Fairy Tail Engine

Your Villain

Your villain is very much like your hero. Only don’t make this too obvious. Your fairy tail could be written without a villain Your hero’s task could be fraught with dangerous obstacles without a protagonist but providing one make the story more interesting. Like the hero, the villain can come in two forms. There is the villain who is greater than the hero. This villain is your hero’s greatest and most difficult obstacle to be overcome before claiming the prize. To have a more powerful villain for your hero to defeat makes your hero seem all the greater after doing so. If the villain is greater than the hero, then how is he to be defeated? Usually the hero finds a weakness than in the villain that no one else has been able to exploit. This weakness is unknown to the villain or uncorrectable or else he would certainly have corrected it. Then there is the villain who represents the hero’s dark half. He is very similar to the hero in many ways. It should appear ironic for the reader that the most difficult obstacle for the hero to defeat is a representation of his own self. In many such cases the villain will be a blood relative of the hero or have the same origin as the hero. Questions about the villain are also designed to make him/her more realistic and interesting. The reader might be less interested in the life of your villain but your villain stands in the way of your hero’s goals. The villain’s background can explain this in a plausible way.

1. Who is your villain?

2. What doe he/she look like?

3. Does he/she have special powers? What are they?

4. Is your villain male or female?

5. Is your villain an adult or child? What age?

6. List three adjectives that describe your villain.

7. What things does the villain know that the hero doesn’t?

8. How is your villain like you?

9. How is your villain different from you?

10. How is your villain like most people?

11. How is your villain different from most people?

12. What are your villain’s favorite things?

13. What are your villain’s hobbies?

14. How do others see your villain?

15. Was your villain always villainous?

16. Are your villain’s villainous qualities hidden or apparent to others?

17. If hidden, when and how will they be revealed?

18. If apparent, how and when did his villainous qualities become apparent to others?

19. Give examples of his villainy?

20. What does your villain fear?

21. What does your villain like most?

22. What are your villain’s strengths?

23. List two more adjectives that describe your villain.

24. What are your villain’s weaknesses?

25. How is your hero similar to your villain?

26. Does your villain change through the story? How?

27. What makes your villain villainous?

28. Give another example of his villainy.

29. Where does your villain come from?

30. What is your villain’s job?

31. Who does your villain work for?

32. Who works for your villain?

33. Does your villain have siblings or parent?

34. Are the siblings older or younger than your villain?

35. Describe his relationship with them.

36. Is there anything special about the way your villain was born or where he came from?

37. Who are your villain’s closest friends?

38. Why are they close?

39. Describe something funny that once happened to your villain.

40. Describe something dramatic that once happened to your villain.

41. How did your villain get his/her special qualities?

42. What does your villain realize at the end of the story?

43. What is your villain’s greatest desire?

44. What will fulfilling this desire do for your villain?

45. What are your villain’s least attractive qualities?

46. Why should readers dislike your villain?

47. Why do we want to see him lose?