Crafting a Villain

They don’t have to love puppies to be likable

No matter the fiction genre in which you are writing, you are very likely going to have conflict, and to have conflict, you need at least a hero and a villain. Often, there is more than one of each. And often it’s hard to tell one from the other, the trend these days being toward giving a hero some flaws and a villain some redeeming characteristic(s). Unlikability used to be the top of the list of villain qualities, but not anymore. People seem to like villains. From Dracula to the Joker, these evildoers have an amazing appeal. But what makes that so? The main thing seems to be that without them, the story would be blah.

Think of it this way: driving on a highway that goes straight and smooth can lull you to sleep behind the wheel, but a highway with some twists and turns keeps you alert, and the more twists and turns, the more you feel your pulse quicken and your breath come a bit deeper and faster. Your palms may begin to sweat a little, too. That’s the role of the villain.

Beta readers of part 1 of Freelan: the Dawning would comment that my villain, Sid Minot, was the most interesting character in the book, even though he didn’t directly appear in it nearly as much as my two hero figures, Jim O’Connell and Rose Wilson. This surprised me, so I asked them what about Sid was appealing. He is rather physically unattractive as villains often are, has an oily smile that makes you certain he is up to no good which is usually true, engages in cronyism (using the government to his company’s advantage over competitors), and holds a grudge forever with no hesitation in using others to achieve revenge for a perceived wrong. What about that is likable? The reader’s responses helped me see what made him a villain and yet entertaining.

First, a look at villain qualities.

The Qualities of a Villain

At the very least, your villain needs these:

A propensity to do bad things
A disregard for the rights of others
An unquenchable thirst for achieving some goal vis-à-vis the above two items

Sid Minot has them all. But those things aren’t, at least to me, likable.

What Makes a Villain Likable

This list is what readers told me they liked about Sid, but they generally apply to any villain.

The character gave them a sense of danger (but in a safe way).
The character kept them guessing what would come next or would surprise them.
The character did things that they would want to do but couldn’t in real life.

That last one was quite astounding. But it makes sense. We writers often live vicariously through our characters, so why wouldn’t the readers. Sid performed his machinations against Jim by attacking something Jim loved—Rose. Sid hired people to sabotage things on her property. He showed up in person to attempt to coerce her into his scheme. And he had a local man spy on her and play mental tricks on her. When all that failed, Sid pulled out all the stops and metaphorically tied her to railroad tracks, like in the old cliffhanger movies The Perils of Pauline. His goal was to snag Jim in a trap with Rose as bait. What’s not to like?

Portraying Those Villain Qualities

Here comes the juicy part for you, the author. You get to crawl inside that villain and examine his nooks and crannies. And then you get to spill them all over the pages of your story.

Here is a key area about Sid:

Sid had a friend in the state capitol who was helping to expedite permitting for their operation. For Sid, this was how you played the game. His cronies in the Los Angeles city government as well as the state government based in Sacramento had kept him informed on any new regulations that were in the pipeline, giving him time either to put on the pressure to stop those regulations that would hurt his business or to ratchet up the regulations that would weaken his competitors and prove advantageous to his interests. People who knew Sid sometimes referred to him as “the paragon of cronyism,” something he had learned from his father.

“Total piker,” Sid had told some close associates of his father, clearly showing no familial respect. “He got caught, served a year of house arrest, even had to wear an ankle bracelet. Put our family in bankruptcy. I know better.”

Sid’s cronyism went far beyond his father’s. At fourteen years old, Sid had decided that his father’s weakness and ultimate downfall were due to his occasional ventures into trusting others. From then on, Sid honed the skill of not trusting anyone while making them think he did trust them. He found that this allowed him to manipulate almost anyone, and so he kept it a closely guarded secret. In addition, as a young businessman, cronyism and scheming became his preferred method of dealing with other human beings, seeing them as only something to be used when the need arose. Friendships and close relationships often required trust between those involved, so he avoided both. His interest in Julie Gates, who had been Jim’s girlfriend awhile, had been a matter of ego. She was great “arm candy.” Having her choose Jim over him was rankling nonetheless.

Ah, writing that was truly cathartic!

Final Note

Engage in a bit of author therapy by having a grand time with your villain. If you want to give your villain some redeeming quality, such as being nice to puppies and kittens, fine. It seems to be what a lot of writing “experts” advise. But your villain will be likable without it. (Sid hates puppies and kittens.)

Hope you found this helpful and have been inspired to start and/or continue writing!

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NOTE: None of my text or images are AI-generated. You can rest assured that I pulled it all out of that stuff in my skull called a “brain.”

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