Make Me Bad: How to Write a Good Villain
My latest round of edits with book one in the Mousai Series revolved all around my villain. After rereading everything for the 100th time and having a conversation with my agent, it became clear that something was lacking – pieces of his backstory. Why he might have become who he is today and why he might seek certain goals. Needless to say, I quickly remedied this!
To keep on theme, I thought it would be fun for this month’s writing topic to be all about our dear antagonist. A good story wouldn’t be a great story without them.
So how does one write a good villain?
Ironically, a lot of the character development that is needed to create a ‘good’ villain is very similar to the character development needed for one’s hero.
Main questions to ask about your villain:
1. WHAT IS THEIR BACKSTORY? It’s important to know where your villain came from before they were a “villain”. Did they have parents, siblings? Were they rich, poor? Not all of this needs to be revealed in your story, but it’s good as the author to know who your antagonist was before they became the antagonist.
Example) Let’s take the live action Disney film Maleficent. Maleficent was not born the horned villain we know today, but started as a good, but powerful fairy who fell in love with a human named Stefen.
2. DID THEY EXPERIENCE TRAUMA? While villains don’t always need to have one pivotal moment that makes them “bad”, they do need to have some sort of experience overtime that leads to how they behave badly today. Were they bullied in school? By their family? Did they lose someone they loved? Were they raised to be a ruthless killer? Creating some sort of traumatic event(s) will enable our villain to evolve into their dark side and feel more real, more human, and deep as a character. It will allow the reader to experience the conflict of outright hate toward the villain, which creates for a richer story. It also can reveal a weakness in our villain that can affect how they behave to our hero, why they might behave that way. This experience can also feed into their ultimate goal.
Example) Overshadowed by his ambition, Maleficent’s love, Stefen, betrays her for better favor with the human king who is at war with Maleficent's home. Stefen drugs Maleficent and cuts off her wings while she sleeps as a trophy of loyalty to his king. Waking in devastation and broken hearted at what has happened, Maleficent turns her fairy home into a dark land proclaiming vengeance on Stefen and the neighboring human realm.
3. WHAT IS THEIR GOAL? What does the antagonist want to achieve? What is the goal/ problem that involves or affects most, if not all the other characters in the story? The villain’s goal often times contradicts the hero’s, hence the story conflict. It is good to find a goal for the villain that can directly interrupt or get in the way of our hero as well as connect with their history.
Example) Set on revenge Maleficent curses Stefen’s (who is now king) daughter Aurora. On her sixteenth birthday Aurora will prick her finger on a spindle wheel and fall into a sleep that she will never awaken from, unless by a true loves kiss, which Maleficent believes no longer exists. This conflict directly affects Stefin who loves his daughter and goes mad in an attempt for her never to prick her finger, hence driving the entire story’s plot forward.
While in the end Maleficent is more of a villain’s tale to redemption, it is still an excellent example of the layered and twisted way “good” and “bad” is displayed and how it is often not so black and white. Having a grey area in a story’s morality, I believe, creates for an extremely rich reading experience and character development for all players involved.
Naturally we want to pick good vs bad, virtuous vs evil so sometimes we merely place villains there for villain sake, but with these three main questions answered you should be on your way to one nuanced and despicable antagonist!