Writing the Sequel - Villains
Tips for Developing or Replacing the Old Antagonist
A look at some of the details involved in either readying an old enemy for the next round of locating and defining a new primary evil-doer
For those who have embarked on the trial of the fiction manuscript, who have withstood the esteem-battering search for agents and publishers and who have finally managed to see their first-ever work through to blessed, printed status, there yet awaits one final first-time challenge, and it comes in the form of a call from your agent or editor.
“Hey, the first book’s doing great, how’s the sequel coming along?”
And so it begins. You’re at it again now, and this time you’re not allowed to start from scratch, to define everything anew as you go. This time you’re working in the confines of a world and cast-of-characters that the public has already seen and is even now evaluating and studying with every moment you spend staring blankly at your keyboard.
Of all the challenges that a successful sequel will set before its writer, the starring villain is perhaps the greatest, as this figure tends to stand equal with the hero/heroine in terms of defining the story, yet unlike the protagonist, the average Book One bad guy is usually killed-off, incarcerated or otherwise done away with by the end.
Here then are a few hints for either revamping an old enemy or locating a new anti-hero befitting a triumphant second title.
Return performance – better and badder than ever
For those antagonists who persist on into the second volume, a key factor to bear in mind is that change is necessary, but also stands as the quickest route to ruining a proven character. The villain has presumably suffered a crushing defeat and so should be accordingly altered and evolved, though not to the point of becoming a completely different – and untested – persona. The stone-hearted banker whose greed drove him to conflict with the altruist charity worker can now rise anew with near-consuming revenge as their primary motivation, though it should be remembered that it was their greed that previously defined them – and made them so loveably hate-worthy in the eyes of the reader. The goal here is to build on the character, rather than re-build.
New bad blood
If your original villain went the way of the waste-heap at the end of the first round, then the primary challenge for Book Two is fittingly two-fold, with the first job being to actually find your replacement evil-doer. While it’s possible to simply create a figure with absolutely no connection to the people or events of the first plot, most readers appreciate finding ties and connections between new and old storylines. If the new star-villain was present in the first book, yet distanced enough that they could not have actively aided the then-main antagonist, you must still explain why they would be motivated to directly involve themselves now, and not then. Alternately, if they were a contributing character in the earlier book, why were they not the main threat at that time? Bearing in mind that it’s not much of a sequel if all the hero now does is mop-up the various underlings left behind after the first climactic encounter.
On that note, the second requirement of a newcomer ne’er-do-well is that they pose an even greater threat than did the figure they replace; otherwise there is no question as to whether the protagonist might triumph again. If the hero of your romance has beaten his previous rival for the affections of the leading lady, then his next challenger might be her ex-lover – someone just as intent in snatching her away and now with the past association to back the attempt. Ensure however, that your hero is still up for the task, lest stronger-still come across as simply overpowering and unbeatable.
Whatever the case may be, recall again that the villain generally requires a good bit more tinkering prior to the beginning of the sequel, than does the protagonist. Combine this with the fact that for many readers, hero and villain are generally on-par in terms of importance, and it becomes clear how carefully one must go about recasting this cornerstone figure of the plot.
See also Writing the Sequel - Heroes and Writing the Sequel - Plotlines
