Less than a year ago I wrote this: Villains 1882 and promptly forgot about it.
Age, decrepitude, life’s problems commandeering center stage — you know, excuses.
Then, having begun YAAS (yet another apocalyptic story) I found myself stumbling along, hero in mind, a theme, a setting, an era but, I struggled to jell the story in my mind. I poured out a few thousand words and what? Where was I going with this? Weeks went by…
And then, along came a villain.
There we are. There’s the damn story, replete with subplots, conflict, goal, and climax. All I needed to do was to follow my own bloody advice. Sure, create a compelling protagonist chock full of angst and potential but, shite-on-a-stick, what the hell will he/she do then?
Oh, right. FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT AGAINST THE BAD GUY.
You wanna meet this new villain? Think you’re gutsy enough to confront — her? Well, you’re gonna have to wait, friends. She’s not happy right now. In fact, she’s down right pissed. It seems an illness has cursed her with a trademark brand. That, and the ability to impose an ungodly, brain-jarring, mind fuck on anyone who displeases her. A strange gift and the intellect to use it.
Finally, a VILF.
Anonymole - apocryphal agitators 
Blatant sexism is to be avoifded at all costs, just sayin’. And all this motivation bullshit is exactly that. Character “dimensionality” and all that. I find it’s better if the bad guys and the good guys are hard to tell apart. You can have your main characters in conflict with a crew of baddies who are in conflict with themselves and a good guy along for the ride, or maybe a baddie. The Patty Hearst syndrome villains. Are they willing or along for the ride?
And that character thing women as well as men, stay out of Romance Novel territory and write them as they are and let THAT describe them. We get off into writerly descriptives and that shit becomes quicksand.
However, good to see you had a thought. Those are rare these days. I blame sunspots and talking heads news shows.
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This YAAS is not lookin’ like a viable story line re: my ability to give-a-shit long enough to write it through. Struggled for 2k words this weekend and did not enjoy them.
Might be my general apathy has polluted my writerly being. I’d the codification of a bad-guy might see me through. Hero’s Journey and all that.
If I don’t have some sort of framework to writing within, I’m all over the friggin map. Just look at this blog site: A hundred different topics. I’m like 10 Second Tom.
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I’ll send you my adverb free YA thought. Villainess kills guys with the deadly hickey. I have the kids, mostly, but what’s her motivation?
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Lmao @ “VILF” 🤣
I don’t write stories but I have created gaming adventures for my peers (though largely just for my wife now) for 40 years and the maxim is true in the game, as well. Once I nail down the bad guy, really nail down the bad guy, stories start to write themselves.
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Hero’s Journey is another factor in framing the stories I’ve been writing. One needn’t stick to the full circle, 1-12, but, having the phases in mind does help.
I suspect that a gaming adventure might benefit from such broad scoping, too.
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I think you’re absolutely right!
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Looking forward to seeing how your gal stacks up.
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