The
days of the flat, dimensionless villain are over. Readers expect more from
their stories than the classic good-vs-evil that characterized fairytales of old
– think Disney in the 50s.
A
while ago I wrote a post called Love Your Villain. In it, I talked about the
need for creating a villain that your readers care about on some level. This is
what makes the savvy reader of today care about your novel as a whole, about
your characters and what will happen to them.
It’s
true, some stories simply require villains. What would Titanic be without Cal
Hockley? Or Harry Potter without Vold—whoops, I mean, He Who Must Not Be Named?
But
if you’re in the outlining stage of your novel, and you’re struggling with how
to fit in a villain that you can add depth and character to, try omitting the
villain entirely. You don’t need him. Or her. Believe it or not, your story can get from start to finish without
that classic hate-their-guts antagonist.
Creating conflict
without a “villain”
If
you don’t have a set, identifiable villain, you might ask, then how do you
create that conflict that makes a novel—especially a romance novel—a page-turner?
Well,
here are three suggestions:
1. Struggle against
societal expectations
Think
Pride and Prejudice. There is no real villain keeping Elizabeth Bennett and Mr.
Darcy apart. It’s Mr. Darcy’s societal standing, really, that is the source of
conflict here. It is everyone in Mr. Darcy’s upper-crust sphere, and the
expectations they’ve put on Mr. Darcy his whole life, that is keeping them
apart. Throw in a bit of stubbornness on both sides, and an insipid mother, and
you’ve got a great, villainless story.
Try
having your hero and heroine come from two different classes. Perhaps he’s a
tavern owner and she a debutante. Perhaps she’s a London pickpocket and he’s
head of Scotland Yard. With society against your protagonist lovers, you don’t
need to introduce a villain to keep them apart.
2. Struggle against external
conflict
Ah,
external conflict. The bread and butter of historical romances. Who needs a
classic villain when you’ve got the Wars of Scottish Independence to keep your
lovers apart? Or maybe your hero and heroine are fighting for their love in the
upheaval of Revolutionary France.
Many
authors try to introduce a classic villain into historical circumstances when
one isn’t necessary. Let the history create the conflict. Or if not history,
then write your romance around external events that are beyond your
protagonists’ control.
3. Struggle against
internal conflict
If
you don’t have historical or societal pressures to work with, try introducing
internal conflict. For example, your hero might not think he’s not good enough
for his lady love because of his poor upbringing. If you want a real example,
then consider the first book and a half of the Twilight series, where Edward is
struggling against his love for Bella because of his … er … nasty little habit
of sucking things dry.
A
word of caution, though, on internal conflict. You have to be smart about it.
There is a fine line between great internal conflict, and stupidity. Your
readers won’t thank you for a masochist protagonist, who constantly sabotages
his or her own happiness because they’ve got all kinds of ridiculous hold-ups.
We
all love a good villain. Keyword here is good villain. Don’t feel you
need to introduce one just because. If
you can’t write a villain that readers can at least identify with on some
level, or at some point in your story, you’d probably be better to downsize
your cast by one evil dude or dudette.
No comments:
Post a Comment