162. How to Build Epic Rivalries Between Heroes and Villains

“ Four essential elements of what does it take to build this epic rivalry between your hero and the villain.” - Said by Beth Barany, quoting Bonnie Johnston 

Would you like to know how to build epic rivalries between heroes and villains? In this How To Write the Future podcast episode, host Beth Barany reads an article written by writing mentor and award-winning author Bonnie Johnston, in which she shares an in-depth breakdown of the four essential elements of epic rivalries, with step-by-step worksheets, available by signing up to Bonnie’s “Arch Enemies” class.

ABOUT BONNIE JOHNSTON

Bonnie Johnston is a writing mentor and award-winning author with a passion for teaching fiction writers how to increase the emotional impact of their stories to turn readers into fans.

She blogs at Write Smarter, Not Harder, where you can download her free ebook, Editing for Story.

She’s also the author of The 30 Day Novel Workbook and The Writer’s Guide to Getting Organized.

ABOUT BETH BARANY

Beth Barany, an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist, teaches novelists how to write, edit, and publish their books as a coach, teacher, consultant, and developmental editor.

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Read the article: How to Build an Epic Rivalry Between Your Hero and Your Villain by Bonnie Johnston

https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2019/05/13/how-to-build-an-epic-rivalry-between-your-hero-and-your-villain-by-bonnie-johnston/

• Epic rivalries make for memorable stories -- the kinds of stories that are worth re-reading so we can immerse ourselves in the emotional intensity of the hero’s multi-layered relationship with the villain.
• Get the course “Arch-Enemies” here: **https://bethbarany.com/archenemies [Affiliate link]

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• SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany
• SHOW CO-PRODUCTION + NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade

c. 2025 BETH BARANY

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Transcript

0:00

Hey everyone. Beth Barany here with How to Write the Future Podcast, Tips for Writers, And today I have a special share for you Today, I am going to share with you a friend and colleague's, wonderful course and material about how to build epic rivalries between your hero and your villain. Essentially, we are going to look at four main points- four essential elements of what does it take to build this epic rivalry between your hero and the villain. We're gonna look at chemistry, the dark push pull dynamic that gets under both character skin. We're gonna look at the psychological opposition, how the characters should fundamentally frustrate each other through opposing traits. And we're gonna look at the point of connection. That's number three, showing how they could have been allies in different circumstances. And lastly, number four, we're gonna look at the resonant relationship dynamics, how their relationship dynamic is somehow familiar to real life relationship patterns. The benefit to you as the writer and actually the ultimate benefit to your reader is when you combine these four layers, the conflicts between the hero and the villain become more emotional, meaningful, and, can be incredible reveals of character. By the time we're done with this podcast today, I hope you will have some real takeaways that you can design really dynamic and compelling rivalries between your hero and your villain. All right, so today I'm gonna read this article that Bonnie wrote for us about her class. And, so to start off, I'm just gonna tell you a little bit about the teacher and the author of this material, Bonnie Johnston. Bonnie Johnston is a writing mentor and award-winning author with a passion for teaching fiction writers how to increase the emotional impact of their stories to turn readers into fans. She blogs at Write Smarter Not Harder, where you can download her free book,"Editing for Story". And she's also the author of the 30 Day Novel Workbook, The 30 Day Romance Novel Workbook, and The Writer's Guide to Getting Organized. Alright, here we go. Deepen characterization, intensify conflicts, and write stories readers crave. JK Rowing did it. Victor Hugo did it, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did it. It's one of the reasons that all three of these authors were massively successful. Rowling, Hugo, and Doyle created epic rivalries between their heroes and their villains. Deep multi-layered relationships that locked good guys and bad guys together in high stakes conflicts that couldn't be easily resolved. Not only do these rivalries generate compelling conflicts, powerful enough to drive big stories and big series, they also take the reader on a deep dive into the psychology of both hero and villain. Epic rivalry. We get to know Harry Potter better through Harry's struggle to understand how Voldemort became an evil wizard. We love Sherlock Holmes more when we see him resist the temptation to join Moriarty in using his genius for personal gain. And our hearts ache both for Valjean and Javert when we realize they've been set at each other's throats by the tragic social inequities that shaped their lives. Epic rivalries make for memorable stories, the kinds of stories that are worth rereading so we can immerse ourselves in the emotional intensity of the hero's multilayered relationship with the villain. In other words, what lies between them is complicated and we love it. Your story's epic rivalry. How do you create this kind of relationship between your hero and your villain? You already know that you need to give them mutually exclusive goals to make sure that they have a compelling reason to oppose each other. You might assume that you need to tie your hero and your villain together closely through their backstory. But while that can be a great foundation for the hero villain relationship, Voldemort's attack on the infant Harry and his parents is at the heart of Harry's saga, a childhood connection is not essential. Batman didn't know the Joker before he started committing crimes, and Holmes didn't know Moriarty before he became a criminal mastermind either. Essential elements in creating an epic rivalry. What are the essential elements in creating an epic rivalry? First, you need to create chemistry between your hero and villain. Their relationship needs to have the same kind of push and pull that the hero and heroine of a romance have albeit in a much darker way. When your villain calls your hero to taunt him, your hero isn't just staying on the line because he is hoping for a clue to what the villain has done. He is also continuing the conversation because the villain has gotten under his skin. The conflict they're engaged in is intense because they're both viewing it through their deeply personal connection. Second, you need to add a layer of psychological opposition to their relationship. Something in the psychology of each that is fundamentally frustrating to the other. The most common way to do that is to make them opposites in some way, emotionally, ideologically, or in terms of their abilities and skills. But it's not the only way. Third, you need to give them a point of connection. Some way in which they understand each other deeply and perhaps even agree with each other. Some of the greatest epic rivalries are ones where you can see how in different circumstances the hero and the villain could have been friends or lovers or teammates. If you're creating a rivalry where you want the reader to root for the villain to be redeemed by the hero, that point of connection becomes incredibly important. That point of connection serves as a tool that the hero can use to bring the villain over to the side of good. Fourth, you can add yet another layer to the hero villain relationship with what I call resonant relationship dynamics. Dynamics we see all the time in our real life relationships that are separate from the personality dynamic. For example, your villain might treat your hero like an annoying little brother, triggering your hero's childish or bratty tendencies, even if your hero never had an older sibling during their own childhood. Or maybe your hero sees himself in the villain, recognizing he's one misstep away from becoming just like the villain. O r maybe your villain acts as your hero's conscience giving your hero exactly the advice he needs to hear, clearly identifying your hero's flaws and mistakes with brutal honesty. This one's my favorite. Four layers of epic rivalry. When your hero's relationship with your villain contains these four layers: chemistry, psychological opposition, a point of connection, and a dynamic that resonates for readers-- every conflict in your story becomes meaningful, more emotionally charged, and more likely to trigger character revelations. If you are interested in learning more about mastering the art of creating a memorable epic rivalry for your characters, please do check out her course"Arch enemies", and that link will be connected to this podcast, whether it's, in the show notes, below the video or in the article that we post on our blog. In this way in her course"Arch Enemies", you will not only get an in-depth breakdown of these four layers with step by step worksheets, you'll also discover the number one must-have trait of villains that readers love to hate. Also, the six characteristics of truly terrifying villains; the three types of stakes you must establish for your hero and stakes are very important; 10 tricks for creating powerful chemistry between your hero and villain; and 12 resonant relationship dynamics that you can use to intensify your hero's internal conflict. So be sure to check, out this class by Bonnie Johnston and dive deeper and master the epic rivalry of your characters at the link that will be in the show notes. And I'll also put the link on the screen here. And yes, this is an affiliate link. I hope you like this episode on the four layers of building your epic rivalry by Bonnie Johnston. If you have any questions about it, let me know. You can also connect with Bonnie directly via her website, Write Smarter Not Harder. Uh, That's it for this week, everyone. Write long and prosper. That's a wrap.