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I’m not an expert, but I’m willing to share my current knowledge of what I learned from college of how to write an evil character!
I underwent my own personal journey when it came to writing my own villains into my stories. Throughout college, I gained many different insights with how to write a villain from my college professors. My niche is the horror genre, and I took every single piece of advice to heart.
Horror villains definitely need that extra layer to be the perfect villain in each story. Each of my professors gave me a very similar step by step guide with how to develop a villain character.
Your villain needs a good backstory.
In order for a villain to actually be a villain, there needs to be some sort of backstory or hint as to how they became evil. Every villain did not become a psychopath within a day or two. There is a reason why they are committing such vile acts.
This aspect to a villain is a huge key to making the villain interesting to the reader. One of my professors claimed that if you are going to reveal the backstory, it must be done in a ‘personal touch.’ You gotta put yourself in the shoes of your character to get a feel for the character’s backstory.
Each scene must be done very effectively for the audience to undergo a journey within the mindset of the antagonist!
What drives the villain and their actions?
The main thing that every single villain possesses: Motivation. This is what makes them very dangerous and scary. Here are a couple of questions that my professors asked me:
- What is the villain willing to do to make sure their dreams become a reality?
- What are they so desperate to have before anyone else can achieve it?
This aspect to a villain adds tension to the story. It will make your reader anticipate or wonder what is going to happen next.
Does your villain have any sort of emotion?
I felt that the hardest part to writing a villain is the empathy of the character. I was told from one of my college professors that was a huge fan of the horror genre, that there must be a balance with action and dialogue.
Too much on both ends of the villain spectrum can ruin the character, making the character cringy or very cheesy.
I had this problem with multiple villains in so many of my past horror stories. Once I actually started to learn how to write a good villain, I began to have so much fun with my writing. I prefer writing very complex villains that are sort of like anti — heroes. It definitely gives me a huge challenge for my story and the character’s development!
The design to the villain does not matter, as long as the character is very well written.
I was told time and time again, that the character design of your villain is not actually a big deal. There is no need to judge the appearance of the villain, they just need to be completely developed to have an effect on the reader. I will admit, this was probably the only thing I never had an issue with when it came to my writing.
I think it’s interesting that all villains can come in any form. However, I do hate the stereotypical character design of a hot male or female dressed all in black and has tattoos all over their body.
There is no need to make the villain that obvious for the readers. At all.
The villains’ introduction and ending.
I was told so many times throughout college that villains need to have the ‘spotlight’ on them. When they first enter the story, it has to come off intriguing, eerie, or very interesting. You need to show the reader that this character is going to be important to the story. That your villain to going to truly be a worthy adversary for the innocent.
The ending to the villain must also pay off as strong as the introduction. My college professors asked me two questions when it came to the ending:
- Will your villain win? How will they address their victory?
- Will your villain lose? How will their loss be portrayed?
I really liked how simple and straightforward my professors were when it came to writing out the villains. It honestly helped my writing a lot, and I did develop several memorable villains that received some praise in college. These little moments made me so content that I took everyone’s advice, and I was able to find a way to input their ideas into my writing!
Without the guidance of my professors, I don’t think I could have written great villains. There are only three villains that I have created so far, that actually scared some people that read my stories. I’m not sure if I will ever share them on this platform, due to how utterly disturbing they were, but they were the reason why I have been able to achieve so much in my life!
These three villains gave me two huge boosts that jumpstarted my writing career.
For that, I’m forever grateful!
Thank you for reading!
Emy Quinn
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