Thread: When should I introduce the Big Bad of my story?

So, I'm writing a fantasy/sci-fi story, and I have a few early parts roughly planned out. But, the way I've written the plot, the actual Big Bad/Main antagonist of the story doesn't appear until the fourth chapter. There are a few minor antagonists in the beginning, but they more or less get done away with by the end of chapter 3. Basically, my concern is that introducing the Antagonist so late in the story won't really flow as well as if I'd started the story out with him. Should I rewrite the plot to allow him to enter earlier, or should I keep the story as is? Any advice will be appreciated.

I don't see that as a problem at all, so long as the thrust of the work is moving toward this conflict up to that point.

One of my favorite fantasy novelists is Jaqueline Carey who wrote Kushiel's dart. She did a whole LOT of settup and the reader had to be a little patient in order to get to the mainline of the story. Kushiel's Dart is a best seller, and a powerfully written piece of work.

I thing you ought to some how incorperate the big bad in earlye. by having somthing, a event or a thing that they don't quite realize what it is, or think of it as anything special. So latter readers will be like " oh that little thing in the beggining that didn't seem important actualy was apart of this bigger thing"

Originally Posted by gdaly7

I thing you ought to some how incorperate the big bad in earlye. by having somthing, a event or a thing that they don't quite realize what it is, or think of it as anything special. So latter readers will be like " oh that little thing in the beggining that didn't seem important actualy was apart of this bigger thing"

I do have something sort of like that, but it's pretty vague and doesn't actually have much to do with the story until maybe chapter 3. And even then, the Big Bad doesn't actually make an appearance, it's just a good character that knows what the big is, and he warns the heroes about it.

Originally Posted by LuisCypher

I don't see that as a problem at all, so long as the thrust of the work is moving toward this conflict up to that point.

One of my favorite fantasy novelists is Jaqueline Carey who wrote Kushiel's dart. She did a whole LOT of settup and the reader had to be a little patient in order to get to the mainline of the story. Kushiel's Dart is a best seller, and a powerfully written piece of work.

What do you mean by "moving towards this conflict"? Do you mean that I should foreshadow the conflict or have some character talk about a coming conflict?

It depends. The Big Bad may come out immediately if he's considered the ArchEnemy. Sometimes, like I frequently do with my stories, I used TheChessmaster-type of villain. Ergo, he comes out much later in the story, when the protagonists finally figure out who he is. I sometimes do a bit of TheDragon, too. Ergo, the antagonist that comes up early in the story turns out to be just a DiscOneFinalBoss.

Now, with your story, I think you can keep it as is. Several stories pull that off (the introducing the antagonist late angle) quite well. In Syphon Filter, it turns out that Erich Rhoemer was just the DiscOneFinalBoss, and that Dillon Morgan was the BigBad. More so, it will turn out that Morgan wasn't the BigBad after all, and that Mara Aramov is actually TheManBehindTheMan.

Even the Da Vinci Code pulled this off. Sir Leigh Teabing was The Teacher here, and while Bishop Aringarosa was first seen as the protagonist, it was Teabing who would eventually become the main villain, a la TheChessmaster.

Same is true with The Sorcerer's Stone. It turns out it was Professor Quirell who was the villain, not Snape.

Having said all these, it really depends with you and how you control the plot. If you think the flow right now is good, and doing otherwise would ruin this plot, then I suggest you stay the course. Finish the story, then let us read it.

All the best.

a story can be great no matter where you introduce a charater you just have to have it well written

In my book I have several antagonists for the protagonist and they come and go throughout the story. Also the antagonist in the early part of the story becomes less so later and the main antagonist doesn't come until about half way through the story.

For what it's worth, I personally believe the antagonist should be the second major character introduced with only the protagonist coming first. A story can not exist without conflict, and conflict requires an antagonist. Be careful about giving your readers some early red herrings that end up going nowhere. The practice is inherently dishonest. You might inadvertently lead your readers to think the story is about one thing, but it turns out the story is about something else. You could leave your readers feeling cheated. Good luck. C.M.

You know, I'm even okay with you introducing the antagonist first. It's really all in how you pull it off.

Keep this in mind though: my current novel series in progress has the civilized princess becoming her own enemy (yup, even becoming eevil). And it's written in first person diary format.