Enemies, rivals, and villains - they're people we hate in real life. At least we dislike them and they make us miserable. Well, they make me miserable. Maybe you like them.
Yeah, I have a few enemies and rivals that are my personal villains. I won't name names but trust me, they're real.
I wish they weren't. I don't like conflict in my personal life. I don't like unpleasantries. I don't like to be hounded or disliked or stalked. I don't like arguments and fights. Heck, I work in customer service because I like to soothe and appease people and make everything better.
HOWEVER, and this is a BIG HOWEVER, what would a fictional story be without conflict, enemies, rivals, and villains?
BORING!!!
Yep. Unlike real life, it's not fun to watch someone have a hunky dory day without conflict all day long, every day. What's the point? The story's over and one. Or it's not started.
Imagine "The Mummy" without the mummy. Or Indiana Jones digging up artifacts without any evil, creepy guy chasing him. Yeah, he'd still be cute and sexy, but the story would be pretty boring. Or "Star Wars" without Darth Vader and the evil Empire. So what if Luke can swing a light saber and make things levitate? That alone would be ho hum. Or "Independence Day" without the homicidal aliens.
I can go on and on...
Even in romance we need conflict - that's part of the definition of romance. Overcoming the conflict is a lot like foreplay, or maybe it is foreplay. :) Think "The Cutting Edge" and "Runaway Bride". Lots of conflict. Sometimes the hero and heroine are enemies in the beginning.
Please!!! Make my kids stop fighting so I can write lots of fantasy conflict.
Sometimes, my real life villains inspire my fiction villains. This is the legal way to act out my aggressions and kill somebody without really killing somebody. I wonder how many authors write about murders and corpses when they're mad at somebody. I'm probably not the only one. That or go to the batting cages and whack the hell out of a lot of balls - softballs, I mean. that's also legal.
Oh, you know what I mean!
You'll also want to see what Amarinda Jones, Anika Hamilton, Anny Cook, Barbara Huffert, Brynn Paulin, Bronwyn Green, Dakota Rebel, Kelly Kirch, Molly Daniels, Sandra Cox, Regina Carlysle, and Cindy Spencer Pape are up to, so make sure to visit them also. :)
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