A good villain in a work of fiction can draw readers in and propel the story forward.A villain should be full of contradictions, desires, and needs rather than being just a one-dimensional embodiment of evil.Start with ideas for a villain in your fiction.The villain should have a well-rounded character.Your reader can connect with the villain on an emotional level, if you make them complex and credible.
Step 1: Base the person on the villain.
Pick someone you think is complicated or bad in your life.Choose a celebrity or notorious criminal from the news to be a model for the villain.The villain can be created by combining parts of several people.You can use a serial killer from your hometown as an inspiration for your villain.The model for your villain may be a relative who did horrible things.
Step 2: The villain can be created by using your biggest fear.
Think about what scares you the most and come up with a villain for your story.You make your villain an embodiment of death because you fear death.Maybe you fear spiders and your villain is a giant spider.If you are afraid of your villain, your reader will respond to it.The villain in Stephen King's Misery is inspired by his addiction to drugs and alcohol.King's addiction was turned into a villain for his novel.
Step 3: The villain should be the same as your hero.
The hero of your story should have the same qualities as your villain.They may have the same feelings of loneliness in the world.The reader can sympathize with both characters if they have some overlap.The villain may share the same need to belong or feel wanted by their family as the main character.The villain may decide to take violent action to achieve their goal, while the hero tries peaceful action.
Step 4: Disease, war, or a corporation should not be used as a villain.
It can be difficult for readers to understand abstract concepts.They can be hard to get readers to connect to.Make the concept into a character the reader can see on the page if you want to use it as a villain.A sinister businessman may be used to represent a corporation.You could use an arms dealer as a representation of war.
Step 5: You can read examples of strong villains.
There are villains in several genres of writing.The author makes the villain believable and engaging for the reader.Pay attention to how they describe their physical characteristics.You can read Misery by Stephen King.Beloved by a woman.George R.R. wrote A Song of Ice and Fire.Martin.The final problem was written by Sir Arthur.The Talented Mr. Ripley was written byPatricia Highsmith.
Step 6: The villain should have a distinct name.
Their name should make them stand out from the crowd.It could be related to a nickname they were given as a child.It might connect to their physical features.The villain in the Harry Potter series has a name that sounds threatening.Mr. is the villain.The Talented Mr. Ripley has a word in his name that means violence and destruction.
Step 7: The villain has a bad past.
A troubled childhood or a dark past can be used to create a backstory for the villain.Show the reader how the villain came to be evil.The events that led up to their turn to the dark side can be explored.You can give the violent villain a violent childhood where they were abused by their parents.If you have a villain who was victimized by a predator when they were young, this could lead to their turn to evil.It is possible to give the villain feelings of being underappreciated by a parent or sibling.This could cause them to be angry.
Step 8: When the villain became evil, identify it.
The villain shifted or changed and embraced their inner darkness.To show the reader when the villain became evil, include the moment as a scene in your fiction.The villain could have felt neglected in childhood.It could be an experience in adulthood that was traumatic for them.You could have a villain who turned when they were humiliated at school in front of someone they loved.You could have a villain who became evil when they watched their family die.
Step 9: Determine the villain's core beliefs.
The honor system and moral code that the villains live by.Think about your villain's values.If you show they have a moral code of their own, you can give them skewed or messed up values.It will make them believable to your readers.You can have a villain who believes in the rule of law.They may be villainous because they treat poor people who steal with disdain and seek to prosecute the less fortunate with no mercy.
Step 10: The villain can have positive qualities.
Giving your bad villain or evil trait will make them one-dimensional and flat.Give them positive qualities that show their humanity.Allow your villain to be good in some aspects so they are easy to understand.A villain who loves their family will do anything to protect them.There is a villain who has a soft spot for animals.Giving your villain more positive qualities might make them even more frightening.A villain who abuses children/ animals, robs banks, and burns down buildings is evil, but it might be even scarier that they have good qualities.The reader might be reminded that anyone could turn into a villain if they have someone that they want to keep safe.
Step 11: Give the villain a goal or desire that drives the story.
They should have a goal even if it is wrong or ill-conceived.The villain in your story should be shown to the reader what they want.Higher stakes can be given to the story by the villain's goal.A villain may want to get revenge for the murder of their family when they were a child.A villain may want to be loved and have friends.
Step 12: The villain should be described with vivid detail.
The villain walks, talks, and moves in your story.The villain should have features that stand out, such as a limp in their walk or a scar on their face.You can show them how nervous, uneasy, or upset they are by giving them habits and tics.Stephen King describes the villain in Misery as: "Her nostrils flared regularly, like the nostrils of an animal scenting fire... That stony, obdurate look covered her face like a mask."
Step 13: Your villain should have a different way of speaking.
Make their dialogue special to them.Think about how you can give your villain as much personality as your main character through dialogue.You may have a villain who uses a formal way of speaking, even when they are saying bad things.A villain who barely speaks and only says one word before doing something bad to a character.Take inspiration from lines such as, "Say goodbye to your dreams" or "Did you really think you could defeat me?"
Step 14: The villain should be just as smart as the main character.
The villain should have the same amount of brawn and brains as the main character.This will push the story forward and challenge the main character, as they should feel like a worthy match.Readers will be more interested in a capable villain than a dumb one.The villain in the series is just as smart and clever as the great man.The stakes are much higher in the story because he proves to be a real challenge.
Step 15: The villain and the main character should be at odds.
Make sure the villain doesn't get in the way of your hero.The villain should be a source of conflict for your character.The villain and the hero should fight each other.You could have a villain who targets someone the hero loves.The hero may want to save the person they love, while the villain wants to harm them.They may fight each other to get what they want.