Are Villains Evil?

This past week I went to a great writing workshop about creating a novel. I know, that sounds vague but the truth is I took so much away from this workshop that it may take a couple blogs for me to dissect it all. Today I want to start with villains.

I asked the question "are villains evil?" in my title. Many would say yes. If I looked the word up in the dictionary, it tells me that a villain is an evil character.  In writing, I've learned that not all villains are necessarily evil. In fact, villains that have a motivation with which your readers can sympathize, make even more dynamic characters. They make your protagonist a better person and the really great villains become unforgettable characters.

I'm going to use the movie Law Abiding Citizen as an example. Gerard Butler plays Clyde Shelton, a man who watches one of his family's murderers walk away after a plea bargain. In the beginning, the audience is very sympathetic to Clyde's hunger for justice. You could pretty much say, we're cheering him on. But then he continues killing and killing and killing. And with each step into the red zone, the audience questions whether this time he's gone "too far."

The truth is it's all too far but Clyde is ex-military and he's out to prove a point. This movie fascinates in that the villain was our good guy and district attorney Nick Rice (played by Jamie Foxx) was somewhat of our slime ball who cut the right man out of justice. Or the wrong man, depending on which way you look at it. Basically, he created a monster. Either way, Clyde Shelton is not an easy man to forget.

So, what makes a good villain? A lot of things actually. The more conflict the better, but here are a few other points to keep in mind:

1)      A villain must be stronger than your protagonist at the beginning.  Your main character must grow to defeat that villain whether that villain is a real person or an intangible emotion.

2)      Great villains develop from emotion and physical challenges to your main characters.

3)      Villains with a good reason to be the way they are (usually bad) will appeal more to your readers' sympathies (Just like Clyde up above) and create more conflict in the story and for your readers.

4)      Make your villains realistic. They should run into the same kind of obstacles your other characters do. They shouldn't have unlimited power and they shouldn't just conveniently pop up when you need them.

5)      Good villains are similar to your protagonist in some way. In Law Abiding Citizen, Clyde Shelton was just a father trying to protect his family (those he loved). By the end, Jamie Foxx is exactly that.

In summary, you should love your villains as much as your other characters, maybe even more so because a good villain makes a good protagonist.  Food for thought next time you're designing your villain. Hope this helps and happy writing.

Filed under: Characters, Emotions, Toni Kelly, Writing Topics