him. Although I don't agree with his methods, making his goals rational ones have made him a deeper, more interesting character. That, in turn, gives depth to the story. Right on, Janice!A.B. Fennerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14840798418316872130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-62392598232332823192010-01-22T14:32:34.135-05:002010-01-22T14:32:34.135-05:00*small voice* I did this with my NaNoWriMo projec...*small voice* I did this with my NaNoWriMo project this past year.<br /><br />*gulps*<br /><br />Most characters were brats, aristocrats, lunatics, pragmatists, sociopaths, or some combination of them. The hero/villain was a pragmatic sociopath who in and of himself freaked me out to work with. I sometimes felt like curling up and hiding from him in my closet. A friend later told me later that it had given her the creeps just to hear about him.<br /><br />So just a warning... if you're going to dive into the head of someone who's seriously psycho, make sure to do it in fragments for the sake of your own comfort and sanity.<br /><br />And this coming from someone who considers Evanescence and Within Tempation good music for when she's <em>happy</em>.Carradeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05431561739001270522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-942451167640680012010-01-22T09:21:06.868-05:002010-01-22T09:21:06.868-05:00I like this post! Writing from the antagonist'...I like this post! Writing from the antagonist's perspective can be a really valuable tool for developing the story even when the antagonist's point of view won't be appearing in the main narrative, i.e. even when it's just an exercise. Knowing how the bad guy thinks can totally change how you write his/her behavior. <br /><br />A narrative that uses both hero/ine and antagonist viewpoints can create tension by utilizing a sense of confidentiality between the writer and reader. It doesn't necessarily give things away.Juliette Wadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-81228985686716712782010-01-22T09:17:24.800-05:002010-01-22T09:17:24.800-05:00That's something I'm trying to do with my ...That's something I'm trying to do with my antagonist. I wasn't going to write in his POV, but since none of my protagonists will have any interaction with him until the end, I was struggling to get across the threat he posed. Since he isn't to be the mystery villain anyway, I decided to write his viewpoint to increase the sense of threat, show him setting things in motion that may not have any direct or immediate relevance to the protags until later.<br /><br />I'm finding it easier to understand him and figure out what he would do now that I'm trying to get inside his head. I'm not quite sure I'm there yet, but I'm making progress in solidifying the vague ideas I'd created him with. I've also "discovered" a whole slew of information about him which clarifies his motivations. He's more real in my head now.Jaleh Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04942272578488986874noreply@blogger.com