What Makes a Good Villain? Pt. 2

Here are some more qualities you could add to your villain to spice them up. Not all will apply to your villain, but some could— or at least get your gears turning. Take a few of these points and apply them to your villain, or take none at all! Let’s get into it:

     1) Obsession. Is your villain obsessed with something or someone? What is he willing to do to obtain this thing? If something were to hurt or break what he wants, how would he react? Does he want this thing because he absolutely hates it and wants to destroy it, or is he in love with it and wants to protect it at all costs? Is the protagonist a threat to his obsession, directly or indirectly? Or is the protagonist his obsession?

     2) What’s his secret? What’s he hiding—a weakness, a strength, a wound, an insecurity, something physical? Is this a secret to the audience as well, or are we fully aware and are begging for the protagonist to find out? What happens when it’s revealed? What lengths will he go to to conceal this secret? Or, perhaps he is the secret. Introduce your villain into the story with a fog of mystery surrounding them and the reader might grow anxious wanting to learn about him. Where’d he get that scar? Why does he limp? The way he talks sounds so proper, where is he from?

     3) A range of emotions! Some villains are just evil, act evil, and do evil things. But what about a villain who has his rock bottoms and his highs? What if the touch from the right person softens him, or a certain smell causes him pain because of a hard memory? Could this range of emotion put him in a weakened state against the protagonist? Could it cause the protagonist to falter, to want to help the villain instead of defeat them?

     4) Make him eerily similar to the protagonist. This one is a bit spicy. What if your villain used to be like your protagonist, but one wrong path or choice led him down a spiraling road to corruption? This is interesting because it shows the audience what the protagonist could have become or still can become if they didn’t have their own core beliefs that make them the protagonist. 

Pt. 3 — Coming Soon!

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📖 ☕ Official Blog: www.zmwrites.com

What Makes a Good Villain? Pt. 1

What’s better than a villain that’s just plain evil? One that has good reasoning behind what he’s doing! There are too many plain-Jane villains that just want to destroy the world because they can— but their reasoning is never explained. This can be flat, boring and unconvincing.   Your main villain should not exist for the sole purpose of making your protagonist a hero. Your villain should feel like a living character too, one with emotions, conflictions and goals himself. 

Tips on making your villains more dynamic:

   1) Treat your villain like a person. Give him goals, fears, regrets and flaws. He doesn't wake up out of bed and exist just to counter your protagonist. No. Perhaps he wakes up out of bed and makes breakfast for himself and an empty seat— an omelet, his daughters favorite morning meal— but she has been dead for many years now. He’s an evil dirtbag on the outside, but shit... now he has suddenly become more human.

2) Make them relatable to the reader. They weren’t always the bad guy, right? Something happened to them that made them peruse this pathway of evil. Some of the best villain's are those that the audience can relate to, that they can see bits and pieces of themselves within. 

3) They believe what they’re doing is right. Thanos anyone?

4) Play with Redemption. So, now you have dangled a relatable villain in front of the readers, made us feel for him and understand his reasoning. Now we want them to be redeemed, to make the right choice in the end. Does he break our hearts and do the wrong thing— or does he change his ways? Pt. 2 — Coming Soon! 

Instagram: coffeebeanwritng

📖 ☕ Official Blog: www.zmwrites.com