this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2026
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writing

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Yes it makes sense. It would motivate them powerfully. But it's been done too many times, and it's too easy.

The rule makes you find more interesting ways of motivating them. Are they driven by bruised pride? By romance? By obsession? Anything is more interesting than rehashing the cliché Hollywood loves.


Similarly, don't make a villain more evil by saying "they're a dictator and also a kiddie-fiddler orremoved". That's just tacking on villainy.

That would be like having a right-wing US President, and saying "oh he's also aremoved and best friends with a child-trafficker" - lazy, unrealistic writing. Make your villains more nuanced please.

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[–] ashinadash@hexbear.net 4 points 10 hours ago

theory-gary

But beyond snark that twists the premise in a gay and fandom-bent direction, the premise can be deconstucted itself: why does this conception of storytelling require a protagonist to be wronged by an antagonist who then must be stopped? Why does narrative only center around violent conflict? Has the burger reich so perverted our sensibilities? Is there no room for rumination on the internal lives of characters, the social links between them? The processing of grief? The trials of organising, perhaps? Existential dread? Does the ghost of Joϟϟeph Kkkampbell haunt us so?