How should I go about with this? How do I introduce my villain into the story? With a big bang or a more subtle approach? Also, I'm planning on introducing him towards the middle of the book. Is this a bad thing? Should he be ever present from page 1? Thanks, Kraven.
That depends on the story and the villain. If he's a subtle villain, he may not appear with a big bang, or even (explicitly) at all. If he goes in for frontal assaults, then it might work better to introduce him earlier and with more of a blatant entrance.
Like Isar said, depends on the villain. It also depends on what works better for the story. If he's not going to be real important to the plot as soon as he appears, it might be better to make him appear more subtle. However if he DOES become intergal as soon as he appears, then he should indeed arrive with a bang.
This is a story issue. You first set up the conflict. IE: Hero/Villain Then you need to establish how this happens. The Backdrop sort-to-speak. IN this front you need to make the decision on how this Villain enters the picture. How does the Hero meet the Villain and what is their relationship 9if any) in your story. In most stories the Villain (or their villain's effect) is introduced at the beginning or near the begining because you need to establish the paramaters of the conflift for the plot to unfold. IE: What is the Hero facing?
I chose to introduce him in the second chapter. Well, the Hero and Villain don't actually meet until right at the end of the book.
Yeah, I like the idea of the hero and villain not meeting til later - perhaps living separate lives and eventually cross each others' paths. Do the readers' know he's a villain straight away? Obviously that affects the way you would introduce him.
It depends on the villian, but if you want to make it blatantly clear from the moment you introduce him, have him do something "evil" to establish his place as the antagonist. Ex: he kills an innocent man.
I have two projects write now. In my fantasy novel trilogy, which is broken into 6 parts, two per book, my villain is a political figure throughout the entire novel, though he does not make a phsyical appearance until the beginning of part 4. My other project, a sci fi anthology of short stories in Dickens/serial fashion, there are three main villains, two groups and one individual. The second chapter introduces the group that becomes his strongest and most feared, while the arch enemy and other group will be introduced along the way. It really depends on the story and the characters. Villains should be prominent throughout at least a majority of the story, through mention of characters, heroes or the villain's henchmen and assailants. The Villain may not appear until the very end, but it helps if he is at least known by some name throughout.
