Writing Tips

The Bad Guy

Everyone loves a good villain. The person you hate to love or love to hate in a novel or movie. Villains, as the enemy of the hero/heroine, are one of the most important characters and can make or break a book. Not every novel has a villain, the 'bad guy' might take the shape of a past, an animal, a difficulty, or circumstances out of one's control, but usually plots that center around action have some sort of villain. For the sake of this chapter, I'm going to just generalize that villain as human/humanoid.

There are a few different types of villain:

1) The Pure Evil villain

This guy is just evil on legs. He does what he wants, what he can, because he's bad. Think of Voldemort from Harry Potter or Lord Ombra from Peter and the Starcatchers. 

Pros:

Having this type as your villain will usually make everyone want to root for the MC, because we naturally want this guy to come to justice. The reader will hate this guy, if he's written correctly, and every time he's mentioned we'll want to boo. It also can create a clear contrast between the bad of this character and the good in the MC, which can be helpful for character development. 

Cons:

It is hard to make a pure-evil villain very interesting. If he has no motives beyond just being bad, he may come across as flat and uninteresting. A cookie-cutter villain would definitely turn me off reading a book. So writers of Pure Evil villains have to be sure to make them interesting, make them human (or creature, or whatever he is), not just a lump of badness. 

2) The Crazy Villain

This person is unpredictable, and will do almost anything. He is not calm and reserved, and is quite a character. He might do something good, or something completely demented, you can never know for sure what he's up to. He does things because he thinks they're fun. Think Joker from The Dark Knight or Moriarty from Sherlock. (Yes, I'm sure these kind of villains are in books too, but I'm having trouble thinking of one atm).

Pros:

This person is loud, in your face, and virtually unforgettable. They also are quite creepy at times, because they are unpredictable. People like order, and these kind of villains throw you out of whack and make you want to read more.  Also, if done well, this character will almost be likeable, and they can light up any scene they're put in.

Cons:

For such a colorful villain, there has to be an equally interesting MC. If the MC is flat at all, the scenes with him/her will drag and the reader just wants to get back to the villain. That's why the enemies of these types of characters (Batman, Sherlock, etc) have to be so darn interesting, so that they are still the ones the reader is rooting for. 

3) The Motivated Villain

This person is nearly positive they're doing what's best. While their idea of what's right is twisted, they are motivated and determined to 'fix' the world's problems, or at least pretend they are. Many times, this person is actually wanting power, money, or fame, and that is their key motivator. They might not be entirely evil, but they will do whatever will make them more important. Think President Snow from The Hunger Games (power) or Curtain from The Mysterious Benedict Society (again, power)

Pros:

This person is utterly disliked. Nobody likes someone who's only goal is money, power, fame, etc. This kind of person can often be seen as scum, which once again makes the reader want to put their money on the MC. It also makes the reader want some sort of fix to the situation, because often this kind of villain will already be in a position of power that the underdog will have to somehow topple. And who doesn't root for the underdog?

Cons:

This kind of villain has to be interesting, again, like in point one. He has clear motives, so their cannot be a huge twist in his character, really. Also, frankly, this is common nowadays. People do crazy things for money or power. When people read fiction, they are looking for an escape. That's why the end of this kind of novel (unless you want it to be a horrible downer on the reader) has to be the villain getting soundly punished.

Have another type of villain I overlooked? Post in the comments, and I might add him.