If you’re writing a mystery, a thriller, anything at all involving intrigue, you must know your bad guy’s agenda, and—this is utterly crucial—what he or she has done thus far to actualize it. For instance, if they’re a murderer, and your novel is about how your detective catches them, you need to know, in specific detail, whom they killed, how, why, and where all the clues are buried before you send your detective into the field to hunt for them. Without that knowledge, how would you, let alone your detective, know what to look for, where to search for it, or the significance of anything they
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