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You can. Stereotypical villains can be interesting \. Or you could simply make the story less about the villain. Look at Lord of the RIngs. Did you notice that Sauron (despite being the big bad) never really factors in the story? He’s there, in the same way the trees the grass and the mountains are but he’s not the focus. In such cases the Villain is more treated as a force of nature, something the protagonist must react to, In these cases the meat of the story is what sort of actions, changes and reactions the villain brings out in the characters. The raptors in Jurassic Park, Jason Voorhees, The Shark from Jaws. These are prime examples of that. Not every story needs to be focused on a grand, looming conflict. Sometimes just the task of getting from A-B is enough. Sort of like in a video game.You aren’t thinking about the last boss fight. Your attention is focused on surviving one area at a time., and I’d say that makes for some thrilliung engagement.

Woohoo. Australia now holds the new world record for having gone the longest without a recession, which is 26 years, and still counting.

I'm really glad you cleared that up for me... I usually tend to be a little gullible... Haha! Like I already mentioned, I'm also on gay authors and the fourms over there are crazy! I offended someone right off the bat because I didn't realize they had some sort of Master title and that they are ALSO a cop in real life or something... Yep. This dude is totally a COP so everyone on the fourms over there respects this guy and they all suck his d**k!!!! @sweetmamajamahad some issues there too... They're just really unfriendly to newcomers... I'm not getting the same feeling here thou. This fourm really shines, you guys have an amazing community of writers gathered here! Thanks for all the cool legal answers though. That was informative and I feel a little less scared. Your right, you kind of have to get used to the idea that some people will steal at all costs. Hell, I pirate things off the web from time to time.... Anyways, thanks. it's all good info to know.

Two reviews this time... YAY! No Retreat! No Surrender! From Mastershakeme: That was sad, but I guess we were expecing an ending like that. I really liked the detail of the gun being kicked away and lost in the rush of soliders. It was FUCKING DEPRESSING! Like 'There goes all hopes and dreams!' Well fml, I quite enjoyed that. The image of the gun disappearing, as Yevgenyia was killed will stay with me... The names were definately hard to prononounce though and I gave them little nicknames so I wasn't constantly stumbling over them. Nice job! Nice example of one-shotting lol!!! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I tried to make it a depressing environment, since the war itself was, yet also the personal Hell they went through. The end, for those who know history, was expected, yet there's a certain ambiguity to its as well :). I tried to choose names that fit, but we're also easy to pronounce... Apparently not the best ;). Thanks. I'm not exactly an example to hold up, but I like to think that I do good. Blood and Honour: Also from Mastershakeme: First of all, I'm also interested in history and I'm fascinated by this time period in general. After having read the first chapter, I feel that your writing displays quite a bit of talent, and I'm intrigued and want to read more. There is room for improvement, but we all have a little room to grow I think your characters had some pretty relatable and negative emotions revolving around the rise of Hitler. Perhaps a little more detail could be added in relation to the argument. I want to feel a little more tension over this disagreement that will impact their future. I like the atmosphere of the Nazi environment; the doom and gloom is palatable. I love the inclusion of the radio broadcast. It draws you into the time period. It's great that you researched. I can tell! You mentioned stuff I didn't know about. Was there really some sort of LGBT in Germany in that time period? Before Hitler of course, the Sexualwissnschaft? I was interested in the interaction between the 4 characters and you did a good job weaving the character introductions, bits of description – like Fritz's blond stubble and Mattie's hair – and character – such as Hannah's gentle personality – into the story with dialogue and direct actions. Very good! That is a talent, the ability to show not tell. I wasn't bothered by there being 4 different main characters, but I did have a little bit of trouble remembering all their first and last names as well as their nickname. I didn't have any issues understanding what was going on though, so it's up to you whether you want to change it. The main stylist change I had in mind would be to possibly condense and simplify the conversions. But I have the feeling you may have been going for a "German 1930s" era type of lingo and the elaborate style of speech may have been how they talked. So, I'm probably the one who doesn't what I'm talking about ;-) I liked the little words in German here and there... I took German in school, I think its fun to try to try and pronounce them. It's super immersive for me! The kiss between Mattie and Hanna was passionate. I liked it more than their handholding (that action could be smoothed out a bit, it was a little bit wooden). But the kiss was an excellent scene because it expressed the desperation of their situation, the love they felt for each other, and the passion they felt for each other. Beautifully done. Thank you for posting! I will read some more when time permits. Peace! Well, now, this is a long one… Okay... <cracks fingers, neck, spine...> Someone call 911! First paragraph: Thanks, MSM. I know you started betaing in Chapter 10 and can see the changes, so this is probably a lot different... Lol. And yes, we all have room for improvement :). Second paragraph: Perhaps you're right regarding detail and necessitating more in there. I tried to make the atmosphere dark and foreboding... And the radio was the one way I thought best to start it off... I'd read that radios and newspapers were the thing back then, people even forced to buy radios later just to hear Hitler speak… Third paragraph: Actually, yes. In doing research, I was amazed to learn that Germany was one of the more progressive countries in terms of the LGBT community before Nazism. Indeed, the Instituet fuer Sexualwissenschaft was a pioneer in pushing that homosexuality was not an illness, but normal. It's a shame that the books and institute were destroyed… Fourth paragraph: I try not to do massive character description dumps as they tend to blend together when I read it, so I usually split them, drop descriptions in throughout. I'm glad it worked and I'm glad you liked the descriptions and interactions. Fifth paragraph: Perhaps you're right in the fact that the names may need to be cut back a little... Sixth paragraph: I do have a tendency to ramble on, so this might be something to talk about in depth. Seventh paragraph: I tried to make it a bit of a foil. Wasn't sure it worked, so thanks for pointing it out and reassuring the ego. Thank you for reading. I look forward to further pointers and I hope you keep enjoying :).

For my main potter fic (not on AFF), I’d write the minutes/notes/debate for “Death Eater” strategy meetings. I found that quite useful in figuring out what the DEs were up to, what was next, how they’d respond to counter anything Dumbledore was doing, and generally shaping their overarching plan. Also included in those notes were chastising for the missteps among the main antagonists. I do this a bit less for my current line of fics, but its something I still do from time to time. It does help.

Beautiful… What’s great about your advice is that it's so true and RELATABLE. Me and my neighbor IRL are bitter enemies because we run into each other in the parking lot all the time. She is my villain and I am hers! Maybe this is the writer in me, but I’ve always been curious about this neighbor of mine. Because you're right, she’s a protagonist in her own weird ass story. Shit, I know my story is pretty crazy lol. On another note, do you think it's ok to have a stereotypical antagonist? I’m not looking for an excuse, I’m just wondering since you asked about the purpose of the character, if how you can construct your bad guys depending on usage. I suppose you can, and I’m answering my own damned question! There can be more than one bad guy, it can just be the dick waiter who spills coffee on the main character, or you could be talking about the guy who’s plotting to rule the universe! Ok, well, thanks for that little tidbit of advise. I think that’ll be easy to store in my back pocket and take it along with me I like simple and sweet. easy to repeat!