Skip to main content

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

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sonnets

We studied Romeo and Juliet in English, discovering the foolish protagonists and their sappy sonnets. An activity in class was to write our own, so we picked strange themes and twisted the idea of a sonnet. What we produced is as follows: Oh, My Fair Sonnet Oh, my fair Sonnet, how lovely art thou, Thou tellest most flattering descriptions, Thou entrancest me with stunning words now, If told by others, I’d think were fiction. Thou enchant me with thy pretty quatrains, In which there are many wonderful rhymes. I’d  listen always without any pains, For leaving would be committing bad crimes. Alas, my fairest love must leave me, My misfortunate heart must wave goodbye. My fair love won’t listen to any plea, Even though this leaving makes my heart die. Goodbye, goodbye, with a couplet you leave, I wish for you to know how much I grieve. By Grace Death to Romeo Oh Romeo, thou art Darth Sidious We love uncovering your many faults Delight in fi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Help! I Need A Sidekick!

Your protagonist is in need of a sidekick. Maybe they are in need of a foil, or someone to get them out of trouble. Sidekicks can be very useful. They provide your protagonist with someone to talk to, and they can assist in moving the plot forward. Be careful they aren't too boring or pointless. Here's a few ways to make your sidekick interesting: 1. Foil characters can be fun sometimes Nanny Ogg from Discworld (right) is possibly one of my favorite sidekicks. She adds an excellent air of comedy as well as being a helpful foil to the grim and fearsome Granny Weatherwax. As well as being a witch, Nanny Ogg has been married three times and has numerous children and grandchildren, an unusual talent for cooking, and an evil cat called Greebo. Despite being a sidekick, she provides much insight to the character of Granny Weatherwax at the same time as having an equally colorful personality. Make sure your foil characters are interesting too, instead of just being writin...
Post a Comment
Read more