User blog comment:PlantyThePottedPlant/Random Topic Blogging III: Blog Harder/@comment-4353345-20140127075107/@comment-3395649-20140128002854

My method:

1. Establish the current threat

2. Deal with the current threat

3. Establish an event that ends up partially corrupting one of the main protagonists

4. As the threat continues to be dealt with, the corrupted hero slowly turns to the dark side.

5. Hero becomes pure evil.

6. Engage final battle with threat as well as the evil companion and either have them redeem themselves in death or have them die evil along with the main villain.

But this is my method with the SAF Serial, and only for the Enigma arcs, S.A.F. arcs just have the world get ravaged.

And Hillocalypse, mixes up the methods.

Yugioh ZEXAL A!, just an AU rewrite, nothing more than that.

Adventurama, just have Lich merge with Ice King and Bender.

And the original story For the Record?

Follows that pattern.