Month: October 2021

Posted in Characterization

Villains (Part II)

Posted on by L. M. Montes
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

Have you ever played chess? If you have, you know that it’s imperative to stay one or more moves ahead of your opponent in order for you to have a chance at winning the game. The same goes for the villain in your story. They must always be thinking ahead of the main character. They have to do this so they are doing their job within the story. Otherwise they won’t be believable. Villains are devious. They plot and scheme, making your main character’s life miserable. They love it when the main character is down because that’s when they have a better opportunity to take advantage of them.

To best get a hold of your villain and understand him/her, do a character analysis of them just like you would your main character. They are three dimensional characters too and come with their own set of “baggage”. What in their life infected them so? To the point they are so nasty and evil?

In this character bio also include (and most importantly) a list of ways they can stay ahead of the MC. You might not use all of your ideas. That’s ok. Work what you can into your story. If you are the kind of person that doesn’t like to think in terms of evil, don’t worry about that. It’s only fiction.

Posted in Characterization

What Makes a Good Villain (Part 1)

Posted on by L. M. Montes
Photo by Miggy Rivera on Pexels.com

Never underestimate your villain. They are more clever than you think they are. Creating them goes beyond having them do bad nasty things to your main character. Oh no. They go much deeper than that. They must know your MC well in order to know how to act against them. Part of the villain getting to know your MC means they must get to their weaknesses, AND they are well gifted at getting to know this information, AND they will know exactly how to use it against them.

Your villain is the architect of the inciting incident and the stories plot twists that follow. Their job is to create tension. Think of them as the mudslingers. They throw everything they can think of to thwart your MC.

Posted in Social

Writing Woes

Posted on by L. M. Montes

Have you ever felt like there are no words left in you? Have you ever had one of those days when the writing world of words is stacked against you? Your computer “talks” back to you. Your work won’t open the way it’s supposed to. The program you use won’t respond. You know it works because you just used it the day before. What do you do?

Well, in a situation such as the above, I would stop and put my writing away. Because, truth be told, something is telling you not to write at that time. I know that sounds strange, but it’s true. I had a day like that today. It appeared as though the deck was stacked against me. So I stopped trying. I’ll go back to it tomorrow.

Posted in Fiction

Word Selection

Posted on by L. M. Montes

How picky are you with your words, when you write? Do you have to choose just the right ones in order for you to move on? Or do you belt them out there onto the page and rework them later? The first way can stop you up and prevent you from making headway at a steady pace. Because what happens is this: a creative idea for your story may have popped into your head, and you might forget it by the time you’re finished making your wording what you ultimately want it to be.

Get the words on paper first along with your ideas and worry about making them just perfectly right later. You can also make notes for yourself along the way about what you want to go back and fix. Your draft will still be there waiting for you.

Have a great weekend everyone, and God Bless 🙏