Creating Realistic Characters: part 3 (writing believable villains)

If you're like me, then you cringe at the word "villain". And if you're really like me, then the only reason you cringe at it is because when you were younger, the first time you heard the word villain was in a cartoon where the antagonist was whiny, annoying, and overall stupid. Thus, my detest for the word villain was born.

But what is a villain, really?

A villain is your story's antagonist—the bad guy, basically. He's trying to undo (or stop) everything the protagonist is doing. A realistic antagonist has a good motive for whatever crime he's committing—but one who doesn't have a good motive, or doesn't even have a motive at all? Soooo unrealistic.

Today in the last part of our three–part blogging series on characters, we're going to talk about how to make your villains seem realistic while also keeping them as villains.

Let's get started!

1. Give your villain a good motive

Like I touched on above, you need to give your villain a good motivation for their actions, so we know why your villain is doing what he's doing. Some good examples of this would be:

• In The False Prince, Roden is driven by his desire to become king. He's power–thirsty, and wants the throne to himself, so he's willing to do anything to get it, even kill the other boys who are competing for the throne.

• In The Wingfeather Saga (🚨SPOILER ALERT! Don't read this unless you've read the series, please!🚨), Gnag the Nameless was lied to as a child and believes that his real father was disgusted by Gnag when he was born, and planned to kill him. Gnag grows up believing that the Maker despises him and crippled him for a reason. A heartbreaking backstory—and a good motive for why he wants to crush Aerwiar—for revenge.

(🚨SPOILER ALERT OVER!🚨)

• In Little Women, Amy burns Jo's manuscript because Jo didn't let her go to the play with her and Laurie, and therefore Amy is mad and wants revenge on her sister.

2. Give your villain a backstory

A villain with no backstory is like a cake with no recipe. Don't fail to consider your villain's backstory. Backstory and Motive go together like two peas in a pod, and when one of them is missing, well... the story doesn't make much sense, and the villain doesn't feel fully "completed".

3. Give your villain flaws

This might seem obvious, but you'd be surprised at the number of authors who write "perfect" villains. These villains are often completely indestructible, and can appear more robot than human (but who knows, maybe your villain is a robot). So remember, you need to give your antagonist flaws.

Have you ever met someone who's completely perfect? I know I haven't, In fact, maybe your villain seems perfect on the outside, but on the inside he's scarred and wounded. Give him flaws, make him seem real to your readers.

4. Give your villain envy/desire

This is actually perfect, because my friend's dad filled the pulpit at my church a few weeks ago and preached on envy. One type of villain you can write can be one that is controlled by envy, or has a desire to own something that someone else (the protagonist) has. If they can't have the thing they want, and your protagonist has it, then they don't want your protagonist to have it either.

A good example of this would be two little kids (I know, I know 🤣). They're playing with a bunch of toys, but one kid has a fascinating toy that the other kid wants. This is where envy sets in—a desire to have something that someone else has.

5. A few more tips:

   • Negative character arcs are great for villains :)

   • Avoid making your villain completely unsympathetic.

   • Nobody likes a pure evil antagonist, so make them appear human.

   • Give your villain moments of relatability that make him/her vulnerable and tragic (but not enough that your readers are rooting for the villain!)

Conclusion

Annnd, that's all! Realistic, well–written villains that appear to pop off the page can keep your readers turning pages in suspense. Something it keep in mind is that whiny, annoying antagonists are so cringy (but that's just my opinion, thanks to the TV show I watched as a kid 😂).

I should be wrapping up this post, but before I go, let me know in the comments below what your favorite type of villain is to write! Until next time,

~Maya