Hello again. I'm glad you have come back to check out my blog. As you know, for the last couple weeks, I've been working on how to put a story together from scratch, and last week's post needed to be cut a bit short. I did this to make sure it didn't get to the TLDNR (too long did not read) length. Today I will be picking up where I left off.
We ended when we were talking about the villain, and how they need to be a good match for the protagonist. As I said before, (if we're using the same example of Phillipe) it would be a rival from another gang, someone who isn't too happy he was put in charge and not them when the previous don died, like a son or previous number 2, I personally like the idea of it being the police officer, who's honestly just doing his job, and happens to be getting in the way of Phillip in his quest. Maybe similar to Willem Defoe in 'Boondock Saints' except with less awesome and more antagonist.
When making your antagonist, make sure to put just as much effort into making them as you did your protagonist. Give them just as much back story and motivation as the main character, because this is the person they are going to be butting heads with. If you have them just be a speed-bump, or against Phillipe for the sake of being against him, they are going to come off weak and almost worst of all, not memorable. For example, if it weren't for Loki, I wouldn't be so incredibly excited for 'The Avengers' coming out soon.
Once you have your basic plot and characters in order, it's time to start putting everything together. You already know Phillipe's background, now you need to decide how to show that. You could go the flashback route and have him remember things throughout the story. If you do that, make absolutely sure you're putting down that it is a flashback, or a memory, or a dream, whatever, just make sure the reader doesn't get confused. You could also have his childhood be the prologue, and begin the story with him already in the gang, about to get his big new job. Or also just after, once he's lost sight of everything he was doing.
You also need to figure out the order the other characters are going to be introduced in. If you have the number 2 side character, they'll likely be the first, followed by the street urchin to tug on the heartstrings a little and get Phillipe's mind wandering back to his past. Keep in mind story is still happening between the meetings, if you just throw all the characters out in the first 2 pages, that's going to be kind of overwhelming for the reader. You must then decide if your antagonist is going to be brought in before or after the love interest. This order doesn't matter so much, since this are the two that are likely going to have the biggest impact on the main character. You could even bring them in at the same time, as part of some hostage scene, or something similar.
Thanks for stopping by again, next week we'll pick up where we left off and start throwing in more plot and character development times. I appreciate everyone for their continued support, and visitations. As I said before, I made a facebook page for 'The Light Rises' please come check it out, Like it, and then hopefully head over to Smashwords to see the book. I'll be back Friday with another book to review, until then!
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