Wicked Fun: Writing a Compelling Villain

When you think of your favorite scary movie, who do you think of first: the hero, or the villain?

You might think of the protagonist first, but chances are, the villain is not far behind. That’s because Sidney Prescott wouldn’t be who she is without Ghostface, and without Michael Myers, Laurie Strode would have nothing to run from. In other words, both characters are essential for a thrilling story, and phoning it in with one could make the other fall flat.

The same could be said of fiction writing, regardless of the genre, which is why it’s so important to spend time thinking deeply about who your villain is and how they will oppose your protagonist.

Here are a few of my best tips to help you write a compelling villain for your novel.

Make Villains Complex

While it can be tempting to create a villain with inhuman drive to destroy your protagonist at all costs, evil for the sake of evil tends to leave readers feeling unsatisfied. A villain is typically more compelling when your reader understands why they’re engaging in bad behavior. That means that, just like your other characters, your villain should ideally be complex and well-developed with their own goal, motivation, and conflict to guide them through the story. In other words, you should understand what your villain wants, why they want it, and how far they’re willing to go to get it. Remember, the villain seems themselves as the protagonist of their own story, with your main character throwing a wrench in their plans. You might be thinking, “Well, what about horror stories where the villain is some ancient and all-powerful monster? Do they really need a motivation?” But villains don’t have to be human to be three-dimensional! Even Godzilla has a motivation, after all: to protect his planet from the scourge of humanity.

Build Empathy

Giving your villain complex needs, wants, and desires also helps readers empathize with them, even if they don’t condone their methods. This can be especially effective because it drives home the idea that, under certain circumstances, anyone can become a villain. Even you, dear reader! And what’s scarier than that? This is part of the reason that prequels chronicling villainous backstories have become so popular, from the evolution of Coriolanus Snow in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes to the rise of Cruella. There are few things as tragic as a villain who could have taken a different path, and developing a backstory for your villain — even if much of it doesn’t make it onto the page — helps give their descent into darkness more weight. My favorite example might actually be Drusilla from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Though we hate that she is intent on terrorizing Buffy and Sunnydale, we also understand that being tortured by Angelus made her the way she is and recognize that she had little control over becoming the monster we see her as now.

Give Them Values

Your villain’s goal, motivation, and conflict will also be closely tied to their values, or the code they live by. Perhaps they value money, power, freedom, or recognition. Any of these values would affect how they approach the central conflict of their story and the way they work toward their goal. They could even have a “noble” goal, such as stopping climate change, but their experiences have shifted their moral code to the degree that they’re now willing to hurt people to achieve it. Put differently, illustrating your villain’s values helps show that they believe what they are doing is “right,” even if their actions are clearly wrong. Pinpointing their values can also be useful when working out a villain’s “fatal flaw,” or the mistake or misstep that ultimately leads to their downfall. For instance, maybe valuing power over loyalty leads them to betray the wrong person, who then becomes motivated to join the side of “good” and help the protagonist defeat your villain once and for all.

Consider Your Protagonist

Remember how I said some of the best stories immediately make us think of both the hero and the villain? Because the villain’s essential role is to provide contrast for your protagonist and drive the plot forward, villains often mirror their protagonist in some way, perhaps even showing what the protagonist could become if they make the wrong decisions or lose sight of their values. It may help to develop your villain first or even in tandem with your protagonist to tease out the connections between them and make sure you understand how that link — whether it be physical, social, emotional, or metaphorical — alters the trajectory of the story. Your villain and protagonist should also be well-matched in terms of strength, skill, or cunning so that the battle between them is more or less a fair fight.

Leverage Ambiguity

Especially in genres that rely on suspense, such as mysteries and thrillers, your reader may not actually know who the villain is until the very end of the story. Or they might assume the villain is a certain archetypical character, like a bully, authority figure, or outcast, only to find out that the real villain was someone pretending to be on the protagonist’s side all along. When revealing the villain’s identity is an important aspect of the plot, you’ll want to think carefully about how much you share about the villain’s backstory and when. Consider keeping key details in your back pocket until the opportune moment so that readers don’t catch on too early. This is another reason it’s important to make sure every major character — not just your protagonist and antagonist — is well-rounded enough that your reader can believe they might turn out to be the villain.

Avoid Stereotypes

Because villains symbolize the “wrong” side of right and wrong, the way you choose to portray their physical characteristics, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic background, and heritage can send a message about what being bad means or looks like. Historically, this has unfortunately led villains to become a vehicle for racism, ableism, antisemitism, fatphobia, etc. And I want to be clear here: This does not mean that your villain can’t hold problematic views. Making a character racist or sexist or otherwise reprehensible is not an endorsement of those views, especially when that character is clearly positioned as the “bad guy.” But presenting your villain as the baddie and then making their only defining attribute something tied to their identity or appearance, such as their accent, skin color, or body type, plays into harmful stereotypes that can have real-world ramifications. As you’re crafting your story, think carefully about who you’re making the villain and why, and whether giving your villain particular characteristics might imply that having those characteristics is in itself wrong or shameful. If you’re not sure whether your villain is veering into problematic territory, consider working with a sensitivity reader who can provide feedback on their character traits and your portrayal of the community in question.

Writing a Compelling Villain

The bottom line is that your villain should feel just as real and rounded as your protagonist so that both are characters your readers won’t soon forget. And with these tips, you’ll be well on your way to writing a compelling villain who can help take your story to the next level.