Places to Chat
Villain
Chatterbox: Crowd Sorcery
Villain
Villain
Note: You have until Monday, July 7, to create a villain in time for voting. Go here to see the schedule.
One of the most effective ways to be sure a story will have conflict that keeps readers breathlessly turning pages is to introduce a villain—someone whose goals collide head-on with the main character’s goals. We fantasy readers can all think of unforgettable villains from our favorite stories, those scary or relentless opponents that make life so difficult for the hero or heroine.
Villains need more than special magical powers to become so memorable that they haunt our imaginations; they also need as much personality and feeling as the hero. In actual life, almost no one ever sets out to become a villain. Perhaps your villain is desperate to protect her homeland, or family, or dragon. Perhaps the villain’s very life is at stake. There must always be a why, a solid reason behind the evil the villain does so that it makes sense—at least to him or her.
Usually the plot will unfold if you can figure out the relationship of the villain to the main character and what the villain wants. For instance, in thinking about Quill, my heroine who comes out only in moonlight, I might wonder who cast the original spell on her grandmother and why. I’ll imagine it was a monstrous spirit-witch, Gershardt, who lives in a cavern beneath a pool in the forest. Gershardt’s spells can steal someone’s daytime essence, enabling her to take on a human form, leave the pool, and walk about in the world of mortals. But her spell fades over time so she is trying to steal Quill’s nighttime essence, too—although that would make Quill vanish forever.
In my example the stakes are high: the villain wants to continue living in the physical world, and so does the main character—whichever of them loses will disappear!
I might write for my Crowd Sorcery Sentences: “Gnarled hands rose from the water and gripped a tree root, followed by bony arms and a streaming tangle of white hair. Old Gershardt crept from the pool and stood dripping and frosty in the moonlight, blinking into the shadows with her pale blue eyes, chuckling through her toothless mouth.”
When I write, I try to keep in mind that, from the villain’s point of view, he or she is the true main character of the story, and it is the hero or heroine that is in the way.
- 1. Name
- 2. Physical appearance
- 3. Background
- 4. Lair (Hut? Castle? Cave? Ship?)
- 5. What is the villain’s goal?
- 6. Attitude toward hero
- 7. How is the villain stronger than the hero?
- 8. How is the villain weak or vulnerable?
- 9. Why are the main character and the villain in conflict with each other?
- 10. Your Crowd Sorcery Sentence(s)
submitted by Fred Durbin
(April 23, 2014 - 11:54 am)
(April 23, 2014 - 11:54 am)
UGH 1 DAY
(July 10, 2014 - 6:27 pm)
So excited for tomorrow I'm going to come online right after I get home!!!!!!!
Good luck all entrants!!!!!
(July 10, 2014 - 10:11 pm)
Name: Lady Blow
Physical appearance: Tall sleek body with pale blue tinted skin and white long hair that is almost clear
Background: When she was a young lass her parents were murdered and she was left to fend for herself but when her parents were murdered she was at the town market and when she came home she couldn't find her parents so she thought they had left her and she takes the anger from the death of her parents and channels magic so strong she can't control her self when someone says her real name Skye...
Lair: A cloud is her house but instead of being a cloud in the sky she lives in a cloud that's dark as night and as deep into the ground as possible.
Goal for Lady Blow : destroy anyone and anything that knows about her past or future and destroy anyone related to the murderer.
Attitude to hero and heroine/ conflict between hero, heroine, and villain: The attitude that Lady Blow has to the twin hero and heroine is the son and daughter of the murderer but they say their father did it for a good reason so Lady Blow wants revenge on them.
Villain stronger than heroes: Lady Blow is stronger than the hero and heroine because she can control any part of the sky.
Heroes stronger than villain: Lady Blows only weakness is her past if anyone mentions anything about her past she will be powerless to them for several minutes.
_________________________________________________________________________________
From out of the blue stepped our oldest nemesis Lady Blow, her face angry and as our eyes fell upon her.
(July 10, 2014 - 8:39 pm)
1) Name
Kino (it means "bad" in Maori)
2) Physical appearance
Kino is extremely beautiful. She has long, black hair that falls down her back in waves. Her amber eyes sparkle with menace and shine like topaz. Kino's flawless skin is coffee colored and she has the ability to turn into a gryphon.
3) Background
Kino really has no reason to be evil. Oh wait, I forgot: when she was a child, she was playing outside with her five siblings and parents when she became engaged in the first battle of her life. It brought the death of all of her family except her brother. He soon went away to live with their aunts. Kino, a lone survivor, was left all alone with a feel of revenge. (It turns out that the leader of the attack was the main character, although Kino did'nt know it at the time.)
4) Lair
Kino now resides in a network of underground tunnels, somewhat like the Labyrinth from Greek Mythology (created by Daedalus).
5)Kino's goal is to seek out revenge on the main character. She does not yet know what she will do or how she'll do it, but will soon.
6) Attitude toward the hero
Kino's attitude toward the hero is unforgiving and cruel. Her heart hasn't completely frozen yet, though. She still believes that their is hope and that once the hero kills her will join her family in the afterlife.
7) The villain is stronger than the hero because of her logic. She is the best at solving problems and riddles in her family (dead & alive). She can use this as a weapon against the hero.
8) Kino is tough, but has one weakness: her inability to see past the grief and anger that now blinds her. All she wanted was revenge, but should've seen a logical reason that would solve her problem. Also if she knew a little more about her family's past that involved the main character, she would've known why half her family was no longer with her...
9) It's kind of obvious.
(July 10, 2014 - 8:51 pm)
Hey entering stopped on the 7th.
(July 11, 2014 - 8:19 am)
I didn't think anyone else liked Warrior cats on here, but yay!
(July 11, 2014 - 9:00 am)
How do you vote?
(July 11, 2014 - 8:18 am)
They'll put in a thread for villain voting soon.
(July 11, 2014 - 11:12 am)
Princess Orla, born of the power of ice has to face being good or who she is destined to be... The Snow Queen. Then one day she accidentally kills the most powerful witch of all Aunt En. Then now her destiny is cealed into darkness. As the be the Snow Queen.
Her physical appearance is snow white hair, light blue eyes, and very pale skin.
Her liar is in a ice castle she made when younger.
Her goal is to make eternal winter across the world. And if someone tries to stop her they'll be in big trouble.
Her attitude torwards the hero is simply cold and ferocious, she won't stop until all of her enimies are frozen solid in her catsle's thrown room.
She is stronger than the hero because her power to control ice.
She is not that vunreable. She is always on high alert. Unless you somehow get her to turn into a liquid than she is vulnearable.
The hero wants to stop eternal winter. Orla won't let that happen.
(July 25, 2014 - 11:47 am)
Let it go........
(November 7, 2014 - 4:07 pm)
I'm probably way too late, but in case you want to do another story like this, here's my idea. How about a 100 foot high dragon named Xenogan? (He likes to wipe out entire civilizations.)
(August 3, 2014 - 5:00 pm)
I have something you can do. Maybe everyone thinks that Xenogan is a living dragon, but he's actually a incredibly advanced automaton controlled by people inside of Xenogan's body.
(November 7, 2014 - 4:35 pm)
1. Annabelle (Anna) Keller
2. dark, has curly brown hair hair, icy blue eyes, freckles, pale skin, loves black and red
3. she is the sister of the hero and has magic and does evil things with it but wants to be good but forced to be bad
4. she has a dark castle
5. she wants people to think of her as the good guy
6. she is protective about it and hides it alot kind of mean to the hero too
7. she is a vampire/witch
8. the villian has a soft spot for her love
9. in the past the main charcter said she was a horrble person and spread lies about her and that wasn't even really the main character it was his/her friend
10. ?
(September 3, 2014 - 5:36 pm)
She is very tall and thin and has extremely long limbs.
(September 4, 2014 - 10:47 pm)
1. Seja
2. Female, short hair [pixie cut], darkish skin. blue eyes.
3. Grew up on her own after leaving abusive parents. self-sufficient for most of her life. Eventually got a job and worked her way up the magical hierarchy after stumbling across a few basic how-to books. Not immediately apparent that she is the villain. Her distant ancestor is Loki, which causes a few problems [see #5]
4. Owns a house in a city near where she works as an assistant to the Queen's court as a magician and general advisor. Secret basement full of ominous tools and magic books, of course.
5. She doesn't have a goal. She just likes causing chaos. See note about distant ancestor - that's because of him.
6. Disdainful of hero[ine] because they try to stop/prevent the mess she eventually causes everywhere and she thinks chaos is part of the natural order of things.
7. Stronger in terms of raw power and probably intelligence of obscure magical areas.
8. Not actually a bad person. Just likes to do things that end up causing murder and mayhem. Can be reasoned with and possibly talked down if they manage to get her to listen long enough. Not veyr likely, though.
9. The hero[ine] thinks that what she is doing is wrong and starts doing their best to stop her.
10.[I think it would be super cool to have a book from the villain's perspective].
"But how is this possible?"
"I surely don't know, your Majesty." Seja still had her head inclined in a bow, not meeting the Queen's no doubt steely, incredulous gaze. "But the rebels in the eastern sect-"
"I heard you the first time," Queen Mehjara said sharply. "I simply do not believe it. They were peaceful the last time I was there - what could have changed?"
"With all due respect, majesty, your last visit to the east was a month ago."
"This is still a rather drastic change." Mehjara sat back in her chair. "Go, Seja. I expect the problem to be dealt with by this time tomorrow."
"It will be done." Seja bowed out of the room and set off along the corridor towards the barracks where the Queen's soldiers, the Mehedina, spent their time when not stationed elsewhere. The grin that she had been supressing finally broke through, a smile that was not entirelt comforting, and in fact might have sent anyone who saw it going the other way, or at least giving Seja a wide berth.
It had, of course, been Seja who stirred up the old feelings of rebellion and discontent in the east. Peacetime was so boring, and even life as personal advisor and confidant to the Queen of Mossau was not interesting enough to keep her attention.
Seja loved chaos, something she often cheerfully blamed on her distant ancestor, who was none other than the God of Mischief himself. Family history was never quite sure when Loki had added himself to the picture, but they all agreed that he showed up every once in a while and remarried into the line to keep the magic - and their love of chaos - fresh.
And Seja, by all apparent accounts, was not just his descendant but his granddaughter, and she intended to make him proud.
(September 5, 2014 - 5:51 pm)