Cooking up a tasty villain.

[amna]

Sugar, spice and nothing nice… A key ingredient to cooking up a delicious book is getting the villain right. You don’t want to overdo it, but you don’t want to downplay it, either. It takes more than just adding some undesirable traits to the mixing bowl.

Tell me what’s wrong with this scene.

Hero: (draws out shiny sword) stop you villainous fiend! I have come to stop your nefarious plan.

Villain: (cackles evilly) you are too late! This time tomorrow, I will have removed every Starbucks shop from the face of the earth! (More evil laughter)

Hero: (gasps) you brute! But, why have you done such a treacherous deed?

Villain: (shrugs) Erm, because I felt like it. And I am, like, bad.

Hero: (knits brows in confusion) you felt like it?

Villain: That’s what I said. Jeez, are you deaf or something?

Hero: That has to be the stupidest reason ever. What has Starbucks ever done to you?

Villain: I can’t afford the coffee! And if I can’t have it, then no one can.

(Hero runs towards villain, shoving the sword deep into his heart)

Villain: No! I'm melting!

Hero: Dude, I stabbed you with a sword.

The answer: everything.

I’m swimming in a sea of clichés. Do you want to have a more boring and typical villain? Of course you don’t. A cliché villain is probably worse than the OVERPRICED COFFEE AT STARBUCKS. Ahem. (Note: sorry, I am a poor student living in London.)

Before writing about your villain, you have to first understand him or her inside and out. One of the best ways to develop your character is through the 100 character development questions -->http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.actio ... 4976908598.

It's important you make your villain three-dimensional. Having a psychotic menacing brute that chases your characters with a chainsaw just doesn’t cut it. You have to ask why the villain is a villain. Then you can start adding several different layers to him, just like a tiramisu. Other than the obvious villainous traits, add in some pleasant qualities that make your villain better rounded.

Let’s take the Hannibal Lector as an example. He likes to eat people (each to their own) but he is also a well-educated man who is witty and a great cook (even if you are on the menu). Rightly, so, he is one of the best villains ever to hit the big screens. Work on your villain and expand his personality. You want the character to jump out of the page and hook the reader!

What is so unique about your villain? What is it about him that would probably make little old Amna turn on her night light? Creating a villain is certainly fun. A lot of fun. Some may argue it maybe even more fun than creating the hero. You get to delve into the dark side, taking your reader on a very scary ride. There is no specific ingredient list on how to make a perfect villain. Don’t be disheartened – this is actually a good thing. It makes writing about the villain devilishly fun because you a make him however you want him to be. No detail is too small. Focus on mannerism, quirks, likes, dislikes and what makes your villain inherently evil.

Another example is Voldemort. Oh yeah, I said his name! He is my favourite villain in YA literature. I love that Voldemort isn’t a typical stock villain. Tom Riddle was a handsome, polite and popular student. To everybody else, he was a normal. But, when you scratch the surface you learn Riddle was cruel, sadistic and power hungry.

Most important thing to focus on is what crime your villain commits. Is he an arsonist? A thief? A serial killer? All the above? Once you have chosen on the villain’s criminal behaviour, you need to focus on his history on it. When did he first commit the crime? How many times has he committed that crime? You have to choose a level of evilness. Is your villain Sharpay from High School Musical or President Snow from The Hunger Game series. Let’s say I have a villain called Norbit (yes, Norbit). He is a serial killer. How does he kill his victims? He likes watching his victim’s burn. Alive.

What made your villain bent on destruction? The easiest way to answer this is focus on one, or several events, that has hardened the villain’s heart. Is there one turning point in the villain’s life that has turned him against humanity? Let’s go back to Norbit. He likes to burn people alive. Not just for the fun of it – you see, Norbit has mummy issues. As a child, he watched his father set his house ablaze, and his mother burned inside. So, he now kidnaps other mothers who remind him of his mother and burns them. Alive.

Now focus on the relationship between the villain and the hero. How does the hero fit into the story? What is similar and different between the hero and the villain? Most of the time, the villain has his own goals which the hero ruins. For example, most villains in James Bond want to take over the world, or get their hands on super secret government data. Then James Bond swoops in and foils their plan. Don’t make the mistake of creating villain that is only there to be the hero’s arch nemesis. Why? Because that is boring. And remember, we don’t do boring.

Now run, my children! Unleash hell on your novels.

By the way – who is your favourite villain of all time?

~Amna