No, I don't mean the Villain tells the Hero they look pretty today.
By "compliment" I mean that the Villain's personality fits well (in a literary sense) with the Hero's. They oppose each other in personality and in morality. Their values should be stark opposites of each others. That's how you'll get the best and biggest conflict. If the Villain personifies something the Hero truly despises, you can be sure the Hero will go to even greater lengths to bring down the villain. This is how to really push your protagonist/hero out of their confort zone because they'll have to not just face some strong, evil overlord with a maniacle laugh. They'll essentially have to face the thing they hate the most. And how ironic and heartwrenching would it be if your protagonist has to take on those very hated traits in order to thwart the Villain?
I'm probably doing a horrid job explaining this, but you're in luck! samuributterfly shared a really thought-provoking and brilliant article by Carolyn Kaufman that describes this in more detail. The website also links to pdf documents of exercises for this article, so do check them out.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Three-Dimensional-Villains---Finding-Your-Characters-Shadow&id=428279
Google: "Three-Dimensional Villains: Finding Your Character's Shadow"
YOU ARE READING
Yuffie's Writing How-To's
RandomA story isn't just a bunch of words slapped onto a page. It's a living, breathing manifestation of your imagination. This guide explores aspects most guides don't touch on such as memorable protagonists, world building, character psychology, and bac...
