<\/a><\/p>\n Peter David<\/a>, writer of stuff, wrote a book about writing comics and graphic novels called Writing for Comics and Graphic Novels with Peter David<\/a> If you ask anyone you know whether they need someone who is going to make their life difficult, you would unquestionably get a resounding \u201cno.\u201d\u00a0 No person would say that he measures the success of his day by how soundly he manages to overcome an implacable opponent.\u00a0<\/p>\n And yet, many of us do have \u201cvillains\u201d in our lives.\u00a0 Be they oppressive bosses, obnoxious co-workers, bullies at school\u2026on any given day we may find ourselves in a position where we have to outthink, outwit, and outmaneuver those who are in a position to make our lives difficult.\u00a0<\/p>\n Push comes to shove, we may even find ourselves with our backs against the wall and have to slug it out with them.\u00a0 In such a situation, it helps to remember that comic book heroes are able to avail themselves of everything from super-science to healing factors in order to bounce back.\u00a0 We, being mere mortals, tend to break far more easily.\u00a0 So even as we discuss the ways and means of depicting heroes going toe-to-toe with villains, it helps to remember that talking one\u2019s differences out is definitely the way to go.<\/p>\n Curiously, we tend to think of the hero as the mover and shaker, the protagonist.\u00a0 Yet the opposite is often true:\u00a0 It is the villain who actually drives the plot.\u00a0 He\u2019s the one with the plan, he\u2019s the one with the goal\u2014anything from robbing a bank to world domination.\u00a0 There\u2019s a variety of possibilities and directions that the villain\u2019s foul schemes can go to satisfy his needs.\u00a0 The hero, on the other hand, exists for one reason only:\u00a0 To thwart the villain.\u00a0 On an average day, the Avengers sit around playing pinochle, waiting for the activities of a villain to spur them to action.\u00a0 On an average night, Batman is either hanging out at the Batcave dodging falling bat guano, or else he\u2019s patrolling the city looking to find a villain whose endeavors he can thwart.\u00a0<\/p>\n So as a writer, not only do you need to have a hero with whom your reader can connect, but you also want the reader to understand\u2014and perhaps even sympathize\u2014with the villain\u2019s goals as well.<\/p>\n Is such a thing possible?\u00a0 Sure it is.\u00a0 Alfred Hitchcock once pointed out that an audience could be watching a scene in a movie wherein a handsome burglar has concocted an elaborate and clever scheme to gain access to a vault inside a wealthy couple\u2019s home.\u00a0 As he is working on opening the safe, unbeknownst to the burglar, the couple is on their way home unexpectedly because they left their theater tickets on the bureau in the room he\u2019s burgling.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tension mounts as the burglar continues to crack the safe while the couple draws closer and closer to discovering.\u00a0 And what, asked Hitchcock, is going through the audience\u2019s mind during that time?\u00a0 They\u2019re mentally urging the burglar, \u201cHurry!\u00a0 Hurry!\u00a0 You\u2019re going to get caught!\u201d\u00a0 Yes, that\u2019s right:\u00a0 They\u2019re rooting for a bad guy.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n It is the ingeniousness of his plans, after all, that are being asked to seize the audience\u2019s imagination.\u00a0 If the villain\u2019s plan is lame, if the villain is someone who fails to engage the reader\u2019s attention, then not only will the reader not care about his evil doings, but the hero\u2019s eventual triumph over his opponent will seem unimpressive.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why it\u2019s impossible to invest too much energy in either crafting new heroes and villains, or choosing unique ways in which to interpret or reinterpret already existing characters.\u00a0 Your stories stand or fall on your characters.\u00a0 If the reader doesn\u2019t connect with the characters, then the most ingenious plot in the world will make no difference at all.<\/p>\n Artwork by Tom Gauld. And <\/em>remember: you can follow all the NaGraNoWriMo posts here<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Be the first person to comment! <\/a><\/p>\n
\n (certainly clear in intent) from which we take the following:<\/em><\/p>\n