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How to Make Your Protagonist Have Friends and Enemies...Disney-Style

Admit it. Every Disney princess has a good share of friends and enemies. Your protagonists definitely need their share of these, too.



It’s easy to give them loads of friends and develop awesome humorous side characters. But villains? It’s harder to formulate the perfect antagonist. One method of doing this is having your character make enemies, which make life so much more exciting. Here are some tips...

For enemies, have your protagonist...

  • Be born
  • Have a magical power
  • Be beautiful and charming
  • Have royal blood
  • Rouse a deadly rage in someone unintentionally
  • Have parents with sworn enemies
  • Be a Dalmatian

For friends, have your protagonist...

  • Be beautiful and charming (yes, I realize this is also how you make enemies)
  • Have animal friends who require no effort
  • Sing nicely
  • Be naturally friendly and extroverted

And now for ideas that would actually be plot...

Enemies can be made if the protagonist...

  • Turns down someone who wants to marry you
  • Goes to  live in a jungle with a ferocious tiger
  • Makes a crocodile bite off someone's hand
  • Meets a bloodthirsty queen and challenge her to a game of croquet
  • Becomes a naive, exploitable child (preferably made of wood) in a corrupt world

Likewise, the protagonist can make friends by...

  • Forcing someone to bring them to see the lanterns (don't ask me which lanterns)
  • Being nice, and optionally passive, constantly (side effects of a soft voice)
  • Baking gooseberry pie
  • Making their dog’s leash trip someone into a lake, then helping them up
  • Having someone come with them into danger (elephant graveyards suffice)
  • Going to die in the desert and being rescued by two loners

If you’re going for realism, these things won't probably work. But as for making them friends Disney-style, being friendly is a really great start. If they are open and give everyone a chance, like Belle, adding friends into the book for them will be easy. Singing actually can help, and it’s super fun to write songs you can include in your book. Also having cute pets in your book is definitely a goal.

Signing off,

Brynbellion

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