TIL writing a villain with 3 specific fears makes them way more real to readers

I used to just give bad guys vague evil motives like "world domination" or "revenge." Then last month my critique group read a story where the villain was scared of drowning, losing control of his voice, and being forgotten. It hit me how much more I cared about understanding him. Now I'm reworking my antagonist with exactly three concrete fears and the whole story feels deeper.

2 comments

2 Comments

logan6587d ago

Oh man that REALLY clicked for me. The three fears thing makes so much sense because it forces you to get specific. Like world domination is just a goal but being scared of drowning says something about their past or their personality. I gotta ask though how did you pick which three fears to use for your guy? Did you just brain dump worries or did you think about what would break him as a person? Because I feel like the real trick is making sure those fears actually clash with each other somehow. Like if he's scared of losing control but also scared of being forgotten those two things would fight against each other when he has to make a choice. That tension has to be where the good storytelling comes from right?

jakewhite7d ago

You feel this one too, huh?