This is a question that comes up regularly, mostly from my old man in the form of “What the hell is wrong with you?” Researching threats faced within the world of Greystone can be painstaking in some cases, but on the whole it is a blast.
Finding out the perfect villain for the piece, the single voice that opposes Loren and Soriya, is almost always a tough nut to crack. I go about it in a few different ways:
Researching threats
The Process
For me the antagonist of the story, be it short tale or full-length novel, comes after figuring out the main dilemma of the leads. Who is telling this story and where are they coming from? What emotional hook is there in the background before the first sentence?
Knowing the personal stakes gives the reader something to invest in. Friends find this funny about me, but as a comic book reader I could care less about the villain of the story. I read for the drama, the personal conflict behind the fisticuffs. I care if Peter Parker can get home in time to give poor Aunt May her meds and less about if Doc Ock ends up behind bars yet again.
That’s my methodology with developing my outlines for Greystone. Internal strife and personal conflict for a satisfying character arc come first and the punchy kicky stuff gets added in for effect.
The importance of a great threat
That isn’t to say the threat should be throwaway or shallow in depth. The reader needs to feel the main character’s are in constant danger. Who knows when one might meet their end or by what monster roaming the streets of Portents?
When it comes to researching threats I try to look at two ways:
- Do they directly impact the internal conflict? For example, if Soriya is in turmoil over the loss of a dear friend does the threat come from someone connected to that loss? Mentor’s long lost brother comes for a visit and turns out to a Chupacabra. (Meh. It could happen…)
- Is the threat more symbolic? Going back to the loss angle. Reeling from the death of someone close to Soriya, our hero struggles to save the life of a young woman (surrogate for dear friend) caught in a situation that is similar yet completely unique to the one that caused her internal conflict in the first place.
The obvious threats
The easy gets, as I say. When, during the outline phase, there is only one threat that could possibly be used to tell this story.
- The antithesis of the protagonist in every way. (Standish in Tales from Portents. He is everything Loren is not.)
- Plays off the setting/situation the main character finds themselves in. (View from Above – Soriya is mired by responsibility and tries to find a lighter side with Vlad. Enter the Kitsune, a trickster getting kicks from stealing from little old ladies. No responsibility and all lighter side.)
The less than obvious threats
Like pulling teeth, it takes three or four days of heavy thought to find the perfect face for villainy in the story.
This happened recently with the upcoming Pathways in the Dark. I knew the character’s arcs. Knew where they were coming from and the building blocks of an external threat. Just not the threat itself. Having that background with the characters, using them as the basis for telling the story instead of winging it, allowed me to find possibilities until I was left with the perfect threat that spoke to both the internal and external conflict of the story.
Resources for researching threats
I was going to go into depth on the wonderful world of Wikipedia but I thought better of it. Suffice it to say I use the internet and different directories that list classic myths and legends as a starting point before building a short list of finalists for the story in question.
Then it is all about research, research, research and tying it to the protagonist’s journey in the narrative. Nothing is more important than that to me.
Thanks for reading.
