Hey, my one reader!
To recap, this is a detailed description of how to plot. Remember, I’m going kicking and screaming. Also, if you have ideas for improvement, toss ’em in a comment because it’s always better to do this by community. [If, however, you are that person who says “the world doesn’t need your book,” remember, the world doesn’t need your negativity, either, and nobody said anything about need, anyway.]
Where were we? Ah, yes, we were talking villains, and Angie and Becca’s one of many thesaurrii (shakes fist at Latin) which had a whole bunch of fine advice.
I’d started with “rich a-hole” for my villain, but that’s a bit on the lite side. A lot on the lite side. It’s horrible, shallow, and wretched.
I do, however, happen to have this cool little excel spreadsheet that takes all the good traits and the one negative trait and randomly throws them together. It’s to give inspiration. It’s no worse than a dart board.
The categories are:
ACHIEVEMENT
IDENTITY
INTERACTIVE
MORAL
Negative
I have no idea why Negative gets lower case while everyone else gets all caps, but hey, you get what you pay for. I hit the space bar and enter and I get:
Efficient
Sensual
Trusting
Protective
Showy
I’m going to go to the side a bit and say this person incredibly powerful and stinking rich, which in this universe is a Grand Senator, one of the thousands in the millions of planets. Oh, calm down, not all of the planets are habitable. I know my science. Sort of. If he (assuming its a he… what would change if it were a her?) has this position, it’s because he inherited it or he clawed his way up the ladder and offed some other person who wasn’t worthy and didn’t want it as bad. What can we do with Achievement Efficient? I’m looking at the Positive Traits Thesaurus Guide and it says:
Having a “type A” personality
Having a strong drive to succeed
Growing up in a busy, active family
The need to be productive
Being highly active and involved; needing to manage one’s time and energy wisely
Do those sound like qualities a high up leader would have? Sure. That fits. He’s a GSen because he’s efficient, efficienter than the other guys. Shakespeare can make up words, so can I. Why give that dude a pass? In Black Adder Back & Forth (1999), a time traveling Black Adder decks Shakespeare in a corridor and says:
Black Adder: That is for every schoolboy and schoolgirl for the next 400 years. Have you any idea how much suffering you’re going to cause? Hours spent at schooldesks, trying to find one joke in a Midsummers Night’s Dream, years wearing stupid tights in school plays, and saying things like ‘What ho, my lord,’ and ‘oh look, here comes a fellow,’ talking total crap, as usual.”
(Black Adder kicks Shakespeare)
Black Adder: Oh, and THAT is for Ken Branagh’s endless uncut four hour version of Hamlet.
Shakespeare: Who’s Ken Branagh?
Black Adder: I’ll tell him you said that. And I think, he’ll be very hurt.
Right, where were we?
Making the villain. Okay, center. Is Sensual going to do it as Identity? Not sure.
Having a deep love for all things and experiences
Being highly exploratory
Having a creative or artistic nature
Having a heightened awareness of and sensitivity to one’s senses
Having a strong libido
Maybe that last one. But the rest don’t jibe with a powerful GSen and don’t seem to work with the kind of villainy we need. I’m tossing it out and rolling the dice. Instead, I got Just. Which also doesn’t really work, I mean, it’s “having a strong sense of fairness.” Just going to throw this out there, what this person is going to unleash isn’t fair in the slightest. It’s perversely unfair. I need a different motivator in the Identity department… although, perhaps, maybe they’re conflicted? There’s this public persona, GSen Jones is this amazing man who seeks justice and wants to help the people who at the very same time happens to enjoy pulling levers and doing awful things because he’s the opposite of what he wants people to think he is. Does this work? I think we can use it. Can someone have a false identity? Of course they can! What’s the villain’s real identity? That, I think, we will examine tomorrow.
Author Matt Bowes and the Dog's Breakfast 