But God, the universe and nature are all irreconcilable and hugely different, which is the problem I have with that shortened list. Your (Cogito's) version of it I can understand, and it's perhaps a little over-simplified, but the other version can't stand. You can't cram everything that isn't man into a single category in that way. God has both a persona and an agenda, nature doesn't. The way man relates to (and therefore participates in conflicts with) technology and the environment are vastly different, so it doesn't make sense that they would belong in the same category. There may not be a "bad guy" in all of them, but there is always an adversarial force whenever there is conflict...otherwise it isn't conflict.
I'd like to add to this debate but I feel we are derailing here. I think what's stated is sufficient to answer the first post. ED(referring to the whole basic conflict chart thingy)
I'm actually having a similar problem. I have a villain but I can't figure out what her motivator is. Why is she really after my MC? There's a reason, I know it. I just have to figure it out. And so do you. So what would prompt a mother to run and hide her child? Is she protecting it from someone, something from her past that could come back to haunt her? Does someone want to take her away? Kill her? Make her do something terrible?
Give the mother a split personality, a sort of female Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The mother is then both good and evil, allowing the development of both sides of her character. She saves the child when she's mother "A", and tries to kill the child as mother "B". You could potentially plot the story so that this becomes the twist i.e. you don't realise mother "A" is really mother "B" until the climax.
any of the above... but only you can decide these things, since you're the one writing the story, not anyone else...
Neverending Story had no main bad guy. There was that wolf, but he was minor. The conflict was with the Nothingness. In my fantasy novel End of All, mindlessness is spreading, and no one knows how it spreads. It only affects intelligent speices, like elves, tree folk, bat folk, Tanglers, etc. The mindless do not talk, and do not acknowledge their surroundings. They walk North. My MC's do encounter bad guys along their journey, however. Perhaps your story needs something like this.
I'd agree with a lot that's been said already but also with Architectus's example. You don't need to have a singular villain, perhaps an ideological villain (war, technology, religion etc) can be better illustrated with lots of encounters with seemingly bad characters? After all, one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist (or woman as Arron89 so kindly points out )
wow never thought i got such a huge response to this post. but thank you one and all for your help!!! i've actually gotten some inspiration since i first posted and while i still really don't have a specific bad guy ( and for this story i really feel thats theres gonna be one)( that is not to say that there won't be more then one) i've filled in alot of the blanks that i was missing. anyway thanks again everyone!
I misread the comment. I often do that if you haven't noticed. Moreso because I don't like spending too much time here and I rush through lots of things. btw, architectus, that plotline sounds rather interesting. Please tell me where I can get a copy when it's published. peace, -nick
As alot of people already said, there's no need for a live bad guy, or a bad guy at all. But here's an easy way to create a bad guy: Let's say the "good" people are all about...cats.. then you just make the bad guy be all about the opposite...dogs. lame example yes but i think you get what i mean. <Good> CATS - Opposite - Dogs Belief - opposite - Science
admittedly i havent read all the posts here so im not sure if im repeating anyone. but an event in time can be the "villian" it doesnt have to be a person. something may have happened on the other dimention to make it inhabitable.. EG: superman leaves krypton because it blows up.. or "The Blue Lagoon" a ship wreck causes the people to be where they are.. not sure if these are great examples but i hope you understand what im getting at here
