"A villain is just a victim whose story hasn't been told." -Chris Colfer
Writing a villain seems like hard work. You want to make them believable but also want the reader to relate to them in some way. Sometimes the villain isn't who you would expect either.
No matter which way you decide to have your villain swing, you need to have some sort of idea on how to write them well because character development is critical to either making or breaking a story.
There are different types of Antagonists in fiction, and working out which your villain is should be the first step.
The main five are:
- The malevolent villain- A villain motivated by Malice, hunger for power or other negative impulses
- The ally- antagonist- Friend or ally who betrays or makes a bad choice and becomes an opponent
- The interfering authority- Uses or abuses power to impede character progress towards the end goal.
- The force of nature- An opponent that creatures challenges without any motivation
- The inner saboteur- Internal opposition like addiction
When writing a villain, you need to remember certain things.
- Good and bad traits: Every villain isnt all that bad they have positive characteristics too, so don't forget to write them as such.
- Motive: Everything we do in life comes from a reason, even if we don't realise it. What is your villains' justification for being this way and doing what they are?
- Villains are real people: what happened in their past to make them this way? creating a back story can be really helpful to understand them better. {my favourite way to do this is to write a flashback on a separate document on the part of their past that really made them like they are; this helps me be able to refer back to the list when I'm writing bits for the villain because I know why they are like that}
- Put yourself in their shoes: what would you do in this situation and why?
- Play into the reader's feelings: It sounds mean, and that's because it is. Play into your readers' emotions by making them believable. Everyone has gone through hardship in life at some point and in some form, so play into that.
- Weakness: Everyone has a weakness; what are your villains?
- Character and story development: How does the villain develop over time? How does the villain make the story progress? How does the villain make the main characters develop and grow?
I don't think you can plan every little detail out, but hopefully, this helped you. Let me know what you're the main tip is for writing a villain or what your favourite type of villain is.
