One question about writing a villain:

[EngineGear]

I have this crime boss villain. He's charismatic as he is ruthless, and he knows when to call quits when the situation goes south. If, for some reason, he got possessed an ancient soul of a warrior who's been fighting evil for generations, would that ruin the character?

 

[RepresentingWrath]

No.

 

[ThrillingHuman]

Depends on how you write it

 

[ArcadiaBlade]

One can either ruin a character or make one into a masterpiece, even given with the difficult task of combining two personalities on one. The only difficulty an author face is when you can make him/her interesting enough that even with multiple conflicts to his personality, its still good unless you mess it up.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Sounds good. Write the story you want to read.

 

[lnv]

I have this crime boss villain. He's charismatic as he is ruthless, and he knows when to call quits when the situation goes south. If, for some reason, he got possessed an ancient soul of a warrior who's been fighting evil for generations, would that ruin the character?

Not all crime bosses are pure evil. Simply from whose perspective. Take the godfather. He doesn't go after average people, but to protect his own he becomes a syndicate boss who takes "justice" into their own hands. And of course give benefits back and forth.

A villain also doesn't have to be pure evil to begin with. They simply do things their own way, though calling them an antagonist is more accurate than maybe simple a villain. Generally, I am not a big fan of calling people heroes or villains, that should be for the readers to decide. Everyone is just living their own lives in their own way.

 

[Vnator]

Have some kind of conflict between both of their ways of thinking, while having them agree on other things. That conflict would make a great basis for a story!

 

[TheTrinary]

Depends the genre.

Fantasy? That sounds right.
Rom com? You took a wrong turn somewhere.

 

[atgongumerki]

Not all crime bosses are pure evil. Simply from whose perspective. Take the godfather. He doesn't go after average people, but to protect his own he becomes a syndicate boss who takes "justice" into their own hands. And of course give benefits back and forth.

A villain also doesn't have to be pure evil to begin with. They simply do things their own way, though calling them an antagonist is more accurate than maybe simple a villain. Generally, I am not a big fan of calling people heroes or villains, that should be for the readers to decide. Everyone is just living their own lives in their own way.

? ? ? ? ? ? ?

 

[BenJepheneT]

Depends the genre.

Fantasy? That sounds right.
Rom com? You took a wrong turn somewhere.

somewhere out there, a 30-year-old female wizard would look at schizophrenia-ridden, bipolar crime boss with tendencies of extreme honour and think to herself I can fix him

never underestimate the might of female red wine virgins

 

[SakeVision]

somewhere out there, a 30-year-old female wizard would look at schizophrenia-ridden, bipolar crime boss with tendencies of extreme honour and think to herself I can fix him

never underestimate the might of female red wine virgins

fix him?

you mean she want to be fucked by him, very roughly, while actually finding a good side behind tough boy exterior. Then when the noble knight fighting evil possess him, she falls fill love with gentle knight too, while missing the rough sex given by the bad boy

In the end, she finds a way to split them into two different people, and then enjoys a love triangle. Bliss! However, all good things must end, as one eventually gets jealous of the other, and she needs to make a choice.

And that's when the prologue ends and the main plot of the novel begins. For the next 1000 pages, they compete for the lady's affection until she finally chooses the bad boy and the noble knight settles for MC's homely tho heartfelt best friend.

 

[Echimera]

To start of, it depends on the way possession works in your setting.
Do both souls fight for dominance over the body or is the second soul stuck as a backseat driver?
If they do, are they aware and just stuffed in the passenger seat or do the black out or end up in some mindscape where they duel the other one while he's in control?
How taxing is this struggle for either side?
Can they communicate with each other?
Is a merger of both souls a possible long-term result (independent of their compatibility with each other)?
Are there tools to reduce the influence the second soul can have over the host?

Possession is in a way an extension of or at least closely related to a magic system.
As such you have the option to either leave everything very vague or set clear rules and limitations.
The former gives you lots of room to write whatever you feel fits the situation, but it runs the risk of becoming internally inconsistent and in turn can impact the tension you may want to build.
For the latter, it's not necessary to actually lay down all the rules for the readers, it's perfectly fine to have the rules and showcasing some of them along the way to establish that there are rules and what their general boundaries are. This helps with building tension.

On the original question, it all depends on where you want to go with this idea.
You have a character that has a potential antagonist in his own head, potentially with a way to counteract and sabotage his plans.
On the other hand, you also have two very different characters with potential for personal growth that don't have the option of going their own way and ignoring each other.
Depending on his original and current motives, your crime boss might have become someone he didn't set out to be, ad now he's stuck with someone who just won't shut up about everything he does that is 'evil'.
If your ancient warrior is a dogmatic paladin that doesn't know restraint and goes ballistic at the slightest hint of 'evil', he could learn that the world isn't just black and white.

 

[Ai-chan]

I have this crime boss villain. He's charismatic as he is ruthless, and he knows when to call quits when the situation goes south. If, for some reason, he got possessed an ancient soul of a warrior who's been fighting evil for generations, would that ruin the character?

Don't know. You're putting the cart before the horse. Writing pure evil as the antagonist is just lazy writing. Ask yourself the following questions.

1. Who is this crime boss?
2. How did he grow up?
3. Why did he become the boss?
4. What was his motivation to doing the things he did?
5. Why would people follow him?
6. What did he do to get people to follow him?
7. What qualifications did he have to become the boss?
8. What is the reason he's not offed by ambitious underlings or rival gangs yet?
9. If everything ever goes south, can he show that he is the boss through his presence and actions?
10. Does he has a family? What is his family's role in all this?

Now, if you make him get possessed by a righteous warrior's soul, you should ask yourself.
1. Who is this righteous warrior?
2. How or why did he become righteous?
3. What made him the man he is?
4. How would he react if something happens in from of him that goes against his philosophy and morals?
5. How would he feel about fucking someone else's wife? Yes, it's the crime boss's wife, and he's inside him, but she's technically a stranger.
6. How would he feel about fucking someone else's mistresses? Every crime boss has a few mistresses, it's just how it is, sex is power.
7. How would he feel about acting like a dad in front of the children he do not know? What if the daughter has a crush on him?
8. How would he feel about the crime boss's little girl stripping naked in front of him? Maybe for a bath?
9. How would he feel about rival gangs encroaching on his turf? Would he fight them or what?
10. How would he feel about being a crime boss in the first place?

 

[Habtamu]

I have this crime boss villain. He's charismatic as he is ruthless, and he knows when to call quits when the situation goes south. If, for some reason, he got possessed an ancient soul of a warrior who's been fighting evil for generations, would that ruin the character?

depending on the story

 

[BenJepheneT]

fix him?

you mean she want to be fucked by him, very roughly, while actually finding a good side behind tough boy exterior. Then when the noble knight fighting evil possess him, she falls fill love with gentle knight too, while missing the rough sex given by the bad boy

In the end, she finds a way to split them into two different people, and then enjoys a love triangle. Bliss! However, all good things must end, as one eventually gets jealous of the other, and she needs to make a choice.

And that's when the prologue ends and the main plot of the novel begins. For the next 1000 pages, they compete for the lady's affection until she finally chooses the bad boy and the noble knight settles for MC's homely tho heartfelt best friend.

that's the wildest FFM threesome scenario i've ever seen.

imagine switching souls in the middle of switching pussies and by the grand finale when they hit that double-decker pussy sandwich between the MC and her homely bf the crime boss channels his soul catalyst and combines his inner Godfather and Emperor and lays the hardest underground imperial pipe he'd ever done in his life

his cum will send ripples across the spirit realm and somehow have a twin split across two wombs (for a twincest doujin spin off)

 

[EngineGear]

depending on the story

Science Fantasy

 

[Habtamu]

Science Fantasy

is he the mc?

 

[EngineGear]

Not all crime bosses are pure evil. Simply from whose perspective. Take the godfather. He doesn't go after average people, but to protect his own he becomes a syndicate boss who takes "justice" into their own hands. And of course give benefits back and forth.

A villain also doesn't have to be pure evil to begin with. They simply do things their own way, though calling them an antagonist is more accurate than maybe simple a villain. Generally, I am not a big fan of calling people heroes or villains, that should be for the readers to decide. Everyone is just living their own lives in their own way.

My character's not evil for the sake of it. He's got standards. He'll cut ties with anything and anyone that'll be a liability in the future. He will kill that person out of necessity. He won't outright lie, but that's not going to stop him from telling half-truths.

is he the mc?

He's an antagonist.

 

[Viator]

I have this crime boss villain. He's charismatic as he is ruthless, and he knows when to call quits when the situation goes south. If, for some reason, he got possessed an ancient soul of a warrior who's been fighting evil for generations, would that ruin the character?

Not necessarily. I would think it could cause tension, as this warrior spirit is inhabiting a body containing within it all sorts of inherent vices. You could play the moral struggle off fairly well if you did it right. Both the villain and the warrior might go through some revelations. That is if both are somewhat conscious of what is going on with the other. You could have fun with the struggle for control.

 

[EngineGear]

Don't know. You're putting the cart before the horse. Writing pure evil as the antagonist is just lazy writing. Ask yourself the following questions.

1. Who is this crime boss?
2. How did he grow up?
3. Why did he become the boss?
4. What was his motivation to doing the things he did?
5. Why would people follow him?
6. What did he do to get people to follow him?
7. What qualifications did he have to become the boss?
8. What is the reason he's not offed by ambitious underlings or rival gangs yet?
9. If everything ever goes south, can he show that he is the boss through his presence and actions?
10. Does he has a family? What is his family's role in all this?

1. Caesar Blackwood
2. He started as a street urchin who slowly rose to the ranks of the criminal underworld
3. To remain on top of the criminal underworld
4. Survival and Ambition
5. Some are loyal, others want a paycheck
6. Promises of rising up top and giving society the middle finger
7. Charisma, Cunning, Focus
8. Genre savviness and awareness
9. He's got backup plans within those plans
10. No.