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Q&A The protagonist can't defeat the antagonist without the antagonist being stupid

A is strong, B is weak, they fight and B wins because he's the good guy is indeed a boring story. There is probably more to the story, so tell it. "Rocky" is an entire movie about nothing other th...

posted 7y ago by Peter‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T06:15:39Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27297
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Peter‭ · 2019-12-08T06:15:39Z (almost 5 years ago)
A is strong, B is weak, they fight and B wins because he's the good guy is indeed a boring story.

There is probably more to the story, so tell it. "[Rocky](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075148/)" is an entire movie about nothing other than how the hero gets to the point of having a chance.

Use foreshadowing.

Exaggerated example: If the big bad evil guy gets a stroke while fighting the hero, and dies, use the previous chapters to mention his blood pressure issues, and a history of previous strokes in his family.

* * *

Also, the big bad evil guy can also make a mistake that isn't stupid, just a result of the circumstances, as happens in [Rob Roy.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114287/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-03-22T15:31:28Z (over 7 years ago)
Original score: 2