Rowanvale Books
  • Home
    • Self Publishing Wales
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Not Sure Where To Start?
    • Rowanvale's Five Commandments
    • Meet The Team
    • Manuscript Guidelines
    • Design Galleries >
      • Design Gallery - Chrissie
      • Design Gallery - Rebeckah
      • Design Gallery - Kayleigh
      • Design Gallery - Alex
      • Design Gallery - Alice
    • Meet Our Authors
  • Our Services
    • Pre-Publication Services >
      • Proofreading and Editing
      • Book Illustrations Service
      • Scanning And Typing Service
      • Editorial Assessment
      • Literary Agent Package
      • Beta Readers
      • Custom Book Cover Design Service
      • Developmental Editing
    • Publication Services >
      • Children's Book Publishing
      • Paperback/Hardback Publishing
      • eBook Publishing
      • eBook and Paperback Publishing Package
      • KDP Publishing Package
    • Post-Publication Services >
      • Amazon Analysis
      • ARC and Book Review Service
      • PR Services
      • Marketing And Aftercare
  • Blog
  • Bookstore
    • New Releases
  • FAQs
  • Our Reviews
  • Contact Us

Writing to Hook: Do I Need a Villain?

5/11/2022

1 Comment

 
Picture
While your writing does not rely on an antagonist, the protagonist in your narrative needs something to challenge them. As many people say, we are only as good as our biggest challenge, and this proves true with some of our favourite origin stories. While we love and cherish the main character, we appreciate them more when we are able to identify them as a hero.  
 
Take, for example, Harry Potter. We enjoy reading about Harry’s adventures at Hogwarts, and we become hooked when Voldemort and Harry engage in battles. As Harry consistently chooses the selfless way of doing things, we come to admire and appreciate his character more.  
 
Many other novels include our favourite villains, like Captain Hook in Peter Pan and Sauron in Lord of The Rings. These villains give the reader more characters to understand and learn about, and often they even help us to better understand the protagonist by way of their interactions.  
 
That being said, some stories do not necessarily need villains to function. In almost any Jane Austen novel, the lead character does not always concur with a villain. Yet her work still provides entertainment and manages to hook us until the end. If or when you include a villain in your work, a good starting point is to look at their origin story. By projecting the wrongs of society into one character, we go on a journey with the protagonist and look forward to the villain’s defeat. Showing why a character is a villain gives the reader more reason to consider them an antagonist.  
 
Picture
What is a villain?  
 A villain is someone who actively enhances the plot of a story by bringing a challenge to some part of the narrative, whereas an antagonist is someone who actively shows hostility to someone or something. Although both share the similarities of having negative connotations, note that they differ in definition. Having both or either an antagonist or villain in your work provides entertainment and a more exciting narrative. 

​The concept of a ‘villain’ does not necessarily have to be a singular character
, either. It may be a group of people, an army of some kind, the climate of the story or a character’s dark past. Each scenario infers completely different versions of a villain, yet all work to hook their readers. As readers, we want our heroes to have bold survival strategies to take down the villain’s dangerous plans.  

 
At the end of the day, your literature needs aspects of challenge to make the writing entertaining and keep readers hooked. By giving the main character something to win against, you are making them heroic and idealising them, showing that the character who we have been on the journey with is truly courageous. A good villain can ultimately leave the reader feeling fulfilled and satisfied with the protagonist's ending!  
1 Comment
Megan
30/11/2022 13:23:57

I’m writing a paper on the importance of villains and this article has given me some great ideas to include, thank you!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    January 2021

    Categories

    All
    Book Distribution
    Marketing
    Royalties
    Self Publishing Guide
    Self-publishing Guide
    Social Media
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Services

Children's Publishing
Paperback Publishing
eBook Publishing
KDP Publishing
All Format Publishing
Book Illustrations
Writing Advisor
Scanning & Typing
Editorial Assessment
Proofreading & Editing
Literary Agents
Beta Readers
Custom Book Cover Design
Developmental Editing
Amazon Analysis
ARC Review Service
PR Service
Marketing & Aftercare

Company

Meet The Team
Accessibility
Contact Us

Support

FAQs
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy
Rowanvale Books is the largest and one of the longest running self-publishing companies in Wales.
Visit us on our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn below.
UK: 02921 280 895
Intl: (+44) 2921 280 895
e: info@rowanvalebooks.com
Picture

© Rowanvale Books Ltd 2023
Registered in Wales | Company Registration No. 8820249
Website Powered By Digitally Brilliant
  • Home
    • Self Publishing Wales
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Not Sure Where To Start?
    • Rowanvale's Five Commandments
    • Meet The Team
    • Manuscript Guidelines
    • Design Galleries >
      • Design Gallery - Chrissie
      • Design Gallery - Rebeckah
      • Design Gallery - Kayleigh
      • Design Gallery - Alex
      • Design Gallery - Alice
    • Meet Our Authors
  • Our Services
    • Pre-Publication Services >
      • Proofreading and Editing
      • Book Illustrations Service
      • Scanning And Typing Service
      • Editorial Assessment
      • Literary Agent Package
      • Beta Readers
      • Custom Book Cover Design Service
      • Developmental Editing
    • Publication Services >
      • Children's Book Publishing
      • Paperback/Hardback Publishing
      • eBook Publishing
      • eBook and Paperback Publishing Package
      • KDP Publishing Package
    • Post-Publication Services >
      • Amazon Analysis
      • ARC and Book Review Service
      • PR Services
      • Marketing And Aftercare
  • Blog
  • Bookstore
    • New Releases
  • FAQs
  • Our Reviews
  • Contact Us