Character Ideas Part IV: Antagonists

I realized that I never finished this series, so here's the last entry in my Character Ideas series of posts. I've already talked about where I get the ideas for protagonists, side characters, and love interests. Now it's time for the antagonists.

Typically my antagonists come from the needs of the story. Most of the time when I'm coming up with the story, the antagonist is one of the last big pieces I work on before writing. I've never had an idea that starts with the antagonist, but that could happen in the future.

I don't want to tell you too many specifics about the antagonists in my two novels because that might give too much away. Instead, I'll just talk in generalities. Both needed specific qualities to cause the plot events for both stories. The mean specific skills and back stories to make their motivations make sense. I actually probably spent more time on their motivations than my main characters. This could be because I have a tendency to write stories where the MCs get thrown into situations, whereas the antagonists are causing the issue so they need to have a specific plan and course of action and the motivations to make that plan take place. So I know exactly why both my bad guys did what they did, what drove them too it and why they didn't choose a nicer path.

I guess you could say that the plot is really what gives me the ideas for my antagonists. Again, this might not always be the case, but at the moment, it's what I have.

Next Firday, I'm going to be starting a new series, but it's not going to be about writing topics. I've decided that since this blog is called Writing through Life, I should probably talk a little about my life. So next week, I'll start doing just that.

Until then.

Listy Wednesday: 100

Since it's my 100th post today, I decided I'm going to push myself and list 100 of the names I like best. See, I like names. Who am I kidding, I love names. I have a bunch of baby name books (have since I was a teenager) and I'm always looking up new names and what they mean. So naturally I have a list of names I love. And today, I'll share 100 of those.

This list will consist of both male and female names in no particular order. They are names that I like for a wide variety of reasons, whether cause I would name my kid that or because it's a cool name, or because it works for a character I may one day create. As usual, I'm not telling you which is which. Feel free to guess. Also, tell me which names you like best from my list, or which ones you think I should have included.

1. Lucas
2. Caleb
3. Gavin
4. Brandon
5. Zachary
6. Levi
7. Nathaniel
8. Bryson
9. Cole
10. Braxton
11. Gage
12. Collin
13. Reuben
14. Brice
15. Benton
16. Efrain
17. Callan
18. Alden
19. Justus
20. Rowen
21. Emmitt
22. Matthias
23. Teagan
24. Brendan
25. Brennen
26. Zechariah
27. Emery
28. Braeden
29. Trent
30. Travis
31. Malachi
32. Corinne
33. Lorelei
34. Livia
35. Elaine
36. Kassandra
37. Virginia
38. Elisa
39. Elaina
40. Phoebe
41. Alexia
42. Genevieve
43. Tessa
44. Alexandria
45. Cora
46. Elise
47. Lydia
48. Victoria
49. Chloe
50. Sophia
51. Samantha
52. Zoe
53. Rebekah
54. Piper
55. Brant
56. Aidan
57. Alexander
58. Andrew
59. Asher
60. Benjamin
61. Bennett
62. Blake
63. Braddock
64. Bradly
65. Brent
66. Brody
67. Bryant
68. Cale
69. Camden
70. Christopher
71. Cody
72. Colin
73. Connor
74. Cullen
75. Gideon
76. Daniel
77. David
78. Dyllan
79. Ellis
80. Eli
81. Elijah
82. Elliott
83. Ephraim
84. Ethan
85. Evan
86. Everett
87. Ezekiel
88. Gabe
89. Geoffrey
90. Graham
91. Ian
92. Isaac
93. Isaiah
94. Tate
95. Alaina
96. Amelia
97. Aubrey
98. Tyler
99. Titus
100. Tobias

What are your favorites from my list? What names are missing? I know there are a bunch of guys names, so what girls names do you think I should add?

I'm Back

I was sick last week, so I didn't get blogs done. I'm still not feeling great, but I figured I need to try to do these even if I didn't feel well. So here I am.

I started working on First Sight again last week. I've been trying to get two scenes done a day, since I really want to get this draft done. I'm not always successful, but I've been pretty good about it. My current word count is just over 40K. That's right at what the first draft was when completed, so I'm pretty happy about that. I've added quite a bit that I hope makes the story better.

Currently I'm working on the last third or so. It's officially my least favorite part of the story. I'm not sure why. Maybe I don't totally like the resolution, but something about the end feels off. Or maybe it feels too easy. I'm not sure. Before I finish redrafting, I might reread that section and see if I can figure out what's irking me about it so I can fix it. I don't want to just regurgitate a bad ending if I can fix it.

That being said, I really want to get First Sight done cause I want to get back to Alana. I think I know what needs to be done, so I want to get busy doing it. I've been rereading some really well written books that have really inspired me and that makes me want to work on Alana.

Okay, that's it for tonight. Wednesday I'll have a list for you. Friday will be the last post in my Character ideas series.

Until then.

An Update

For the past couple of weeks I was working off and on on the account of my trip to Guatemala back in June. It took a while because I started it as a personal journal, then turned it into a journal that I was going to post for public consumption. Because of this, after writing the thing, I had to go back and do a few revisions and edits. It's now been published on another blog dedicated specifically to it, so I'm back to working on First Sight.

I got a few scenes done last week, but since I haven't spent a full week working on it, I am waiting to resume my regular blog posting until I do. Sorry for the delay, but I'd like to have something to actually write about when I post my next blog.

I'm planning for that to be next Monday, so hopefully it will be. Until then, you can always head over to my Guatemala blog and check out my adventures there.

A Little Longer with the Break

I know I've been gone for a bit. I was in Guatemala for a week so it got in the way of my writing. Since I've been back, I've been working on another project. Once I get that finished, I'll get back to my normal schedule of posting and writing.

Also, when I finish that, I might have some stuff to write about Guatemala, so bonus.

Until then.

Character Ideas: Part III

I know I promised to post this last week, but as I mentioned Monday, I was having hand trouble. Still am, so this may be short.

Anyway, I'm sure you are all dying to know where I get the ideas for my male leads and non-MCs.

Most of my main male leads come to me as part of the idea process. Well, their personality does. They start out as a list of things that I feel like that character needs to be. In Mathan's case (that's the lead for Alana) he needed to be dark, mysterious, a bit older than her, and skilled in using the magic that Alana has to learn to use.

In Raelin's case, Keller needed to be a bit more hostile. He is kind of Raelin's opposite. That's pretty much all I knew other than he and Raelin didn't get along at first.

Other than that, I didn't have too much of a clear picture of who my male leads were. That didn't develop until I actually go into writing the stories. It was only then that I really got to know who they were as characters, more of what their personalities felt like.

As for my secondary characters, those ideas basically just come from what ever pops into my head when I need the character. Usually I think about what the character needs to do in relation to my main characters then go on from there. Either that or I think about what the character needs to accomplish. That's pretty much it. Everything else gets fleshed out as I write.

Next week, I'll conclude the series about character ideas by talking about where the ideas for my antagonists come from.

Drafting Update (Sort Of)

So I didn't really get much written last week. My hands were seriously bothering me. That, combined with the holiday last Monday and you can understand why I didn't post any blogs. But I'm back this week, though the blogs will probably be shorter.

In a couple weeks I may have some non writing related blogs to post. Next Wednesday I leave for a mission trip to Guatemala, so hopefully in a few weeks I'll have some stuff to talk about from that.

Come back Wednesday for my weekly list.