On Saturday I had the pleasure of
co-teaching a workshop with YA author Carrie Mesrobian. It was a ton of fun, mainly because we had a good turn out people, all seriously into geeking out about YA. It was also fun because I like hanging out with Carrie. She is a gifted writer and a very cool and funny person, and she is also, as of last week, winner of the Minnesota Book Award for her novel
Sex and Violence. (Yay Carrie!) She and I met a few years ago when I took a class about Twilight which she taught at the
Loft Literary Center, here in Minneapolis. She kindly invited me to help her lead a one-day workshop on popular YA called
Harry, Bella, Percy and Katniss, which uses popular series to illustrate techniques for writing YA, and to talk about what YA is (and isn't) and what makes popular books tick. We've taught the workshop together four times now and always enjoy it, but there's SO much to say, we always wind up having to leave a few things out. This time, we were forced to skip over
villains, antagonists, and foils, so I told the folks in the class I would post my notes on the subject here, for anyone who's interested in villainy.
But first, I promised I would post the link to the
Pinterest board I keep of self-publishing resources,
for those students who were considering going indie. This board has everything from freelance editors and cover designers to links to interviews with indie authors. For those just beginning their indie journey, I recommend you start with these FAQ's about self publishing from authors
Tracey Garvis Graves and this blog post by
Elizabeth Hunter, as well as this one by
Allison Winn Scotch. They will help you sort out the work involved in self publishing, along with the rewards, so you can get a better sense of whether it's for you.
And now, on to the villainy! Remember, these are just my notes for the workshop, but I hope you can follow them. If you have questions, feel free to leave a comment and I'll be happy to answer!
Villains and
Antagonists!
Definitions:
Antagonist: can
be anything that blocks or works against a protagonist's goals. Doesn't have to
be doing it consciously - may not even be aware of the protagonist. Could be an
animal, a force of nature, or just someone with an incompatible agenda.
Villain: This
time it's personal! Consciously and directly opposes the protag.'s goals.
Important to know how
your villain views herself. In very good vs. evil stories, like a high
fantasy or super hero story, the villain may be aware that she is the villain
and think of herself as evil, but in most cases villains view themselves as the heroes of their own stories.
Your story shouldn't be like a stage set that only looks
real from one angle. You should be able to look at your story from the
villain's point of view and still have it work. Your villain shouldn't exist
only to block the hero's efforts. They should have their own set of conflicting
goals that they are trying to achieve.
--What is your villain's heart's desire?
-- How is your hero standing in the way of her achieving
that?
-- Was there a pivotal moment that made him what he is?
--Is there a love or weakness that makes her more human?
You should know your villain's backstory, but make careful
choices about how much you share with the reader. More back story often makes a
villain more sympathetic, which can be an advantage or a disadvantage,
depending on how you intend to deal with your villain in the end. Villains who
grow and change (or who are revealed to not be the villains we thought they
were) are often redeemed, those who
don't are defeated somehow. Is your
villain a Draco Malfoy, for whom we will ultimately have some empathy, or a Voldemort
who is irredeemable?
There are essentially
three levels of villains in YA: I think of them as villainous nesting
dolls.
Personal villains:
(peers, on the same level as the protagonist. Mean girls and bullies, etc.
Draco Malfoy, Clarice from the Ares cabin, other tributes in Hunger Games.)
Authority figures: Teachers,
parents, Snape, Umbridge, the games makers.
Big Bad: Sometimes
a powerful being, (The Titan Kronos, Voldemort) but often an abstract concept,
a system of oppression, an evil organization. Often the protag has to confront
something in himself in order to defeat the Big Bad. The transition to fighting
the Big Bad rather than fighting lower level villains is often a "This is
bigger than all of us" moment - for example, that moment in Catching Fire
when Haymitch tells Katniss to remember who her enemy is. That's the shift
between fighting the personal villains (the other tributes) and understanding
that the real villain is the bigger system.)
Many series work through the three levels of villains,
having the hero graduate to a new weight class of villains with each book:
First book's main conflict may be with peers, book two takes on a higher
authority, book three confronts a larger system, a super powerful villain, or
something abstract within the hero herself. Obviously, you don't have to follow
that pattern, but it helps in terms of upping the stakes. The Big Bad is almost
always defeated, or there is a strong implication that it will be. Lower level
villains are often redeemed and even become allies (Clarice in the Percy
Jackson books). Some of the most interesting heroes are former villains! (And
note that we're seeing a trend of villains as main characters - everything from
Wicked to Maleficent.)
Something else to keep in mind:
Does your villain
serve as a foil for your hero?
A foil is a character
who has traits that are opposite those of another character. The contrast
between the two points up qualities of each of them.
Foils don't have to be antagonistic to each other. Best friend
can often be foils (Jessica's social nature is meant to be contrasted to Bella's shyness.) In an opposite-attract type romance, a couple may serve as
foils for each other. In a classic love triangle, the girl is choosing between
two very different guys - Jacob as a foil for Edward - who represent different
options or futures - stay human, or become a vampire. Parents make natural foils (Bella's responsible nature
contrasted with her mom's flakiness.) Siblings are natural foils - think
Katniss and Prim. Ron's family acts as a foil to the Dursley's - we wouldn't
fully appreciate the cold, unloving nature of
Privet Drive if we couldn't contrast it with The Burrow.
When creating foils, don't just think in terms of how they
are opposite, but also look at how they are the same because it's that
commonality that invites readers to compare them. Katniss and Prim are foils,
but the fact that they are sisters, and even the subtle fact that they are both
named after plants, puts them in the same box in the reader's mind and invites
them to compare. Four and Erik in Divergent are both trainers for Dauntless,
but with radically different approaches. Harry and Voldemort are foils, but
J.K. Rowling gives them a ton in common: both orphans, Harry speaks parcel
tongue, the sorting hat almost put Harry in Slytherin, etc. She uses their
similarities to point up the important theme of free will. There is the feeling
that Harry could have been Voldemort, if he had made different choices.
One last thing re: villains and antagonists: parents are
often antagonists in YA. (That's often a difference between YA and middle
grade). They might actively be villains, but more likely they are antagonists
by virtue of being authority figures who set limits on your hero. This can be a
huge advantage in some stories, if it gives your protag something to work
against, but it can sometimes hobble your protag too much.
Or, conversely, helpful grown-ups can make things too easy. There's
no plot if Dumbledore solves all the problems and Harry goes home to Sirius
every summer. Powerful grown-ups take too much out of the characters' hands.
Four Ways to Kill the
Grown-Ups!
1) Actually kill them. YA is full of orphans.
2) Set your story away from home. (Camp Half-Blood,
Hogwarts, the Hunger Games)
3) Give the grown-ups issues. Make them workaholics, self involved,
immature or estranged. Give them mental health issues. (Katniss and Bella flip
the roles and take care of their moms. Percy's powerful parent is a god who
doesn't intervene.)
4) Abduct the grown-ups. (This is usually a middle grade
move, but Cassandra Clare abducts Clary's mom. Percy's mom in the first book is
sort of abducted and killed at the same time.)
There's a moment in the Deathly Hallows movie when the kids
first arrive at Sirius' house. Hermione casts a spell to make anyone who is
there reveal themselves. When no one does, she says "We're alone" and
it's a weighted moment because there's a deeper meaning. The powerful moments
in YA are often the moments when we realize "We're all in this
together" and when we realize "We're in this alone."
WRITING EXERCISE Write a letter from the
point of view of the villain in your story. Choose someone specific to address
it to - the hero, an authority figure, etc. Explain why you do the things you
do in the story. If you don't have a wip, choose a book you know or a fairy
tale, etc.
Have fun with it!
