Now these tips are not just for young writers. But they are mainly aimed at younger writers, but these tips will help young and old! Even if this writing project is just for school, or work. Can't hurt to make it a bit more original right? So here are some practical tips for writing great villains!
Are your villains not evil enough? Are they bland, or in need of some evil training? Do you find yourself wondering if they will ever be evil enough, to be a real challenge for you protagonist? Well here are a few tips that might help give your villain that edge they need to challenge your Protagonist:
1 Not MORE evil, more personal.
Now you're probably asking: what does this mean? Well, it means: Don't make the antagonist do MORE evil things. Make them do one LARGE personal thing! Readers will hate the villain more if the Antagonist for example takes something/someone, important from the Protagonist. For example:
Super Donkey has to save the world. But he isn't doing it just to save the world. He wants to take revenge on Evil Hay for killing his sister Danica Donkey!
See? Just by adding that personal touch you hated Evil Hay! You haven't even met him yet, and you are routing for Super Donkey. Make more sense now?
2 Make villain more human.
I can hear you thinking: But how do I make them more human? When I want them to be evil? So let me explain: Making a villain more human makes us hate them more. Because, they had a choice to do the right thing, but still did the wrong thing in the end. Here's an example:
Let's say Evil Bread-Crumb is trying to kill Captain Weat-Brain. Bread-Crumb has a family of Bread-Crumbs who are starving at home. He wants to kill Weat-Brain to help his family! Bread-Crumb then dedicates his whole life to killing Weat-Brain. But when Weat-Brain gave him the chance to turn away from his crimes, he chose to instead, kill Weat-Brain's wife, Mrs.Weat-Brain!
Do you hate him now? Sure, you sympathize for poor Bread-Crumb. But now that you've seen his more human side, you hate him even more for killing Mrs.Weat-Brain.
3 Avoid having easy flaws in Villains plan.
Before you go all: (But I want my Protagonist to succeed! I can't make the plan to complex. Otherwise, my Protagonist may never succeed!) If there are easy flaws in your villains' plan, then the story isn't going anywhere... For example:
Let's say Tina mouse wants to take over the world. She steals all of Minko mouse's food and locks him and his team of super mice, in a mouse trap. Tina is planning on starving all of Minko's friends and himself, and then taking over the world. But Minko and his team break out of the mouse traps and catch Tina mouse.
Wasn't that boring? How easily Minko and his team of super mice beat Tina mouse? So, here's what I suggest you do:
When thinking out the villains' secret evil plan, make sure there are no easy flaws in their plan. Make it genuinely hard for the Protagonist to succeed.
4 Don't let Protagonist win because of luck.
Read here to see my point:
Danny duck has infiltrated Cristopher Croc's evil layer. Danny only has one hour to stop the timer from going out. Cristopher Croc has kidnapped Danny's friends and is planning on blowing them up! Danny steals a key from one of the guards a key lying on the ground, and free's his friends. He finds Cristopher Croc fast asleep on a couch in his room and ties him up, Danny stops the bomb and saves everyone!
Yawn. Way to lucky huh? Would you read a book where the Protagonist wins the first time? Or even watch a movie where the villain is so incompetent, to fall asleep like that? I know I wouldn't! So, here's what I suggest:
In your story, make luck irrelevant. That even with luck, your protagonist never stood a chance with their first plan. Or their second, or sometimes even their third plan! The harder you make winning, the more gripping and exciting the story becomes.
I dumped a lot now. But does this make sense to you? Do you suddenly feel like you know your Antagonist better? Or did you find my tips, boring and useless? Let me know in the comments! I would love some feedback!
Well, that's me! See ya'll next week!
