Meg
Well-known Member
Meg’s Guide to Creating a Villain
Howdy hey all! Strangest thing happened to me today (or yesterday depending on when I finish this). A penguin came up to me and asked me to make a guide for how to create a good not clichéd villain. Something tells me this penguin shouldn’t be messed with, so I’m doin’ it! I will do my best!
First off! And this is the most important rule in villain creating. Do not – I REPEAT NOT!- give your villain sunglasses. Pleeeeeeease don't. This is not only a dead give away of who your baddie is, but also super overused. Don't do it.
Now of course if its a really sunny day he/she can wear sunglasses, but not for ANY OTHER REASON. I mean it! :lol:
Trench coats are just as bad.
Now that that's out of the way! There's also some kinds of people you should refrain from using as a villain unless it ties into the time period/location of your story. For instance,
Russian men.
How many times has the Russian guy wound up being the villain? Exactly. Don't make you're bad guy a Russian ok? Good. No Russian. (
)
Also! Terrorists. This seems to be the trend now a days and its old. If he/she has to be a terrorist then at the very least don't make them Middle Eastern. Please.
Ok well that's the basic stuff. Now we get into the details.
Don't make your villain a shallow meathead bad guy with no real depth and all he wants is to blow up/conquer the world. Just because they are evil doesn't mean they can't get some love and attention in the development process. Some well known examples of good villains would be Vergil and Snape. Vergil because he has a reason to want power (his mother dying) and Snape because even though he gave Harry hell he was actually a great man.
And that is the last nice thing I'm going to say about Harry Potter. XD
Give your antagonist a past and a reason to be doing what he's doing and be sure to explain it. Does/did they have a family? What was their childhood like? How does this relate to their motives? Not every villain you make has to have a sob story as to why they are a bad person, but there needs to be a reason. Even if its just "they are completely insane." What disorder? Tie that into the story.
DON'T however, have them randomly decide the main character is great and awesome and they want to be friends. NO NO NO NO NO!!!!! That is Mary Sue 101. Don't do it. Even if the villain reforms and becomes good, or even just an anti-hero, then make it believable. The main character can be the one to reform them, but it has to be done right. Portray the bad guy as someone that isn't truly evil. Prehaps they have doubts, or save a child from a firefight they started because he/she reminds them of their own child. Something like that. But do it subtly. Don't advertise how your villain is actually a good person to a point where the reader knows they are gonna turn good. Basically, don't have someone like Hitler randomly become good.
Ok well that's all I have for now. I'll be adding to this as I think of it. Hope it helps. ^_^
Howdy hey all! Strangest thing happened to me today (or yesterday depending on when I finish this). A penguin came up to me and asked me to make a guide for how to create a good not clichéd villain. Something tells me this penguin shouldn’t be messed with, so I’m doin’ it! I will do my best!
First off! And this is the most important rule in villain creating. Do not – I REPEAT NOT!- give your villain sunglasses. Pleeeeeeease don't. This is not only a dead give away of who your baddie is, but also super overused. Don't do it.
Now of course if its a really sunny day he/she can wear sunglasses, but not for ANY OTHER REASON. I mean it! :lol:
Trench coats are just as bad.
Now that that's out of the way! There's also some kinds of people you should refrain from using as a villain unless it ties into the time period/location of your story. For instance,
Russian men.
How many times has the Russian guy wound up being the villain? Exactly. Don't make you're bad guy a Russian ok? Good. No Russian. (
) Also! Terrorists. This seems to be the trend now a days and its old. If he/she has to be a terrorist then at the very least don't make them Middle Eastern. Please.
Ok well that's the basic stuff. Now we get into the details.
Don't make your villain a shallow meathead bad guy with no real depth and all he wants is to blow up/conquer the world. Just because they are evil doesn't mean they can't get some love and attention in the development process. Some well known examples of good villains would be Vergil and Snape. Vergil because he has a reason to want power (his mother dying) and Snape because even though he gave Harry hell he was actually a great man.
And that is the last nice thing I'm going to say about Harry Potter. XD
Give your antagonist a past and a reason to be doing what he's doing and be sure to explain it. Does/did they have a family? What was their childhood like? How does this relate to their motives? Not every villain you make has to have a sob story as to why they are a bad person, but there needs to be a reason. Even if its just "they are completely insane." What disorder? Tie that into the story.
DON'T however, have them randomly decide the main character is great and awesome and they want to be friends. NO NO NO NO NO!!!!! That is Mary Sue 101. Don't do it. Even if the villain reforms and becomes good, or even just an anti-hero, then make it believable. The main character can be the one to reform them, but it has to be done right. Portray the bad guy as someone that isn't truly evil. Prehaps they have doubts, or save a child from a firefight they started because he/she reminds them of their own child. Something like that. But do it subtly. Don't advertise how your villain is actually a good person to a point where the reader knows they are gonna turn good. Basically, don't have someone like Hitler randomly become good.
Ok well that's all I have for now. I'll be adding to this as I think of it. Hope it helps. ^_^
