Getting rid of the bad guys

Witch_turtle · Jan 3, 2010

I'm not a children's writer, though I always thought one day it would be something I would try my hand at. Well, I'm trying my hand at it today! But I'm struggling with one concept. For the most part it deals with fantasy/fairytale type stories, and what I'm writing is short fiction.

How do you deal with villains in children's stories? Having the main character gruesomely kill their adversary is pretty out of the question, but the reverse seems too...floofy. I mean, having the villain be frightened away, or have a change of heart, or whatever, just makes it feel like they could never have been that big of a problem to begin with. I never liked stories where the villains turned out to be not-so-bad when I was a child anyways, so I don't want to write one like that.

I'm sure I'll come up with something once I think it through a bit more, but since I'm new to this type of writing I'm curious to hear other people's opinions on it. How do you handle taking care of villains? How do you let your MC do something awesome and heroic without crossing the line into "too mature"?

bclement412 · Jan 3, 2010

Exactly what age are you writing for? I know 8-12 year olds that play gruesome killing video games, so don't underestimate your audience.

sissybaby · Jan 3, 2010

You can get away with gruesome, depending on the approach. Dorothy melted the witch in TWOO, after the witch attempted to burn her friend to death. That's all pretty gruesome, if you ask me. But I have always loved that story, especially as a child. It scared me half to death back then, but it never gave me nightmares.

Try reading Neil Gaiman if you want gruesome. I don't know who else to recommend at this time, but I know others here will probably share.

Good luck!

Sissy

Witch_turtle · Jan 3, 2010

Excellent point about the age thing. And the Wizard of Oz. I guess it's been a while since I looked at anything child-oriented! And Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite writers, so I know what you mean. I just didn't think of his kidlit stuff when I started thinking about types of children's stories. I suppose I'm looking at this whole endeavour as too delicate a thing, with too much differentiating between children's/adult fiction. I'm thinking now it's less about what is written (in terms of level of gruesomeness) and more about how it's written.

wittyusernamehere · Jan 3, 2010

I agree with previous comments, and add that sometimes the villain ends up imprisoned or banished. That way they can return for the sequel.

Kitty Pryde · Jan 3, 2010

In The Graveyard Book, the bad guys get tricked into falling into an open grave, and then it's very casually implied that an adult character kills them afterward, but he never says it outright. Other than that, he doesn't really have good guys killing people off (in kidlit). There's no killing in Coraline, Mirrormask, or Odd and the Frost Giants, just kids outwitting and escaping the adults that threaten them.

So that's one way to do it. If the protag can find/trap the bad guy, he can be sent off to prison, that's good too. Or leave him incapacitated so the adults can come through and clean up.

Spiderwick Chronicles is another good example--SPOILERS the kid pushes the bad guy out a window, bad guy turns into a bird, adult good guy character eats bad guy, leaving protagonist's morality untainted by murder. Hurrah! In contrast, in the MOVIE version, when the bad guy has shapeshifted to look like the kid's father, and the audience thinks it really is the father, the kid STABS HIM IN THE CHEST WITH A SWORD OMG. That sort of ending usually doesn't fly in novels, though.

Toothpaste · Jan 3, 2010

Eh, kill 'em. If you don't, they might come back for revenge

.

I will say though, and someone made this point in another thread somewhere (as well as Kitty above), that if you want the kid to do it, usually it's never quite on purpose, and usually in self defense. Sure Dorothy threw the water on the witch, but she didn't know it would melt her. Peter Pan didn't actually kill Hook, the Crocodile ate him. Harry Potter does get Voldy, but by then you're dealing with a YA, not MG novel, plus "magic" used from a distance.

Think also Disney movies, the good guy never really kills the bad guy, often it's the villain's hubris that is the cause of their demise, or they fall off a cliff or something.

MsJudy · Jan 3, 2010

Toothpaste and Kitty beat me to it--lots of examples where the kid doesn't actually do the killing, it's the bad guy going a step too far and essentially killing himself.

But a side note--there isn't a big market for kid's fantasy short fiction. The market is for novels, pretty much. Fairytales turn into some fabulous novels once you give yourself that space.

Witch_turtle · Jan 4, 2010

JudScotKev said:
But a side note--there isn't a big market for kid's fantasy short fiction. The market is for novels, pretty much. Fairytales turn into some fabulous novels once you give yourself that space.

Ah, yes, I assumed that would be true. Currently this isn't something I'm really looking to sell, I'm just sort of playing around. Maybe one day, if I like how it goes, I'll turn it into something bigger and better.

Angela_785 · Jan 7, 2010

Often what works is the child character tricking the villian into making a mistake which causes his own demise. Use the motivation of the Villian: greed, lust for power, etc or use their weakness: desire, ego, self confidence, etc.

MsJudy · Jan 7, 2010

Or the kid is working as part of a team, as in Skulduggery Pleasant. The kid does something that saves the day, but the adult delivers the final blow.

Getting rid of the bad guys

Witch_turtle

hanging around for a spell

bclement412

sissybaby

Witch_turtle

hanging around for a spell

wittyusernamehere

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue

Toothpaste

THE RECKLESS RESCUE is out now!

MsJudy

Witch_turtle

hanging around for a spell

Angela_785

MsJudy