How To Write A Successful Minecraft Fanfiction

8: Villains

Before I begin this chapter, keep in mind that this is a book about how to write a successful Minecraft fanfiction. I've been straying into how to write in general, when really I should be focusing on the Minecraft aspects of these categories. There are much more qualified people out there that have "How-To Write" books that I recommend checking out if you really think you need improvement on your writing abilities.

Also, before I begin talking about villains, there's something I forgot to mention about characters in the last chapter that fits what I said in the above paragraph.

Almost everyone uses the "main" Minecraft characters: Steve, Alex, Notch, Jeb, Herobrine, and YouTubers. While this is good because almost everyone knows what they look like so they can have a good image in their head, these characters are also overused. It's fine if you do use these characters (I've used all of them lmao), but it's good to have your own characters to add originality to your story.

This is true with the villains, too. This is just a guesstimate, but I'd say over half of Minecraft fanfictions use Herobrine as the main villain. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but your own original antagonist may leave readers a lasting impression of your story. I tried to mix it up a bit with AMS and make Notch the villain, but I should have created my own.

How does one make a good villain? Hopefully I'm about to explain how.

First off: the villain needs a motive. Why are they doing the evil things that they do? Just for fun? No. At some point in your book you should reveal why the villain is acting the way s/he is. It can be at the beginning, the end, or anywhere in between. It's probably best to reveal the motive closer to the start of the story, though.

I didn't do a very good job of this with Notch in AMS. Nowhere did I really explain why he wanted to control monsters. TGW didn't even really get into it.

I did slightly better with Herobrine, using him as a side character in AMS and then developing his backstory in TGW. Everyone thought he was strange so he ran away and accidentally got magical powers, and he decided to use them to get revenge on the world for making fun of him. I explained this in the very first chapter of TGW, which was good in my opinion. But what were Herobrine's motives in TFOM? Idek really. He wanted to finish what he started 50 years ago? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Of course, neither of those villains are original. I could've done better.

Besides the motive, the villain should also have some sort of connection to the main character that makes their rivalry personal. Maybe they're related, maybe the villain killed someone the protagonist cared about, or they used to be friends. Or anything else original you can think of.

In TGW, Notch and Herobrine had no personal connection whatsoever. Whoops. In AMS, Steve and Notch didn't really have one either, but Steve didn't know anyway since he lost his memories. In one of the last chapters of TFOM, we learned that Steve is Herobrine's nephew, but before that their connection wasn't really personal (unless you count the fact that they're practically identical).

Wow. Writing this chapter makes me realize how bad I was with villains.

You should also have expendable soldiers that the villain sends out. Most common in Minecraft fanfics are the mobs, which is entirely okay. People are reading your book because they like Minecraft, so use the Minecraft monsters for the main characters to fight. Or you can create some other kind of soldiers for your villain.

Also, the amount of villains matters. You probably should have more than just one big bad guy and a bunch of monsters. The main villain could have henchmen (stronger than the soldiers) that the good guys have to fight from time to time. They're basically like side villains that are there to throw a wrench in your protagonist's plans, or if you want some more action in your story (@me).

For example, Alpha, Beta, and the other monster commanders in AMS were important villains. Yuri and the other servants in TFOM were also important villains. Oops I forgot to have more in TGW, rip.

You could also have more than one villain "side" that don't affiliate with each other but still all hate the good guys. Such as the bounty hunters and Herobrine in TFOM. They weren't working together the whole time (I think), but they both still fought the Resistance. This can add some more originality to your story.

Like I said last chapter, the personality of your villain matters as well. A sinister, foreboding bad guy is great, but you can put a twist on their personality as well. Like Notch in AMS, he was a really cheerful guy, but still the main villain of the story.

Lastly, the villainous acts of the villain must be extreme. S/he should threaten the world, a city, a large organization, etc, with something that will create devastating consequences for more than just the protagonist. Otherwise, why should the main characters care what the villain is doing? "Oh yeah he's gonna kill that one guy I don't know? Cool".

Herobrine in TGW and TFOM was trying to destroy the entire world. If Notch/Steve didn't stop him, the consequences would have been deadly for everyone, literally. Notch was trying to control every monster that existed, which would ultimately make him a tyrant. Devastating consequences for everyone.

That's all I have to say about villains. In summary: an original antagonist with an interesting personality is better than Herobrine or another well-known Minecraft character. You should also have multiple lower tier bad guys and soldiers for the main characters to fight at some point. Your villain must also have a motive, some sort of personal connection to the main character, and a plan that threatens a large amount of people.

Authors, feel free to leave any advice you have on creating a good villain here.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to vote, comment, and follow!

~Radishologist