It is said that in order to
create really great characters that your readers care about you must absorb
yourself into their psyche; you must take a part of your own personality and
place it into ‘them.’ I’m sure many of
you have done that – think back – go on…ahhhh, so you remember how that damsel
in distress was a part of you when you were going through a tough time, or how
the great warrior in your latest fantasy novel resembled your thoughts and
feelings on a matter. This is all great and
wonderful for the good guys in a story, but what about the bad guys?
The same holds true for the
villains – yes, the author’s darker side.
Sure, everyone wants to see the hero triumph, but in order for that to
happen you have to have a really good bad guy, someone that will challenge your
hero, someone who will throw out all the obstacles that he can to make the hero
really struggle. But to love the hero
one must also love the villain.
It’ll take an exceptional
villain, one with much evil, dastardly doings and underhandedness to capture
your reader’s hearts. He or she will
have to pull out all the stops and really be nasty to the hero, doing all they
can to destroy him and thwart the whole saving the world thing. But how do you do that?
Unfortunately, my friend, you’re
going to have to get evil. Yes, that’s
what I said. You need to think mean and
nasty, and allow the dark corners of your demented mind (and yes, I know you
have them) to trickle out. You have to
actually draw out from your being all the demented, twisted ideals from the
very fabric of your soul and entwine these ideals throughout the story. The villain will challenge the hero from the
very beginning and the storyline must have a balanced roller-coaster ride of
really bad stuff happening, then a lull, then more bad stuff happening. All of which the villain is instigating.
If you’re having trouble coming
up with great ideas for the bad guy to do to the good guy think of
opposites. Example: In a store line someone may allow another
person to cut in line. What’s the
opposite? What mean thing could be done? I’ve found a lot of negative, dastardly stuff
in cartoon movies, anime, or even by watching some of the best villains in
current HBO shows.
There are actually a lot of great
ideas out there, you just have to look. Once you find them you must embrace the dark
side, allow your villain to be the most evil, scheming, conniving villain
he/she can be, and make your readers love to hate him/her. Give them a twisted since of humor. Make them sarcastic. Make them a complete asshole. The choice is up to you.
Go, now, and create. Enjoy the dastardly events that will make
your hero miserable and the reader cheer, yet cry, when your villain is
defeated.
Happy Writing!
TJ Perkins
