• Member Since 14th Aug, 2016
  • offline last seen Jul 3rd, 2023

Elkia Deerling


Hello, my name is Elkia. I like writing stories and reading them dearly, and I am a big fan of Nordic culture. Enjoy my fiction!

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Feb
21st
2018

Hearth's Warming Con panel: Get in Character! · 2:19pm Feb 21st, 2018

Greetings

Greetings, ponies, griffons, changelings, dragons, etc. from around the world! I’m really happy to be here, in my own native country, to give a panel about writing. My name is—

Ikea

No…

Nokia

No…

Elkia!

Ah, there we go. My name is Elkia Deerling, hobbyist writer and professional panelist. I started writing a couple of years ago when I discovered the brony fandom, and I still love doing it a lot. I have actually done two panels on writing already, one at Galacon 2017 and one at UK Ponycon 2017. My bibliography consists of two books, a couple of short stories, and two writing guides on Equestria Daily. Those writing guides are really special, because they were two happy accidents. I simply looked up all kinds of grammatical and stylistic questions I had, and wrote down the answers in a document. A few months later, I got something that looked like a writing guide.

Characters

And that’s why I’m here. Not to boast, but to give you the tools and skills you need to make epic, awesome, and realistic characters. Characters are vital to a story. What would a movie or tv-series be without characters?

A movie without characters

The answer is: a nature documentary where you do nothing but watch plants grow.

Characters

Characters are necessary to make your story happen. They will interact with the world and each other, and cause a chain of cause and effect. When you write a story, you always need a starting point, an idea. This idea could be anything like a location, an action scene, a bit of dialogue or… characters! But even if you’re not going to create a whole story, I’m sure you all have an original character. I always say that you need to do two things to create an OC. First is to draw him or her, so you know how he or she looks, and what the cutie mark is like. Then, you need a backstory to blow life into your character. If you have those two things, you have a living creation of your very own. You just became father or mother, as you created your child.

Two kinds of writers

So let’s get started. First I have to tell you that there are two kinds of writers. There’s the kind that makes a very detailed and thorough study of the characters he or she will use in the story, and there is the kind that does not do that, but thinks everything up on the fly. We’re going to ignore the second kind. Sorry. I myself find it really handy to have a very detailed character sketch, so I always know and remember with whom I’m dealing. Such a character sketch helps me bring the characters to life on paper, and it can even help you with writer’s block. Whenever you’re stuck, whenever you think, ‘What would he or she do?’ then go to your character sketch and read it through. You have no idea how often this has helped me when I was stuck.

What is a character?

So what is a character exactly? A character is a mix of you, others, and your imagination. Of course, you know yourself the best, so if you want a character, look at your own personality, strengths, and flaws, and maybe use those things as a starting point for your character.

You’re not alone in the world. You have met people, made friends, fought enemies, who also have certain personality traits. Look closely at your friends and relatives, try to spot their personality, and maybe make your character based on him/her. Plus, it’s always funny to share that character with whomever you based him or her on. But don’t do that if you’re making an antagonist, because then you are most likely to get a slap in the face.

But let’s not forget the most important part in the creative process: your own imagination. You can think up crazy habits (collecting ducks) or weird strengths (bullet-proof teeth) or hilarious flaws (not being able to say yes). If you can think of something like that, it is your job as a writer to make it work, no matter how crazy it is.

It’s always nice to make your characters relatable. Of course you think up original things that are specific to your character, but it’s also good to make sure things the character does are things that can happen to the reader. This way, there will be engagement between your reader and your character because the reader sees bits and pieces of him or herself in the character; there is some correspondence. An example of something interesting but also relatable is an insatiable curiosity, or wanting to please everyone, or becoming a world-famous panelist.

Round characters vs. flat characters

There are two kinds of characters: round and flat characters. Round characters are usually the protagonist or his or her friends. Round characters have a clearly defined personality with specific traits, strengths and weaknesses. This personality shows through everything the character says or does, so the reader gets to know the character very well. Also, round characters will develop themselves throughout your story, as they start out with flaws, but have to overcome those in order to complete objectives. Maybe they are afraid of bugbears, and have to overcome this fear in order to defeat the major, supreme, badass, alpha bugbear… or something.

It’s easier making flat characters than round characters, because flat characters don’t really need a very detailed outline or personality. Flat characters are usually NPC’s (non-player characters in gaming slang) like innkeepers, mailmen, or taxi drivers. These characters are not that vital to the story, and the impression they make is but small and usually not very important. Flat characters only play in one or two scenes, don’t really develop themselves, and the reader doesn’t get to know them too well. An example of a flat character is of course a background pony like…

Background pony?!

Applejack!

My method and keywords: the character’s backpack

So now that we know what a character is, what the difference between round and flat characters is, and that Applejack is a background pony, let’s see how you can make a character yourself. Now bear in mind that this is the way I create characters. Maybe you will use very different keywords or start with a totally different idea. Always feel free to experiment and innovate, and maybe, next year, you will be the one giving a writing panel.

This is my personal collection of keywords which I call ‘the character’s backpack.’ Catchy, isn’t it? Going through these keywords one by one enables me to write down anything and everything I believe is important and worth remembering when creating a character—a round character. Let’s look at the keywords one by one and see what they mean.

Purpose

This may seem obvious, but writers do forget this sometimes. Always make sure your character has a purpose. If a character is just in your story to be beautiful or awesome or strong, and it doesn’t really add anything to your plot or make an impression on your characters, then what’s the point in creating it? Sure, Rainbow Dash is awesome, but she doesn’t automatically make your story 20% cooler. If she’s just there to show some tricks and boast afterwards, and your characters are indifferent and soon move on, why spend two whole pages on her? Do you see what I mean?

Strengths

Strengths are special abilities or skills which the character can use to overcome obstacles, solve problems, and help other characters. Examples would be being good at lockpicking, being physically strong, being smart, being a pro apple bobber, or being good at Candy Crush.

Flaws

Just as important as strengths—or maybe even more important—are flaws. Flaws are things that the character lacks, weaknesses, or maybe even fears. Everyone has flaws. One of my flaws is that I talk too much, as you can hear for yourselves here. Flaws hinder the character in whatever he or she wants to do, and in order to finish the story, your round character has to overcome these flaws and turn them into strengths AKA character development. Sometimes they can do that themselves, and sometimes they need the help of others to develop. A prime example can be found in the episode The Return of Harmony where Twilight’s friends needed to be reminded of their virtues through a memory spell which Twilight casted. But in Magical Mystery Cure, Twilight found the power to finish Starswirl’s spell herself. As you can see, both ways to overcome flaws can be equally powerful.

But also watch out you don’t give your character flaws which are strengths in disguise, for example being too kind or too caring. Look at the episode Somepony to watch over me. In that episode Applejack was too caring, but in the end she used that same caring nature to save Apple Bloom from the Chimaera.

Personality traits

You can go wild with personality traits. Is your character always cheerful or grumpy? What does he or she like? Is he or she awesome or dull? Think up some unusual things to make your character original, or think up some common things to make him or her relatable.

Ideals and beliefs

It’s time to go deep. Ideals and beliefs look very much like personality traits, but go deeper. An example would be a code your character lives by, like a soldier’s alliance. Maybe your character is a member of a cult with set rules on how to live. What does your character desire most? What is his or her life goal? To live long, or to make others happy? Also important in ideals and beliefs are morals. What does your character think is right and what is wrong?

History or backstory

Your character didn’t just fall out of the sky or appear in a cloud of magical energy. POOF! Things happened to him or her before the reader or the other characters first hear of him or her. Backstory consists of past experiences that shaped your character into who he or she is now. Think about defining events which left a permanent impression on the character. A great way to create backstory is to look at your character and think ‘why?’

Why did Tirek want to rule Equestria? He wanted revenge because Celestia imprisoned him in Mount Tartarus.

Why did Starlight Glimmer develop such a hate against cutie marks? Because when Sunburst got his cutie mark, she lost her favorite playmate.

Sometimes it’s good to be clear, but it’s also fun to leave gaps in the backstory, or make the character reluctant to reveal his or her backstory. That way, you let the reader guess at what happened. Just because your character has a backstory doesn’t mean you necessarily have to share it. The reader will feel that your character makes sense, as long as there is a backstory driving him/her.

Bonds

Your character might have a special relationship with another character, like a brother and sister relationship. Other bonds can be friendships, naturally, or love relationships. And what about bonds with certain places, like the Apple family and their farm?

Miscellaneous

Here are some other things that might be important to think about:

-motivation. What does your character want?

-childhood and family

-age

-physical appearance

-land of origin

-lifestyle

-what does his/her home or room look like?

-what are your character’s plans for the future?

Let’s get creative!

With all the tips and tricks I have given you, you should be able to make awesome characters. You know the theory, and now it’s time to put this knowledge to use! Together, we’ll make a character using the blocks from the character’s backpack. Let’s begin and see how far we get. Shall we?

Let’s get more creative!

Don’t forget about the miscellaneous things, of course. The more things you know about your character, the more realistic he or she will be.

D&D character sheet

Who knows what this is? Any Dungeons and Dragons players in the house? Dungeons and Dragons is a roleplaying game where you create a character, make a party of friends, and plunge into a story which is guided by the dungeon master. Now what does this have to do with making characters in a story? A lot. This is a character sheet, which you use to create a character that’s suitable for the game. It’s another way of creating characters, as this character sheet uses other keywords. By tweaking the different skills and proficiencies, you are able to determine whether your character is for example a spellcaster, a barbarian, or a ranger.
Strength

Dexterity

Constitution

Intelligence

Wisdom

Charisma

Acrobatics

Animal handling

Arcana

Athletics

Deception

History

Insight

Intimidation

Investigation

Medicine

Nature

Perception

Performance

Persuasion

Religion

Sleight of hand

Stealth

Survival

And there is even space to write about your character’s personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws

Dungeons and Dragons character sheets work well to see where your character’s talents lie, and you can even use them with the races of ponies. If you want to make a spellcaster like a unicorn, you will have a lot of intelligence, wisdom, arcana, insight, and maybe even religion. But the downside is that you don’t have enough points to spend on other skills, so you’ll have less strength, less constitution, and you’ll lack other skills. You’ll be squashy, as we say in the D&D world.

Or perhaps you would like to be a pegasus? I’d say pegasi have a lot of constitution, because they are healthy, and lots of dexterity, with all the flying tricks and stuff. Of course, if you want to make a top-notch flyer like Rainbow Dash, you’ll want to have acrobatics, athletics, and maybe even perception, if you want to have the trained eyes of an eagle.

And let’s not forget the earth ponies! Earth ponies are hardy and have a special relationship with the lands around them. I think strength, constitution, animal handling, nature, and survival will be important for them.

Of course, you can not only look at race, but also at special talent. Let’s say that your character is an earth pony, but also likes the fine arts like writing or theater. Then your character will have less nature and earth-specific skills, but he or she will be more sociable and have a higher charisma, deception, performance, and persuasion.

Dungeons and Dragons character sheets are another fun way to create a character. So whenever you’re stuck or don’t have a clear view on what your character can and can’t do, try to fill in one of these and see where it takes you.

Mary sues and Gary stus

A Mary Sue (or Gary Stu for male versions) is a character that is too perfect. It’s often a beginner’s mistake to accidentally create a Mary Sue. A Mary Sue has amazing powers, everyone instantly befriends him or her, every challenge and monster is easily overcome, and his or her life is absolutely perfect and beautiful. Great as this all may sound, a Mary Sue in your story is often very hard to work with. A story is usually based around some type of conflict or problem. But when a Mary Sue solves this problem with a snap of her fingers, then your story will become boring. Why? Because obstacles on the path to success provide suspense. It’s exciting to see what amazing problem will reveal itself, and how the hero has to work very hard to overcome it. It’s really hard to make a story around a Mary Sue, to provide an obstacle that will show his or her weaknesses—because he or she doesn’t have any! What is also difficult is making a Mary Sue relatable to you or your reader, because nopony is perfect. Even writers have flaws.

It’s really easy to spot Mary Sues in the brony community. Just look for a character with wings, a horn, and maybe even a crown.

No!

That’s right, everypony. Alicorn OC’s? No!

Mary Sues and Gary Stus

Nah, just kidding. The reason why many people believe alicorns are instant Mary Sues is because they are so powerful. Alicorns have an almost god-like power, so if you want to throw some kind of challenge at her, you’ll have to think up something truly titanic.
So now that we know what a Mary Sue is, how can we avoid or alter her? Don’t worry if you have a Mary Sue or Gary Stu in your own story, because a Mary Sue is easy to fix. The only thing you have to do is give her someflaws, restrictions, or maybe even fears. Make her struggle with difficult decisions or create an equally powerful antagonist. Princess Celestia might look like a powerful goddess, but even she had to resort to banishment to stop her equally-powerful sister. And what about the Smooze? She couldn’t do anything about that.

Character archetypes

Just as in music, there are certain patterns one can observe when talking about characters. These are character archetypes we see in all kinds of movies and books. What you can do is take one of these archetypes, tweak it a little bit, and then you have yourself a new character. Thinking up a character all by yourself is hard, and looking at these archetypes, you might be able to get an idea as to how you want your character to be. Archetypes are a great way of discovering the role of a character in your story. It’s easy to see if your characters are actually important to the story, or if they are dead weight. Just don’t copy-paste, of course.

Hero

The hero is the character the audience will get to know very well, so it’s important to give him or her some personality and make him or her relatable. The audience will watch the world through the eyes of the hero, so the hero is essentially a guide. The hero is used to the laws and rules of his or her own world, but—through an accident or by choice—the hero enters a new world. Together, the hero and the audience have to figure out this new world, its dangers and its riches, to get the quest done. An example can be Starlight Glimmer’s village in my favorite episode, The Cutie Map part one and two. The main six entered Starlight’s village, and traveled from the town they knew to a new village with other rules.

The hero-chief

The chief is the hero in its purest form. He or she is sent by the gods, or has another, powerful background and ancestry. The chief is born to lead, and if he or she isn’t already in a powerful position, enjoying wealth and the finer things in life, he or she will surely be so soon. The chief deals with his or her problems head-on, makes important decisions and focuses on the goal at hand. I like to say that Twilight Sparkle is this chief when she reached princesshood, but then I would be wrong. Despite Twilight’s ascension, she still has to learn things and develop in order to become the mentor of her new friendship student, Starlight Glimmer. I think Twilight will fit the role of the chief more and more, as she grows and takes responsibility helping Starlight Glimmer.

The bad boy

The bad boy is a scoundrel. He or she doesn’t take the law too seriously, hates authority, and is often up to his or her ears in some kind of trouble or debt. The bad boy usually has a bad attitude. Yet, the bad boy is also streetwise, has connections, and is smart. However much the hero wants to deny it, sometimes the bad boy is necessary to complete a quest. Bad boys in MLP are Gilda the griffon and Babs Seed.

The mentor

Oftentimes, there is a mentor who will help the hero in his or her adventures. The mentor teaches the hero how to survive and adapt in the new world, and maybe even gives him or her a valuable gift. Mentors also make sure that the plot moves along, as a hero might be flabbergasted by the new world, or reluctant to go on the quest and solve whatever problem needs to be solved. Sometimes the one who actually voices the quest and tells what has to be done is the mentor. Usually, once the hero is put in the right direction, the mentor disappears, and the hero once more walks alone. Obviously, in The Return of Harmony, Princess Celestia played the role of mentor, as she briefly explained that the main six had to defeat Discord using the elements of harmony.

The ally

The ally is the hero’s little helper. He or she is there to provide assistance, distract the guards, carry gear, and assist using his or her own unique set of skills. The ally might be willing to help the hero and stand by his or her side, but the ally can also be reluctant, and forced to help the hero in one way or the other. Sometimes, the ally needs to be respected by the hero, and only then will he or she follow him or her. Spike the dragon is the ally of Twilight Sparkle, and he is oftentimes very useful, and does things that Twilight Sparkle can’t. For example in Lesson Zero Spike was the only one who took Twilight and her horrible, terrible tardiness seriously, and saw how things escalate.

The herald

The herald is sometimes not even a character itself, but an object like a key or an invitation. The herald is also a driving factor that moves the plot along. Heralds can bring bad news, like a threat in some distant land, or good news, like a small glimpse in the future, showing how great the life of the hero can be if he or she is to undertake the quest. A herald in MLP would be future Twilight, who, in the episode It’s about Time, tried to warn Twilight not to worry about the future. This didn’t succeed, unfortunately, and it set in motion Twilight’s attempts to make the future safe, which only ended up creating worries itself. Another herald can be found in A Hearth’s Warming Tale. Applejack was the herald who showed Snowfall Frost’s past, Pinkie the present, and Princess Luna the future.
More character archetypes

The trickster

The trickster has many roles in a story. The first one is comic relief. When things get dark or gloomy, the trickster will make a joke or say something that will make the audience laugh. Also, the trickster challenges the status quo, as he or she doesn’t take the world or law too seriously. This offers new perspectives on a familiar problem, and adds new knowledge and inspiration to the hero’s arsenal. The trickster is fun and smooth, but not very responsible or dependable. Reformed Discord is the trickster in many MLP episodes, yet the episode which stands out to me is Twilight’s Kingdom part one. In that episode, Discord hinted at the use of the tokens everypony had received after solving friendship problems using their virtues. Nopony thought of those, until Discord mentioned them after reading the six’s diaries. Thanks to the trickster, they eventually discovered the keys, and managed to obtain the rainbow-colored power from the chest to defeat Tirek.

The shapeshifter

The shapeshifter is always in the grey zone, sometimes ally, and sometimes enemy. The shapeshifter often befriends the hero, and then betrays him or her during a critical moment in the story. The loyalty of the shapeshifter can also shift, and his or her true intentions are constantly doubtful. Shapeshifters are interesting in a story, as they add tension, and can be great to use in plot twists. A prime example can be found in My Little Pony the movie. The shapeshifter comes in the form of Capper, who claimed to help the ponies, while in reality he sold them in order to get rid of his debts. Yet, when Tempest Shadow asked him where the ponies went to, Capper pointed her in the opposite direction, thereby helping the ponies. His loyalty shifted. After that, Capper appeared before Twilight’s friends on Basalt Beach, and offered to help them by sneaking them into the city. Then, when they were exposed, he fought along with them, sealing his new role as an ally, rather than an enemy.

The guardian

The guardian guards something. Maybe it’s a treasure, but more often than not it’s a doorway or a hidden passage. The guardian tests the hero by attacking him or her, offering a puzzle, or do something else to make the hero prove his or her worth. The guardian is also a clear signal to the audience. ‘There’s danger ahead. Don’t go unless you’re absolutely determined.’ The guardian in MLP is found in the episode, The Gauntlet of Fire. In that episode, Dragon Lord Torch tested his dragon people by letting them enter the Gauntlet of Fire and retrieve the Bloodstone Scepter.

The shadow

The shadow is the evil villain in the story. He or she is the direct opposite of the hero, and only produces threat and conflict. The shadow can also be an internal struggle, rather than a person. What the shadow can also do is mirror the hero, and show what becomes of him or her if he or she falls for the dark side. In the episode Put Your Hoof Down, Iron Will was the exact opposite of Fluttershy, yet Fluttershy slowly transformed into his likeness the more assertive she became.

The anti-hero

Anti-heroes are not protagonists because they’re not intentionally doing evil. At their best, anti-heroes have underdeveloped traits. At their worst, they’re totally inapt for any situation. The anti-hero is also a rebel; he or she challenges the status quo, if it’s bad, and wants to change it. This, however, is a task the anti-hero is not ready for; the task is never brave, wise, or heroic. The anti-hero has little control over his or her own life or the situation, and as a result, the anti-hero usually dies. I think Discord is an anti-hero, as he’s a bit of a lost soul. He doesn’t intentionally do evil, he just does what he likes: creating chaos. In his eyes, he’s doing the right thing. He sees that the status quo is not as he likes it, and then just alters it to his liking. Discord’s underdeveloped traits are selflessness. Only by interacting with Fluttershy, when she showed him friendship in Keep Calm and Flutter On, did he realize that he missed something in his life, because of his underdeveloped selflessness. He wanted a friend, yet the only way to befriend Fluttershy was by giving in, something he grudgingly did.

Character names

That’s right. Now that we have created our character using the building blocks from the character’s backpack, it’s time to give him/her a name. Now this might look easy, but, as a professional OC-lover, I have come across good and bad names, and discovered certain ‘rules’ that may be applied. Don’t get me wrong, you can name your OC whatever you like, yet if you really want to create a name that sounds good, consider these tips.

Personality and special talents

Look at the cutie mark! You can base your OC’s name on his or her cutie mark, or the other way around. Many names in the MLP universe can be retraced by looking at the character’s special talent or personality. A name like Rainbow Dash indicates that she really likes to go fast.

Color and physical appearance

Of course you can also name your character looking at the color. Pinkie Pie isn’t called Pinkie Pie because she’s blue. If you have made an OC who is red, try to come up with something like red, scarlet, auburn, rouge, or look at objects that are red, like garnets, rubies, or strawberries. With physical appearance I mean that you can see how your character looks and base a name around him/her. Look at Bulk Biceps, Iron Will, or Featherweight and you’ll see what I mean. Is your character tall, skinny, muscled, small, or big? But don’t forget clothing. What is your character’s signature attire? Perhaps it’s a scarf or a hat or a dress.

Two words, or one with multiple syllables.

‘Ra-ri-ty’ and ‘Rain-bow-Dash’ both have three syllables, but ‘Rarity’ is one word while ‘Rainbow Dash’ are two. Say the name out loud a couple of times to hear if it sounds cool; it’s a matter of feeling and hearing.

Two words with the same letter.

In order to make the name sound soundly, it’s a good idea to take two words with the same letter (it’s called a tautogram, by the way). An example would be Double Diamond, or Countess Coloratura. Or take two words that rhyme and put them together, like Cherry Jubilee or Hoity Toity.

Common expressions

You can use a common expression or proverb to name your character. It may sound a little cheesy, but it works, as we can see with Shining Armor (my knight in shining armor), and Prince Blueblood (having blue blood means being of noble blood).

Terminology

My favorite way of thinking up names is looking at a theme, like the occupation of a pony. Then, you search for terminology; words that have something to do with that theme. The theme of Applejack is of course apples, so if you’d look at apple terminology, you can see all kinds of different words that have something to do with apples. Maybe core, or stalk, or blossom. In the show the writers have chosen to take the different types of apples and name the members of the Apple family after those types, like Granny Smith, which is—ironically enough—the greenest and sourest of the apples.

How would his/her parents name him/her?

Maybe you’ve already figured out the names of the parents, but not the name of your OC yet. In that case, look at the parents’ names, and you might receive a hint on how to name your character. For example Twilight Velvet and Night Light, the parents of Twilight Sparkle. You see? Her mother actually has the word ‘Twilight’ in her name, and Night Light has the element of ‘light,’

‘Sparkle,’ ‘Shine,’ or maybe even ‘Glimmer,’ in his name. Twilight Sparkle may just as well be named ‘Twilight Glimmer.’

Twilight Glimmer

I wouldn’t be surprised…
Antagonists

So we know how to make a hero now, but what about the villains? Maybe I enjoy making villains even more than making heroes, because you get to be evil! Writers are usually very evil persons, because they constantly plunge their characters into dangerous and tense situations, and that’s what we like. Muhahaha!

Making an antagonist goes very much the same as making a hero. It is best to use as many building blocks from the character’s backpack as you can, to make your antagonist as rounded and complete as possible. You can do so many things with an antagonist who is smart, motivated, and multi-facetted, while just a shallow antagonist whose only desire it is to see the world burn becomes boring and doesn’t really leave a lasting impression on your reader. We’ve seen too many of those kinds of antagonists. Tirek, for example, is really shallow, because all he wants is power and revenge. But an antagonist like Starlight Glimmer or Discord is much more interesting, because their personality and motivation reach beyond just revenge.

The most important building blocks you have to use to create an antagonist are the backstory, the goal, and the motivation. In the backstory, it is important to create defining events which left an impression on the antagonist and made him or her choose the evil path instead of the good path, like a trauma. Maybe the antagonist isn’t even evil by choice, but is driven to become evil by some event in his or her past. Think about what happened with Starlight Glimmer. As soon as Sunburst got his cutie mark, Starlight essentially lost her friend and playmate. This is why she hated cutie marks, and why she created a cutie mark-less society.

The goal and motivation are also rooted in the backstory. Why does the antagonist want to thwart the efforts of the protagonist? What does the antagonist want? Nightmare Moon wants an eternal night, Discord wants a world of chaos, Trixie wants to be the best magician, and Tempest Shadow wants her horn back.

With morals, you can do something very interesting. You can make the antagonist think that he or she isn’t evil at all, but only has a different moral code. If the villain thinks he/she is actually the hero, you can create a very interesting character. Make your reader understand your villain. You can see this with Queen Chrysalis. All she wants is for her children to have enough food and live happy changeling lives. Her intentions are good, but the way she wants to reach those goals are evil as the changelings have to feed off the pony population. Or what about Discord? He’s not intentionally doing evil, he’s just adapting Equestria to his own nature, the nature of chaos. He doesn’t know any better.

Maybe it sounds strange, but don’t forget to give your villain weaknesses and fears. However much the antagonist tries to hide these, the hero can discover some kind of weak spot, and has to use these weaknesses and fears to defeat the antagonist. An antagonist never has to be invincible, otherwise the hero can never defeat him or her. Plus, just as with Mary Sues and Gary Stus, a character without flaws is unrealistic, and hard to get engaged with. Discord’s weakness is friendship, while Nightmare Moon’s weakness was the elements of harmony. Trixie’s weakness is her overconfidence in herself. Starlight Glimmer’s greatest weakness was shown when her people didn’t believe in her and her philosophy anymore. And finally Tempest Shadow put her trust in the wrong monsters.

Also decide how evil you want your villain to be. You can show multiple antagonists who display a varying degree of evilness. Maybe the big boss has helpers who are evil, but not as evil as him or herself. I mean, Babs Seed is a lot less evil than for example Tirek. Show the antagonist doing some despicable things. But if you’re writing a Friendship is Magic-style story, it’s best to not make everything too gruesome. You can also create a character who looks like the villain, but who is actually just a decoy, and the real villain is somewhere else. Maybe even amongst your hero’s friends. *Gasp* plot twist alert!

Look closely at your hero, and make the villain the exact opposite. Think of all the things your hero would hate, end give all of those personality traits to your antagonist. Usually, antagonists don’t develop or improve a lot, but, as we see in the My Little Pony television show, this can be done. Starlight Glimmer and Trixie and Discord and Tempest Shadow have been improved. There’s no one stopping you from letting your antagonist be reformed—or leave him to die by the hero’s hand.

Making your antagonist evil

Now that you have created your antagonist, and have determined his or her personality, it’s time to show him or her to the world, and make him or her truly evil. Make the antagonist do some despicable things to innocent ponies…

Like this!

Like this!

Eh, I mean this!

Eh, I mean this!

Eh, I mean, this!

Eh, I mean this!

Making your antagonist evil

It’s key to make your reader hate your antagonist by not only telling about what he or she does, but showing it to the reader. Give the reader a lofty viewpoint, so that he or she can witness the antagonist in full horrid swing. Let the hate grow in your reader’s heart. Even small things like for example enslaving just one single village can be very powerful. Big things like conquering the world usually come later on in the story. Don’t run until you can walk, of course.

Another thing that is very powerful is to let the antagonist exploit the flaws of the hero. That way, the hero has to develop and overcome the flaws in order to defeat the antagonist. The reason why The Return of Harmony part one and two are two of my favorite episodes is because of this. Discord turned the strengths of the main six into their weaknesses by deceiving them. He knew about the ponies’ weaknesses, separated them, and then played on their fears and worries. The other reason why these are two of my favorite episodes is because Discord couldn’t deceive Fluttershy, and had to force his magic on her.

Fluttershy = best pony!

That proves once and for all that Fluttershy = best pony!

Making your antagonist evil

The antagonist can also press your hero into taking difficult decisions. This works especially well in hostage situations. The antagonist has captured the hero’s friends and the hero has to choose between the fate of the world or the lives of his or her friends. In a sense, the hero has to choose between two evils. These choices will really challenge the hero’s morals, as he or she constantly has to choose between two morally grey things. The antagonist will pile all the pressure on the shoulders of the hero, and make the choice really difficult. Using this technique, the writer is able to show the hero’s true nature. An example can be found in the episode Twilight’s Kingdom part 2. In that episode, Tirek gave Twilight Sparkle the impossible choice of handing over the alicorn magic, or losing her friends. In the end, she chose her friends, but had to give up the alicorn magic that made Tirek stronger than strong. Did she choose the right thing? At the moment maybe no, but at the end, she used her friends and the magic in the box of harmony to defeat Tirek. Maybe the decision was bad in the short-term, but good when looking at the long-term.

What you can also do is make the antagonist and the hero compete for the same goal, so they will have to confront each other eventually. Despite a similar goal, an antagonist can have his/her own way of reaching it—an evil way, of course. Or perhaps the antagonist wants a different version of the protagonist’s goal, like shaping the world in his/her image. It can also be that they both want the same goal, but the hero of the story wants to use the goal to do good, and the antagonist to do evil. We can see that in the Daring Do episodes. Both Daring Do and Caballeron want to collect ancient artifacts, but where Daring Do wants to give them to the museum, Caballeron only wants them to sell to the highest bidder and earn a lot of money.

Let’s get creative again!

Once again we’re going to practice what I preach. You know what a villain needs, and how to make him or her evil. Let’s try to make a villain which could appear right in the next season of My Little Pony.

Let’s get more creative again!

And don’t forget about the most important things an antagonist needs, goal and motivation, how evil he or she is, and why. With the why, we’ll try to come up with some horrible things the antagonist can do to make the reader hate him/her.

It’s the most wonderful time of the panel…

Ah, the shameless self-promotion. There are fewer things sweeter than grabbing your stories and force-feeding them to your friends and relatives, whether they like it or not.

No, that’s not how this works. As a writer, you have to advertise yourself, but the most important thing is to let your work speak for itself. But of course, I would be a fool to miss this chance to advertise myself, so here we go.

If you want to check out my written works, then feel free to pay me a visit on FIMFiction. You can find me under the name ‘Elkia Deerling.’ You will not only find my stories there, but also some blogs and the panels I have done, including this one. So don’t be afraid of missing out on anything. You can always look it up.

But wait, there’s more! If you’re a writer and you would like even more writing tips from this here elk, then head on over to Equestria Daily. Click ‘Community’ and ‘Tutorials,’ to find my two guides on the art of writing.

Thank you!

I want to thank you all for your listening ears and your undying attention. If you still have questions, now is the time to ask them. Maybe you would like some more information on a certain topic. Or maybe you face a problem every time you want to write a story. Or do you have a personal question to ask me about me and my writing life? Remember, there are no stupid questions. I’d say not asking for more knowledge is a stupid thing.

Have a wonderful Hearth’s Warming Con!

Once again, thank you all for being here with me. Have a great con!

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