Is it ok if the bad guy gets away?

Telvetta

Pathfinder
Registered
Joined
Nov 25, 2019
Messages
28
Reaction score
1
Location
New England
Website
flightsinfantasy.com
Why waste a good villain?

Personally, I say never waste a good villain.

What's important is the ending is satisfying for the reader. They don't have to like the ending as long as the ending feels like it is how the story was supposed to end. And that it completes the promise of the story.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Elenitsa

CJEvermore

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 19, 2019
Messages
58
Reaction score
2
Location
Nottinghamshire, UK
Personally, I say never waste a good villain.

What's important is the ending is satisfying for the reader. They don't have to like the ending as long as the ending feels like it is how the story was supposed to end. And that it completes the promise of the story.

Beautifully put. I couldn't agree more! :)
 

BLAlley

Banned
Flounced
Joined
Oct 21, 2015
Messages
38
Reaction score
0
Location
Northern Arizona
Website
writerblalley.wixsite.com
Personally, I say never waste a good villain.

What's important is the ending is satisfying for the reader. They don't have to like the ending as long as the ending feels like it is how the story was supposed to end. And that it completes the promise of the story.

This.

My most recent short story features an antagonist who does horrific things for years, yet he walks away at the end with the main character's approval. While never justifying his actions, I made sure the reader understands his motivations and provided a scenario in which it's better to have him get away rather than be caught or killed. It's titled Cross Section and is free on my web site for anyone to read.
 

drdecadent

Registered
Joined
Aug 28, 2011
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
The predictability of superhero stories where the villain is defeated can drag a bit. If it's a good villain, I'm going to want to be rooting for him/her and letting him/her get away gives the sense of more story to be told.
 

Paul Lamb

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 12, 2019
Messages
550
Reaction score
417
Location
American Midwest
Website
www.paullamb.wordpress.com
I'm pretty sure IRL the bad guys get away much more often than they're caught. As long as your story is credible within its context, write it the way it needs to be. Whatever you do, don't write with a moral in mind; that's a fable, not a short story.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Elenitsa

CMBright

Cats are easy, Mice are tough
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 23, 2021
Messages
5,657
Reaction score
7,983
Location
Oklahoma
In the Raffles stories (contemporary of Sherlock Holmes), the bad guy ALWAYS got away. He was a gentleman thief, and his sidekick Bunny (a man, not a rodent) usually got caught.

Rabbits and hares are lagomorphs not rodents, but that is the biologist in me speaking.
I have heist story I like. I sold a similar story. As written the thief gets away clean. I'm having second thoughts. I'm thinking I should have him get caught or create justification, such as the victim had it coming.
Thoughts?
Part of my enjoyment as a writer is that anything goes as long as the story is done well.

Much of my enjoyment as a reader is that anything goes as long as the author can pull the story off.

I would need a good reason for the villian to get away. Your villain could be just good enough to get clean away. Or your protagonist could get within arms distance of catching him. Villain might talk him out of it or he might be strong enough or fast enough or clever enough to trick the MC and get away. Or throw him in jail.
 

Megann

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 14, 2013
Messages
196
Reaction score
29
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. I think it's a fantastic book, but my goodness did it leave a bitter taste in my mouth.
 

Autumn Leaves

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 25, 2021
Messages
1,727
Reaction score
382
Age
26
Location
Russia
I have heist story I like. I sold a similar story. As written the thief gets away clean. I'm having second thoughts. I'm thinking I should have him get caught or create justification, such as the victim had it coming.
Thoughts?
I also think that a bittersweet ending like this can work. However, I agree with Prophecies’ comment about making the thief likable: I believe it would be better for the readership. It’s just that, well, most (I think) people read for escapism. They would sympathize with, say, a charming, affable rogue who steals priceless jewels from aristocrats (such as Chesterton’s Flambeau, pre-redemption, or Leighton from Jacques Futrelle’s “The Missing Necklace”). They wouldn’t be glad to see, for example, a low-rank corrupt official deprive a working-class family of their apartment and get away with it.

In one of the stories I’ve sold, too, there is an elaborate con that goes on uninterrupted in the end, because the only outsider who is aware of it firmly decides to keep his mouth shut. (For some reason, everyone except for me thinks it’s a comedy). But the conmen are sympathetic (at various levels) and honestly think their little bit of fraud is a necessary small evil to let everybody (their victims included) win.
 

Spaceranger82

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 14, 2017
Messages
50
Reaction score
5
Personally, I think the bad guy should only get away if he/she/they are the main character. For example, Ocean's Eleven worked for me because the thieves were the focus of the work.
 

Psychoclown

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 22, 2021
Messages
357
Reaction score
300
It depends on a lot of things I'd say. If your thief is charming enough, he can get away with a lot and still have the readers rooting for him. Or if you think he has enough potential, maybe you want to use him in another work.

But even if the thief isn't likeable, it could still work, if your going for a more downbeat or gritty story. Justice is imperfect, bad things happen and the bad people aren't always punished.

A lot of it just depends on the tone of your story and how you've portrayed the characters. But there is no hard and fast rule that justice must always be served in the end.
 

Unimportant

No COVID yet. Still masking.
Staff member
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 8, 2005
Messages
19,519
Reaction score
22,750
Location
Aotearoa
It depends on a lot of things I'd say. If your thief is charming enough, he can get away with a lot and still have the readers rooting for him. Or if you think he has enough potential, maybe you want to use him in another work.

But even if the thief isn't likeable, it could still work, if your going for a more downbeat or gritty story. Justice is imperfect, bad things happen and the bad people aren't always punished.

A lot of it just depends on the tone of your story and how you've portrayed the characters. But there is no hard and fast rule that justice must always be served in the end.
PsychoQ, just flagging the the OP asked this question three years ago, so they're probably no longer looking for feedback.

Tip for new members: check when the thread originated, and see if the discussion has morphed away from the original question (to the point that it's worth continuing).
 

storywriter24

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 13, 2014
Messages
90
Reaction score
21
I have heist story I like. I sold a similar story. As written the thief gets away clean. I'm having second thoughts. I'm thinking I should have him get caught or create justification, such as the victim had it coming.
Thoughts?
yes write the story and see where it takes you you can have the bad guy drive away and then some buliding in the distance blows up.
 

Unimportant

No COVID yet. Still masking.
Staff member
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 8, 2005
Messages
19,519
Reaction score
22,750
Location
Aotearoa
yes write the story and see where it takes you you can have the bad guy drive away and then some buliding in the distance blows up.
Storywriter24, just flagging the the OP asked this question three years ago, so they're probably no longer looking for feedback.

Tip for new members: check when the thread originated, and see if the discussion has morphed away from the original question (to the point that it's worth continuing).

It's deja-vu Sunday!
 

Psychoclown

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 22, 2021
Messages
357
Reaction score
300
PsychoQ, just flagging the the OP asked this question three years ago, so they're probably no longer looking for feedback.

Tip for new members: check when the thread originated, and see if the discussion has morphed away from the original question (to the point that it's worth continuing).
I saw the thread was started way back, the the last post was from a few months ago and it seemed to be sporadically active, so I thought it was worth weighing in. Even if the OP is no longer following, others might be considering similar ideas.

But yes, I do try to make sure I'm not necromancing any long dead threads.
 

Humphrey Archer

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 7, 2021
Messages
113
Reaction score
124
I sometimes do murder stories, and sometimes they get away with it. I'm OK with that.

If you find that you start having qualms about the bad guy/gal getting away with it, you could always bump them off or have fate thwack them in a following story.

That's your superpower as a writer
 

dickson

Hairy on the inside
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 12, 2017
Messages
3,397
Reaction score
4,079
Location
Directly over the center of the Earth
I submit every one of Donald Westlake’s “Parker” novels. The MC in these is cold-bloodedly amoral and most definitely one of the bad guys. But you see the world through his eyes—and root for him all the way.