anomalously-written:

A villain (also known in film and literature as the “antagonist,” “baddie”, “bad guy”, “heavy” or “black hat”) is an “evil” character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist (though can be the protagonist), the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters. [x]

Villain: A cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; a wicked or malevolent person; the main evil character and antagonist to the hero

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How Not to Create a Villain

• Villains Who Take Over the Novel.
• Obvious Villains.
  [If you’re having trouble with this, read the novels of Agatha Christie and other famous mystery writers to learn how to fool the readers while playing fairly. For an even better learning experience, try reading an Agatha Christie novel after finding out the identity of the killer. You’ll get great tips on how to conceal information right in front of the reader’s eyes.]
• Clichéd Villains. 
  [The conniving other woman, the evil mother-in-law, the wicked twin sister. Some villains have been used so often that they have become recognizable character types. These characters still have a lot of life left in them, but only if you flesh them out.]
• Villains with Unbelievable Motivations.
  [Nobody wants to read an entire novel only to find out that the villain was plotting against the hero the whole time because the hero stole away his prom date 20 years ago. If your villain is scheming and planning and committing crimes, he needs a good reason to go to all this trouble.]
• Unnecessary Villains.
  [Powerful main characters can create plenty of conflict on their own.]
• Utterly Evil Villains.
  [Some villains are simply too evil. Not only does he make life miserable for the hero and heroine, he also beats and rapes the servants, kicks the dog, and on top of that, refuses to recycle. Not only is this unrealistic, it is often trite.]
• Villains Who Talk Too Much.
  [This one is a classic cliché. The villain captures your main characters, but instead of getting them out of the way, he goes into a spiel about how bright he is because he outwitted them all.]
• Weak Villains
  [Imagine this scenario. You’ve been reading an exciting, suspenseful novel, and you’re close to the end. The hero is confronting the villain. You’re expecting a big payoff. But instead, the villain turns out to be a huge wimp who caves in quickly.]

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Writing Tips for Creating a Complex Villain

–Choose a model for your villain: an ordinary person, a celebrity, or a notorious criminal from the news; examine that person’s flaws and weaknesses. How have they wronged others? Discard their positive traits, magnify their negative traits, and write a brief character sketch. What’s the character’s name? What does he or she look like? What is going on in the character’s head that allows him or her to treat others with disregard?

–Give your villain a shady past: what terrible things has your villain done throughout his or her life? What terrible things were done to him or her? Some villains are just trouble makers; others are deranged psychopaths. How extreme is your villain?

–Identify the source: what happened to your villain to turn him or her so evil? Was your villain born that way?
–The most interesting villains are not completely evil. They have a soft spot for puppies or they write cheesy love poems. Contrary personality traits add depth and realism to all characters. Describe your villain’s positive traits.

–Put your villain in a scene: make sure you include dialogue so you can work out how the character speaks. Give your villain a distinct voice. Is your villain disguised as a benevolent character? Does he or she spend every waking minute committing evil deeds?

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Real Life Inspirations Behind Some of the Best Comic Book Villains
Creating Villains People Love to Hate
Everybody Lies 
What Makes Serial Killers Tick?
The Making of a Serial Killer
The Greatest Female Villains
Female Villains: 10 Evil Women In Literature
Basic Tips To Write Better & More Despicable Villains
Seven Tips on Creating a Fantastic Fantasy Villain

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A good villain must be ACTIVE:
Writers often complain that they have trouble making the middle of their novel exciting. A villain who acts, instead of simply sitting around thinking evil thoughts, is the best possible cure for a sagging middle-book.

A good villain must be SMART.
When the author has the villain do something stupid so the hero can defeat him, it not only makes the villain look stupid, it makes the hero look weak.

A good villain must be SENSIBLY MOTIVATED, AND NO WORSE THAN HE HAS TO BE TO ACHIEVE HIS GOAL.
A credible villain can be motivated by anything from simple greed to self-preservation, from patriotism to revenge, from religious fervor to ambition to romantic love.  In short, anything that can motivate any normal person can also motive your villain.

[x]

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A great literary villain is not any one thing; some are moustache-twirlers or evil geniuses, some are darkly complex, tortured souls, while others are amoral crazies who act wholly on impulse. There are many ways to write a literary villain, but a unique characteristic often binds the truly memorable anti-heroes together: they are at least as complex as the heroes. [x]

fictionwritingtips:

As a writer, one of your main jobs is to get your readers to believe in the illusion you’re creating in your story. Deep down, we know that characters aren’t real people, but we suspend our disbelief to really put ourselves inside a fictional world. While characters can also be layered and complex, there’s a big difference—they’re not real people.

Here are a few differences to consider when building your own characters:

Characters are simpler than real people

I know, I know. How can I say that your favorite character from your favorite book series isn’t as complex as your next door neighbor? You know a lot more about your favorite character because you’ve followed their ups and downs for like 5 books now.

But the truth is your next door neighbor has a very real and very complex life and they’ll always have more depth than any character in a fiction novel. Authors only tend to focus on certain traits of a character; ones that pertain to the story and help drive the novel forward. Adding a lot more detail could bog the story down and feel unnecessary. Like I said before, characters can be complex and layered, but we’re only experiencing a powerful illusion. This is actually helpful for writers because it helps manipulate your readers’ emotions depending on what story you’re trying to tell. You get to guide your characters and where they’re going.

You’re only sharing a slice of life

Most of the time when you’re writing about a character, you’re only sharing the most dramatic moments of their existence. There’s a reason you’re telling the story and it’s not just them living their normal day-to-day lives. There’s usually the stasis that moves on to the inciting incident that gets them away from what they’re used to. We all know that real life can be tedious and boring for the most part. I’m not saying nothing exciting happens to real people, but we do work and go to school and sleep every night…the boring parts are usually cut out of fiction (depending on your story)

Again, obviously this all depends on your story, but there’s usually some excitement that pops up in stories that doesn’t always happen to real people. We are reading about what’s most representative of your character’s life.

You never know exactly what real people are thinking

This is one of the biggest differences between characters and real people. In novels, if the writer chooses to do so, the innermost thoughts of characters can be revealed. In real life, it’s impossible for us to know what someone else is thinking. They might tell us, but we’ll never have that sort of deep insight we’d have in a work of fiction.

Use this to your advantage as a writer because it doesn’t happen in real life.  Share your protagonist’s thoughts if you think it will help develop your story.

-Kris Noel

fictionwritingtips:

Creating a perfect character usually isn’t a good idea, so you might want to consider giving your characters a few well thought out flaws. There needs to be something internally that prevents them from reaching their goals or something that stops them from being the most wonderful/impressive person in the room.

Here are a few tips on writing character flaws:

Balance Negative/Positive

No one’s perfect, so your characters shouldn’t be either. We all have both negative and positive traits—some that drive people crazy and some that people talk about affectionately (Also, this depends on who you talk to). Maybe we have great ideas, but we never take the initiative to execute them properly. Flaws will help balance out your characters and make them feel real. This should be something beyond “I’m so awkward it’s adorable” or “I’m so pretty/handsome, but I don’t know it”.

Tie them into the plot

It’s super important that these flaws play into the plot somehow or they run the risk of falling flat for your readers. If your character is notoriously lazy or lacks motivation, how will this affect the rest of the story? Will your character have trouble snapping into action? If you don’t do something with these flaws, there’s no point in mentioning them. A great example is Ned Stark from Game of Thrones. He is loyal/honorable to a fault and it causes huge problems for him later down the line. Being honorable isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but depending on the story, it can cause a character’s downfall.

Get to know your characters

Creating great character flaws really comes down to knowing your characters on a deeper level. Some writers throw in flaws that don’t really matter because they don’t know what to do with their characters. Maybe they haven’t thought out the story enough or maybe they’re afraid readers will see their characters in a negative light. The truth is we like reading about people who are flawed because they feel real and relatable. There’s no one in the world who does the right thing all the time. Do some planning before you start penning your novel and you’ll be able to shape who your character really is and what they want.

-Kris Noel