TWA: Nothing will stop my quest to enlighten writers in the proper way to tell a story!
That’s why I am going to talk about heroes in this video and one of the best ways to
challenge a protagonist.
INNER CRITIC: No so fast, JP.
TWA: What!
My inner critic!
I thought I defeated you in the Finishing a Story video!
INNER CRITIC: I studied your technique, JP.
Your ability to inflate your ego in order to deflect criticism is powerful, but not
powerful enough!
I have trained myself in the art of deflating egos such as yours and now I have returned
to put a stop to your bad advice!
TWA: You will never defeat me, inner critic!
I will show my fellow writers the proper way to create a rival for the protagonist!
INNER CRITIC: You?
You couldn’t rival french fry, much less show another author how to create a proper
rivalry between characters.
TWA: You’re wrong!
INNER CRITIC: No you’re wrong!
TWA: Grr….
INNER CRITIC: Grr….
TWA: There is only one way to settle this.
INNER CRITIC: We each give our advice in order to keep with the rival theme of the video,
adding a layer of thematic affinity while also giving the watcher more variety in terms
of delivery and tone.
TWA: What?
No.
I am going to give my amazing advice and you will sit on the sidelines and tell me how
awesome I am!
So step aside, inner critic, and watch how a real author creates a rival!
Now what to start with when designing a rival?
I know!
I should start with how they look!
INNER CRITIC: Oh that is the worst way to start making a character.
TWA: The rival should have a really cool opposing color scheme.
Does the hero wear white?
Well his rival will dress in all black!
Hero have blonde hair?
His rival has dark hair.
Blue eyes?
Deep brown.
Silvery elegant sword?
Jagged dark blade.
Oh the rival is so cool!
INNER CRITIC: Is that really it?
What about the symbolism?
TWA: Sumbolwhat?
INNER CRITIC: *sigh* Look at us.
While we may have opposing color schemes, have you also noticed that I have glasses?…
You know.
An item that literally helps me see clearly.
We are not just opposed stylistically, but also in the motifs and themes of our characters.
Doing so allows the characters to become foils of one another, highlighting their differences
for maximum dramatic effect.
TWA: You know what I just heard?
Blah blah blah English major stuff.
No one cares.
Hey!
They should also have opposing powers too!
Hero uses fire!
Well his rival will use ice!
Is the hero hot headed and impulsive?
The rival is cautious and collected.
Even their ideologies are opposing.
With all of this equal opposite stuff going on I am sure the audience will just completely
miss the paper thin characterizations of both characters!
INNER CRITIC: No they will notice, you fool.
It is not enough that the characters merely be opposites to each other, but also have
enough character development to stand on their own.
You can’t simply prop up characters with fancy powers and cool swords.
They need to have their own motives.
What you are proposing could work if the characters are a foil to one another, but it needs to
be carefully calculated by the author, not haphazardly thrown together based on the stylistic
whims of the writer.
Wait… did you just fall asleep in the middle of my diatribe?
TWA: Huh?
What?
No!
No.
I was totally paying attention.
You were saying something about a motive?
Oh I know.
The rival wants to defeat the hero because… the hero is strong and he wants to defeat
him!
There!
Done!
INNER CRITIC: That’s not a motive.
If anything, it represents a faultily programmed for loop.
Why not dig into the psychology of the rival character and explore what makes him so competitive
in the first place?
Motive could be used as a way to highlight the story’s themes and give their conflict
much needed context.
TWA: Motive isn’t really that important.
I mean, the rival character is super cool, but he doesn’t really stand a chance against
the main hero.
The rival should always loose yet be taken seriously by all of the other characters for
some reason.
INNER CRITIC: Won’t the audience notice this power imbalance?
For that matter wont the characters notice as well?
TWA: Nope.
They will be too distracted by the coolness of the rival teaming up with the hero to fight
a greater threat.
INNER CRITIC: Are they not supposed to hate one another due to their polar opposite nature?
How do you justify their sudden cooperation?
TWA: Because the rival will always award the hero a grudging respect even though the hero
humiliates and defeats him like constantly.
Nope, they will just team up pretty much all the time later in the story until the rival
really isn’t even a rival anymore, more like a grumpy teammate.
INNER CRITIC: No no no!
This is all incorrect.
Keeping the rival’s skill comparable to the hero is essential, otherwise he does not
‘rival’ him.
Having equal strength adds uncertainly in the hero’s victory and thus tension.
The hero and his rival’s relationship could be built up over the course of one or more
story arcs culminating in their eventual alliance to defeat a greater foe.
Come to think of it, even their battle to defeat a mutual enemy could be seen as part
of their competition.
The extra build up adds a feeling of catharsis and can be used to change the relationship
dynamic by…
You fell asleep again didn’t you?
TWA: Huh?
Oh.
Sorry.
I’m getting bored of writing these rivals.
I think I need something special to spice up their competition.
INNER CRITIC: No.
TWA: Something new for them to compete for.
INNER CRITIC: No no no.
TWA: Something that every story needs!
INNER CRITIC: Don’t you do say it!
TWA: THE LOVE TRIANGLE!
INNER CRITIC: Gah!
You cannot solve every writing problem with a love triangle!
TWA: Gheeze.
No wonder you’ve never sold any books.
The love triangle is great because the rival and the hero can both compete for the affections
of the love interest.
The love interest will of course be torn having to choose between them!
What great drama!
Neither the rival nor the hero should have any chemistry with the love interest though.
That takes effort to write and we need to put all of our work into the hero’s and
rival’s long deep stares into each others’ eyes, how they constantly call each others’
names, their constant obsession with what the other is doing, their every waking thought
focused on what their rival is thinking, and the occasional oiled up shirtless wrestling
match between them.
INNER CRITIC: Why are you even introducing a love triangle into the story if you don’t
intent to develop it properly?
Also your rival’s interactions are saturated with homoerotic subtext by the way.
TWA: What?
Really?
I don’t see it!
INNER CRITIC: It doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
Having rivals become romantic partners sounds like it could become an interesting relationship
dynamic.
TWA: Eh?
No.
I bored with this now.
I know I’ve put a lot of work into the rival, but I think I’ll just ignore my rival for
the rest of the story, then awkwardly wrap their competition up in the next to last chapter
where the rival just admits that the hero is better in every way!
INNER CRITIC: That’s just anticlimactic.
You can’t just develop a relationship like that and… what are you doing?
TWA: I’m rewriting the script for this episode.
INNER CRITIC: What!
You can’t just…
I mean, J.P. you are the most handsome and best author ever.
I can only hope to one day know even an infinitesimal amount of your greatness.
You have defeated me.
My only choice now is sit on the sidelines and constantly tell the other secondary characters
how cool you are!
We will meet again as rivals, but only when you need an easy victory in order to boost
your ego.
TWA: Ha.
I win.
INNER CRITIC: Also your cheating just proves my point about the anticlimax.
DARK LORD: I am prepared for the next ad read!
TWA: Yeah about that, sorry.
Someone else underbid you.
DARK LORD: WHAT?
CONSPIRATOR LEADER: That’s right Dark Lord.
Your sponsorship is mine now just as planned for this episode of Terrible Writing Advice
is brought to you by Skillshare!
LARGE CONSPIRATOR: We taking sponsors now?
CONSPIRATOR LEADER: Yes we are.
We have to make up the budget shortfall somehow.
Running the world from the shadows is expensive.
SMALL CONSPIRATOR: What the heck is a Skillshare?
CONSPIRATOR LEADER: According to my spy network, who mostly just googled the name, Skillshare
is an online community with over 20,000 classes in writing, graphic design, business, technology
and a lot of other things.
Premium Membership gives you unlimited access to high quality classes.
And guess what, I’ve already sighed up the entire ancient conspiracy.
LARGE CONSPIRATOR: Why?
CONSPIRATOR LEADER: Because you are all useless!
All you do is spout cryptic nonsense at TV screens.
It’s about time you learn some new skills.
It’s a new economy out there thanks to someone forgetting to suppress the invention of the
internet.
SMALL CONSPIRATOR: Ugh.
You are never going to let me live that one down are you?
CONSPIRATOR LEADER: So now we have need to take some side jobs to keep the ancient conspiracy
afloat.
*Collective Groan*
CONSPIRATOR LEADER: No complaining.
Go learn something useful!
[One Montage Later]
CONSPIRATOR LEADER: Okay.
So what did everyone learn?
LARGE CONSPIRATOR: I took a course on portrait photography by Benjamin Heath!
SMALL CONSPIRATOR: I took a course on writing emotional story arcs for characters by Charlie
Aylett (Aey Let)!
CONSPIRATOR LEADER: And you, what did you learn?
TREACHEROUS CONSPIRATOR: I learned to brutally murder my fellow conspirators in order to
keep all of the sponsorship money for myself.
*Hissing Gas* *Coughing and Gagging*
CONSPIRATOR LEADER: I... don’t...
remember seeing that one... on there?
TREACHEROUS CONSPIRATOR: Well…
I kind of learned that one by myself, but I did take a course on human resources and
how to adequately... spend them!
Check out the link in the description or go to skl.sh/twa3 and get 2 months of unlimited
access for free.
TREACHEROUS CONSPIRATOR: Just as planned?