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GIANT SNAIL!!!!

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at 5am you may catch a glimpse of Them in the mist

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for your convenience

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more ink and marker drawing. 

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Any advice on reforming villains?

Look at them as an “antagonist” instead of a villain.

Yes, I’m getting nitpicky with terminology, but a ‘villain’ typically refers to an evil person whereas an ‘antagonist’ just means someone who opposes the protagonist. You can have a non-evil antagonist really easily, and they often make for better stories (and particularly redemption ones) because it makes redemption much more realistic and understandable to the reader.

Make sure that antagonist is seen as a person before the reformation.

This is part of why I gripe about terminology. It’s easy to make a character ‘evil’ and then only show the good when they decide to change, but that doesn’t make them well-rounded or the reformation plausible– it often comes off as the character giving up their previous self all in favor of the protagonist. If those bits of “reformable” qualities already exist to the reader, then the character will be a lot more real and the situation will be more understandable.

Is this reformation realistic?

It’s important to critically evaluate that character and situation to make sure that it’s reasonable for them to reform. Whats the source of the reformation? How long will it take? Why has the choice been made by this character to change?

In the end, it’s a choice, one that usually isn’t easy to make. Changing behavior is rather hard– change values and beliefs is incredibly rare because they touch on the “core” of a person that’s least resistant to change. It’s possible! But check your ideas to make sure they hold together when you look at this character as a person with agency, not just one who’s there to “fit into story ideas”. 

Reformation does not erase the bad nor excuse them from consequences.

Be careful not to romanticize them or their actions in the process of reformation. 

This often requires evaluating their previous behavior and actions to see what the realistic effects would be in the context of the story and the world. Consequences aren’t “punishments”– they’re effects of reality and can touch on social, financial, physical, all kinds of aspects of a life and setting. They can be good or bad, but need to exist.

Don’t expect all other characters to forgive them– even if there’s justification.

You can’t write someone doing terrible things and then expect them to still be seen in a positive light, particularity by other characters in the story– it’s not logical. Some characters may be able to get over it, but those who were more closely affected aren’t going to change their mind as easily or sometimes at all.

Reformation is relying on the idea of redeemability, which is a very perspective-heavy aspect of storytelling. 

Know what the journey looks like.

This is different for every antagonist, and you don’t have to know literally every detail before you write, but it’s a good idea to keep track of these basic elements (with in-story specifics, not just generalized answers, but the specifics are allowed to change as the story develops):

When does the change start and what does it look like?

What does the halfway point look like?

What is the end result?

And then most importantly: What is going to get in that characters way?

Good luck reforming your antagonist(s)!

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The Big Cabbage in Liaocheng, Shandong.

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a study in pearl

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Im just fucking sitting…. keep scrolling

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queen of abducting lames

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we ran out of things to do in my digital art class today so

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i literally can’t stop thinking about this video and i lose it every time