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. 1. Name
  2. 2. Physical appearance
  3. 3. Background
  4. 4. Lair (Hut? Castle? Cave? Ship?)
  5. 5. What is the villain’s goal?
  6. 6. Attitude toward hero
  7. 7. How is the villain stronger than the hero?
  8. 8. How is the villain weak or vulnerable?
  9. 9. Why are the main character and the villain in conflict with each other?
  10. 10. Your Crowd Sorcery Sentence(s)

submitted by Fred Durbin
(April 23, 2014 - 11:54 am)

back to the Crowd Sorcery

Thanks!

submitted by Bounty, age 12, Crowd Sorcery
(June 29, 2014 - 10:29 am)

As soon as I posted this villain, I thought of about fifty things I want to change.  May I put up a new, revised version as a comment to the old one?

submitted by Bounty, age 12
(June 29, 2014 - 10:54 am)

Villians always make the story interesting.

1. Has no name, people refer to it as "Whisperer."

2. Can take any form of nature often appears as wind or shadows. But may inhabbit human bodies (though when doing so it acts very weird).

3. After loosing thousands to the Great Shang war, King Flinn decided to create an adviser who would always know best. He took the twelve highest advisers and transformed them into one being. After a while the Flinns' adviser saw that the world was a twisted place and declared to take it over and build it again in its image. Thousands disagreed with it, and it turned against them, becoming darkness.

4. It lives mostly down below, in an underground cavern.

5. To gain control of the world, destroy it, and remake it in its own darkness.

6. Thinks the hero is weak and not a threat to its plan. It also sees every person as an object to use as it wants.

7. Whisperer has ultimate knowledge, and can easily plan around "obstacles;" it also can confuse and twist minds.

8. It can be damaged when in the mind of someone else, and since it is many minds in one it can have trouble on deciding some things. It also underestimates the hero.

9. Hero wants the world to see him/her as a true hero, villian sees (later on) hero as the only flaw in its plan.

10. It was happening, Whisperer laughed, it had finally destroyed every flaw in its perfect plan. The world will be as wonderful as it should be. The Earth shook in terror.

submitted by E.m.i.l.y., age 12, Some Where, Indiana
(June 15, 2014 - 11:30 am)

Fascinating and scary villains! I'm getting chills reading about them! Excellent ideas here!

submitted by Fred D., Kiev, Ukraine
(June 16, 2014 - 4:21 am)

Thank you!

I like villains because, in real life, no one wants to be a villain. So you have to come up with why would this person become a villain? It also great because, if you make the villain more powerful than the hero, then there is a struggle and it makes the book more exciting!

submitted by E.m.i.l.y., age 12, Some Where, Indiana
(June 20, 2014 - 8:37 pm)

Hi everyone!

I just finished reading all of the villain entries. Great work! Keep them coming!

I had such fun reading about your heroines and heroes and even more fun sketching some of them. You'll see some of the drawings soon in both the print and digital editions of Cricket.  All of your ideas really sparked my imagination. As an artist, it's a wonderful feeling when you have so many ideas you almost can't put them down on paper fast enough. That is a testament to how interesting your characters are.

I can't wait to help bring your villains to life!

submitted by Emily Fiegenschuh, Edmonds, WA
(June 17, 2014 - 7:22 pm)

Can you sketch my villain? His name is Lycan. He's near the top of page 3. There are some more details about his appearance in the comments. PLEASE PLEASE THIS IS MY DREAM!!!!

 

I love the hero illustrations! 

 

THANK YOU!

submitted by Brooke E., age 11, Arkansas
(June 27, 2014 - 3:13 pm)

Dear Brooke E.,

Thank you so much for participating in Crowd Sorcery with several intriguing characters! I enjoyed reading about Lycan. He sounds charismatic, but scary! I am not sure yet if I will be sketching him.

I want to emphasize how much Fred and I have loved reading everyone's excellent ideas. I really wish I had time to illustrate all of your characters, but if Fred and the editors waited for me to finish, I'm afraid Crowd Sorcery would grind to a halt!

You are all so creative, I bet many of you have some great ideas about how your character or even another writer's character looks. I would encourage anyone who is interested to bring to life your own artistic versions of these characters.

submitted by Emily Fiegenschuh, Edmonds, WA
(June 29, 2014 - 10:40 pm)

Thanks! I love the artwork you did for the heroes :)

submitted by Brooke E., age 11, Arkansas
(June 30, 2014 - 8:19 pm)

How did you pick which heroes to draw?

submitted by Bounty, age 12
(June 29, 2014 - 11:06 am)

Dear Bounty,

As you might have read in Fred's introduction to the "Vote for Heroes" thread, we had the difficult task of narrowing down all of your excellent character submissions to a smaller group that we could put up for a vote.

That was similar to the way I chose which characters to sketch. The admins, editors, and I all made lists of some of our favorites. From those lists, several characters we had each written down overlapped. It was that group of characters from which I picked.

When it was time for me to sit down and work on the sketches, I reread all of the character descriptions and Crowd Sorcery sentences from my list. The characters I had pictured most vividly in my mind were the ones I decided to put down on paper.

I love bringing characters to life, whether they are characters I have created myself or those imagined by a writer. There were so many more Crowd Sorcery characters I would have loved to draw, but unfortunately my time was limited and I couldn't illustrate them all.

There are some additional drawings that did not make it into the print or digital editions of Cricket. With the permission of the editors and admins, perhaps I can share these at some later point during Crowd Sorcery.

submitted by Emily Fiegenschuh, Edmonds, WA
(June 29, 2014 - 10:43 pm)

1. Chase Blithen

2. Charming. Has blond curly hair, firm jaw, pale blue eyes, strong build, and has a scar on his lips.

3. Born into wealth, he still worked for everything and shared what he had. He had a good heart, and was perfect in every way. When the time came for his father to choose an heir (to the crown maybe?) his father couldn't decide and had them go through a number of tests (one of which scared Chase for life) to see which was better. After winning the same amount of tests, the father chose Chase's older sibling. Chase was heartbroken. Seeing after all his hard work, having not even the smallest of rewards, Chase gave up. He never cared about good or bad, or anything else.

4. Lives in an abandoned castle.

5. Wants the hero (his older sibling) to be burned just like he was. Also wants the world to know that there is no meaning in working hard for something, becuse you won't get it anyway.

6. Feels like the hero is weaker than him but more powerful. When he is around the hero he feels useless

7. Chase is stronger than the hero, and dosen't care if others get hurt if it means he gets what he wants.

8. Chase's mind melts down when he is around hero. He isn't mindful of if what he does helps the hero overpower him.

9. Chase feels he has been cheated of what he deserves and wants the hero to feel what he feels. He also wants to gain his lost prize.

10. "Why, why? You know why. You are the cheater who won the prize, you are pathetic. You killed my spirit," Chase howled. He raised the sword above his head, ready to strike, but instead he dropped it, gave one last glare, and held out a single piece of paper. (hero) carefully took it, and Chase ran, leaving behind the only proof of his right to the throne.

submitted by E.m.i.l.y., age 12, Some Where, Indiana
(June 18, 2014 - 1:08 pm)
  1. 1. Name: Margaret O'Shanahan
  2. 2. Physical appearance: green eyes, red curly hair, average height, looks about 18
  3. 3. Background: Her father, Sean O'Shanahan, was the fiercest pirate on the seas.  When she was born, he was so disappointed she wasn't a boy to carry on his legacy that he ignored her and just kept telling her she wasn't good enough to be a pirate.  She ran away when she was 14 to try to prove him wrong.  Four years later, she's the fiercest pirate not just on water but on land too as her ship has been given the ability to fly.  And nothing can stand in her way.
  4. 4. Lair (Hut? Castle? Cave? Ship?): Her lair is a ship named "Bonny Blue". One time, she tricked a sorceror into giving it the ability to fly, so it can now go over the land as well as the water.  She rides around the world of the story with her crew, bringing terror with her wherever she goes.
  5. 5. What is the villain’s goal?: To prove to her father that she can be the best pirate out there since he's still not convinced after these four long years.
  6. 6. Attitude toward hero: The hero is the first person she has come across that she has not been able to outwit or charm with her good looks and she resents that. She sees the hero as an obstacle to her goal as she can't possibly be the best pirate if she can't bring him down.
  7. 7. How is the villain stronger than the hero?: Her reputation is enormous and she has a fiercely loyal crew of hundreds.  She is incredibly manipulative and knows how to turn almost anyone in her favor.
  8. 8. How is the villain weak or vulnerable?: She has a big ego. The easiest way to beat her would be to either appeal to her hubris or her father.
  9. 9. Why are the main character and the villain in conflict with each other?: The hero needs something from her for a quest and Margaret needs to beat them to keep her status as the best pirate out there.
  10. 10. Your Crowd Sorcery Sentence(s):
  11. The village still tells stories of her, the terror of the "Bonny Blue". It's been years since the Blue floated in, but they all remember her. How when she stepped out, her red curls spilling from her hat, she looked even prettier than Elizabeth Collins, the prettiest girl in town. How Elizabeth's betrothed took one look at her and ran away to become a pirate. Whenever you pass Elizabeth now, she still weeps and screams her name out, "Margaret O'Shanahan!"
submitted by Melody, age 15, Disney
(June 19, 2014 - 12:34 pm)

Shoot, I should have used the name Kyra B. to submit the character.  If Margaret is chosen, can you credit it to Kyra B. for me?

submitted by Melody/ Kyra B., age 15, Disney
(June 21, 2014 - 8:12 pm)

1. Khaos

2. He is the spirit of a wicked sorcerer who died in an attempt to rid the kingdom of those who opposed him. He can make himself look like various animals when traveling low-profile but is usually in human form. He is around six feet tall with a disturbingly handsome figure. He has slicked back deep brown hair and reddish brown eyes. He tends to strike an imposing figure in any situation.

3. Khaos used to be a young sorcerer by name of Lif Kann. He grew up in a shack with a drunken father and distant mother. He grew up highly intelligent and resented everyone but himself. He eventually grew to loathe the government and, vowing to change it, vanished. Eight years later he led a vicious army to attack the kingdom. Being the new king of the monsters in the army, he adopted the name Khaos. In one climactic battle, he was killed in the middle of a huge battle that wiped out his monsters.

4. A huge, ancient cave -- it is a shrine for worshipping Mael-Koth, the pagan god of death.

5. To kill the son/daughter of the man who killed him in battle, as he believes that some monsters will allow him to be their leader after that. He believes that he will save the kingdom by becoming its ruler.

6. See number 5.

7. He has determination and incredible magical power.

8. He is conceited and vicious. 

9. See number 5. 

submitted by Brooke E., age 11, Arkansas
(June 20, 2014 - 2:49 pm)
« first‹ previous123456789…next ›last »