'thus it would be better if you PMed me.'

PM...PM's are for wimps!! I just wanted to inform you that me using your Dracconic characters is coming to an end soon.

hey! This topic is dying here! It would be a waste :(

How would i go about making a rrrrrrrreally evil, cringe worthy bad guy? The majority of my characters have a dark undercurrent with them, but the bad-bad guys just don't seem overly bad.

I have recently been reading some Harry Potter books, and although i have read better, the way she depicts Draco Malfoy is genious. You really do loathe him with a passion. And that's what i want from some of my characters, but i get the feeling that some of my bad guys are actually likeable. I was wondering if anybody who reads my fics could comment on this. Or maybe somebody who writes fics/reads alot of books could read some of my fics and comment.

On a side note, don't make your characters names too OTT. J.K.Rowling does this appaulingly with certain Wizards names. The main characters names are all really-really good, but the authors of the magical books have crap, silly names. Have serious names, that give a feeling of the character. Some of my characters have weird names, but they fit with them, most of the names are also made up such as -

Elziben Iraxx
Corrack Acrangle
Midian
Amoeba

but they seem to compliment the character they go with.

I've recently read a couple of your Fan-Fics...and I have to say your evil characters are very likeable. Their charm and smooth sarcasm makes you appreciate how they can think on their feet. This is my opinion, but if you want your characters to be hated, you have to show the reader that the evil character is truly stupid, but wise in his own mind. To do this, you must compare the good guy to the bad guy. Persuade the reader into liking your protagonist and the rules he/she follows, then compare it to this evil character.

-oddguy :cool:

Hm, I dunno - I always found polite, charming bad-guys a lot more sinister and spooky than ones that were all out crowing stupid. Ones that resort to yelling and screaming if the protagonist isn't doing what they wanted just make me think of a child throwing a tantrum, and while they make you jump (in a movie, for instance) I really don't find them scary for long - once the surprise has worn off, f'rinstance.

On the other hand, take the Tooth Fairy in Red Dragon, or Norman (whose second name I've forgotten - not Bates, ;)) in Stephen King's "Rose Madder" - most of the time they were pretty "normal", polite and with the potential to be really nice - it's only when they snap that you see how mad and dangerous they are. If the character is a little psychotic, I suppose, you could give them the undercurrent of unlikeability you wanted.

As a sidenote, the only character I've recently wanted offed in a film was Brab Pitt's character in Fight Club (which I only saw recently) - he IRRITATAED HELL OUT OF ME and I wanted him to be OFFED at the earliest opportunity.

Feel free to give examples of situations in which a bad guy would be a truely loathed character...

Hmmm, i'd say the Orkhid race in general is quite loathe-worthy. They're homophobic and racist [to blacks anyway] to the extent that they take great pleasure in torturing black babies. But then you have characters like Abraham and Iraxx, who are quite vicious and nasty, but also sophisticated and well-balanced.

I find really hated bad guys are those who are ignorant, but think they know absolutely everything, yet everything they say is coated with ignorance - but they refuse to listen to anyone.
Of course, they've also gotta have other bad guy traits to actually be a bad guy.

Right there! That's exactly what I meant. Should've worded things differently.

-oddguy :cool:

How to be evil... hmmm...

I don't think I've ever seen/read "scary" baddies, unless it was a spook movie.
In order to hate the villan, you need to be able to hate someone, which isn't that easy.

Think of it this way: The baddy thinks he's doing something worth-while. It might be illegal, but it's right to do it. The villan is acting within his moral compass (even if it's 180 off everyone elses).

If you need tips, here is an idea for a final battle in my story 2034...

"As ****** fled the room to finally contact earth, **** stood face to face with the Tutorian king Daraminathrias. "Congratulations on your efforts to make your way this far" said Daraminathrias. "But this is where you and your whole pathetic murderous human race come to an end." "My death will mean peace now that my son is dead, but you will not achieve it." **** drew his sword and Daraminathrias produced a blade from his wrist and they took stances. The cold air blew violently as snow started to fall on the mountaintop and **** swung at the king, the king blocked again and again, he attacked back and cut **** across the leg and he fell to the ground. The king let out his foul alien laugth. Determined, **** picked himself up and his samurai blade shone like a ray of light cutting through the darkness. He ran at the king faked a swing and stabbed at the king and heard a high pitched scream and the squelching of flesh. The blade had gone through the king. "My race has ended." He said. "This world is yours to colonise and do with what you will. ****, lord of S833R. Defend this world as you defended your own. The king collapsed in a puddle of alien blood as **** staggered to his feet and started out to the horizon, wondering what the future held for mankind.

My top tip for aspiring writers: Use paragraphs. ;)

>.<

Ugh... just started rewritting my old Odd-Fic.
Any ideas on how to write about something gory without writing the details?
Before it didn't matter, I wanted the gore there. But now, I want the PLOT there.

'Use paragraphs.'

I never do that...hmmm...

Adder, emphasise the sounds: screaming, yelling, begging for mercy. Focus on small things like blood bubbling on a persons lips. Focus on pain, agony. Write the result, not the cause (think about it, it makes sense!)
"No, please! Don't!" screams echoed around the room. Then all of a sudden the sound of something swishing through the air, a crack, splatter, and the screaming stopped; a stunned silence drifted like fog around the horrified prisoners.
Words are all you've got to work with so use them to there fullest.

I find the three main things you need to think about in writing are character, plot and writing. I've sometimes found books with brilliant ideas and plots but the writings so bad i literally find it depressing.
On the other hand, you can have every aspect of the plot mapped out to the last word of every sentence but the characters need to be realistic: someone you can believe in, someone who you can really build in your mind. Possibly the best way to get good characters is to base them on real people. Think of your friends, family and most of all yourself. What are you like? Base characters on aspects of your personality. Write about your own experiences through someone elses eyes. Picture what's happening to a character and imagine how that would effect you. Base an early character on yourself: its the best way to create someone real: if they are real: people you know well make great frames

Get ideas from other peoples books: don't go flat out and nick it all your ideas but pick out small things that you like and develope that into a whole new plot. Think about it from an outsiders view. If you were reading that, what would you think of it? Would you like it? What do you not like? The most harsh judge is yourself. Read other books before sitting down to write yourself and think about what works for the author and what doesn't work. Best of all, get a friend to read it for you: someone who doesn't know about the story, and get them to tell you what they like and dislike. Then change it.
Most importantly of all: know where the story's going. You can have a great idea for one scene that you can build on but if you get a really great thing going and you can't think of an ending then the story is gonna end up rubbish. You don't have to plan the story word for word but at least know what's gonna happen. Know were its going. Sometimes you can sit down and write and it all flows through and everything is great. Don't rely on that happening cause it doesn't happen much.
Lastly, if your stuck for an idea, don't sit staring at a blank sheet hoping something to claw into your head. Leave and come back to it. Read a book, play a game, inspiration can come from anywhere. Think about it whenever you're not doing anything else: when you finish an exam with an hour to spare, think of the story. When you're waiting at the bus stop, lying in bed when you can't sleep, remember what happened last and develope it from there. Think about it when you have some time that you can't fill with anything else. Not when you're sitting in front of a blank sheet ready to write.


One last thing: life isn't prancing through a field of flowers. Bad things happen and its bad things that are interesting: struggles, problems. People like hearing about other people struggling. Like Homer Simpson once said: "Anything to get my mind off my life."

The thesaurus is your friend. Learn to love it.

When you first write something out, don't mull over some details that your having trouble with. Put something out there and keep on moving. That way, you'll have a skeleton to work with when your done, and by that time your thoughts will be flowing better.

Here are a few pointers from me:

-Carry around a pocket-sized notebook to write down ideas for stories
-Take your time to think about the story
-Before you move on to another paragraph, think what'll happen in your story
-Remember not to add so much disney words
-Put some pizzaz into your writing
-Make the story interesting so that other people will read it

A few pointers to all'ya from me.

Cheers,
sliguy101

What do you mean?

What I mean is:

If you add too much long words, your story won't get paid much once it's published.

The thread lives! Again! :cheer:

Keep a pen and a notebook or some paper close to hand at all times, you never know when you'll need it. Last night I was just lying in bed half asleep when BAM-the Plot I had been needing for months appeared. Out of nowhere. If I hadn't had a notebook on the bedside table that miraculous plot might have been lost for ever. Like I said, you never know when you'll need one.

And characters. They don't need to be people you know, you'll be surprised where they can come from. One of my favourites is my Morrowind char who I've transfered to my world(not the plot of the game and what role she plays in it, just her attitute and personality). I spent time playing as her, and as a result of going through so many experiances with her, I know her inside out and top to bottom. I know what sends her into a sulk and I know what sends her skpping down the street. Know your characters, if you don't know exactly what they'd do in a situation, you can't expect to be able to tell your readers. Talk to your characters, think about what they would do if they walked down a street, if someone asked them a question, what would they say back, heck, take them to the pub if they're that kind of person! (obviously you should do these things mentaly, you'll get some funny looks if you walk down a street staring into space or talking to someone who isn't there:p ).

sliguy101, do you have anything to back that up?

Obviously, it's a bad idea to use words you don't quite understand or got straight from the thesaurus. YOu need to be able to read what you write. But if dubious, stoic, or defenrasation come up, you don't need to change them just to make them smaller.

Big words are okay if you're targeting people who know these big words. Don't go balistic and creat a story that requires an 800 in english on the S.A.T. to understand, but don't reduce it all to 3rd grade english either.

I'll agree on that one. Sliguy101... What ARE you on about? ;) If you talk in monosyllables, you probably won't even get as far as getting published, unless you're writing for a four-year-old. The length of word you use doesn't govern the saleability of your book - the story, the grammar, and the style all count. If you can't use grammar for beans, and a person really has to WORK to understand the story, the publisher/agent won't even LOOK at it until you've got it cracked, even if you have to fork out a few thousand and get it properly proofed. Don't say "but it's my styyyyleee!" because that's pretty much kiss-of-death, like in art: "you need to work on your anatomy" - "but it's my styyyyleee!". "Style" is not an excuse to be crap.

But then you can go the other way - people try and be "clever" and use "alternative words" for things, like instead of "ears" write "auricles", and instead of "black" write "ebon". Now, if you're Poe, it can work, but if you aren't, why not just call an ear an ear?

I know exactly how helpful this idea is, and I fully recommend it. One of the best ways for understanding and expanding your characters is to become them. I'm currebtly playing 2 sepreate characters in "Dungeons & Dragons". If I wasn't doing this, I wouldn't have a clue of their true personality!
-Start with a rough sketch or concept of your character.
-Put them into any RPG environment.
-Spend time working out exactly what your character is like. Create their personality and abilities as you'd expect. Mould them through the game's interface.
-Use your now complete character in a story / plot line / random event.

But I learned that from an author...
...okay, an old, retired author.

This isn't exactly a writing thing, but, here goes.

I have an anthro character who will be referred to as 'Bob', is it possible to set Bob's fur on fire and then push him into some water so that he will be traumatised but not harmed(with not harmed I'm thinking still able to move heavy loads)(I am also going to hold his head underwater for a while. Evil, I know, but I have to make him nice and timid and compliant :fuzvamp:)?

Soo... what are you trying to ask, ScrabWatcher? I mean, if it's fiction, you can do pretty much exactly what the hell you like - so long as (if it's intended as serious fiction) you take into account biological capabilities. *eyebrow*

Sounds like you're wondering if it's scientificaly possible, or plausible, for this to work.

I don't know many people who would know first hand if it's possible for some furry thing to be caught on fire, then extinguished unharmed... unless it was really quick.

I guess it depends on what you use as a fuel. If you were to cover Bob in pitch, then light it, there would be SEVER damage to muscle tissue as the pitch wouldn't really stop burning.

A lighter fuel that doesn't explode (probably like lamp oil) should be able to burn the fur (and damamge the skin) while still leaving Bob physicaly able to exert himself after a little healing time. He mightn't be able to run a marathon, but he'd be able to hoist himself out of harms way, or push a heavy wagon.

How long do you think this healing time would be if I used lamp oil? I'm not to concerned about him being able to haul himself out of harms way for a while, but I need to know when he can push that heavy wagon you mentioned(note: this may affect the speed of healing, but Bob is very fit and healthy, or at least before the burning).

When you say "healing time" you have to decide if you just singed off some guard-hairs off his coat (I mean, it's not rare for PEOPLE to accidentally set their hair on fire and wander around oblivious for some seconds before anyone notices and puts the fire out) or burned his fur right off and given him third-degree burns. *shrugs* Mind you, full-body third-degree burns would probably kill him; setting the fur on fire and just letting him notice it, then putting it out, would probably be psychological torture enough. I mean, I'D be fairly shaken up if someone threatened to set MY hair on fire, yaknow?

Morbid individual, aren't you? ;)

It's really hard to guess how long it'd take to heal.

It would be 1 month for any noticible burns to stop being a hinderence... unless there are bad scars.
If you need him to be mobile, say the fur burned away, leaving blisters over most of his body. That way, he should be able to move, and possible push a heavy load if desperate, but it'd be at least a week or two before he can comfortaly move, and may take a month or two for most of the fur to grow back. Badly chared areas or areas scared from the fire probably won't get fur growing on them again.

...and Adder proves he's never been on a burns ward... ;)

If you want a character to be mobile, then rely on psychological 'persuasion'. If he's so burned there's raw skin and blisters over his body, he'll lose the ability to properly thermoregulate, his organs will fail and he'll die - if infection doesn't set in first and he dies of blood poisoning. That's why burns victims have to go to hospital, yaknow? ;)