One of the hardest parts for me about writing steampunk–or any genre–is creating the villain. In fact, I finally figured out that was the hold up on my current WIP. I had no idea what the bad guy’s ultimate goal was, so I couldn’t figure out what he was doing or why. Once I sat down and started working specifically on HIM, the plot and flow just snapped into place. Here’s a few things I’ve learned (but had to remind myself) about bad guys over the years:
1) They don’t see themselves as a bad guy. Even if they have a major grudge against society, they’re doing what they do for a reason–a better world, retribution, or sometimes simply a sense of entitlement. The world OWES them money, power, fame, whatever. You have to know what their goal is, above and beyond the scenes in your story. What are they ultimately after? And why?
2) They have to have strengths and weaknesses. Even Superman has his kryptonite. Of course we need to know what your villain is good at, but als what he or she is bad at. This will be their ultimate destruction, of course. 🙂
3) What or whom does your villain hold dear? Even some of our worst criminals in history were great parents or loved their pets. Is it an ideal? Or is it a person? Perhaps a magickal item they’re sure will bring about their success. What will your villain willingly sacrifice, and what will he/she die to protect or achieve?
4) What’s the history that brought him or her to this place? Who is this character, as a person, aside from the context of your storyline? This probably won’t appear in the completed text, but if you, the author, knows it, it will help you write a consistent character.
5) Does he/she work alone, or with accomplices. If so, is he/she charismatic enough to get accomplices, or use some other means, such as threats?
These are just a few suggestions to help figure out how to make your bad guy a three-dimensional character, and also to drive your plot. Remember, the stronger your villain, the stronger your heroes and heroines look when they defeat them!
So, what do you like to see in a villain? One random commenter below wil receive a PRINT copy of Steam & Sorcery, as soon as my box arrives.
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On a completely unrelated note, if you happen to be in the Detroit area the weekend of July 17-20, think about attending DetCon1, the North American Science Fiction Assoication’s conference. I’ll be speaking on a panel about writing relationships and reading from Steam & Sorcery, as well as signing!
One persons freedom fighter is another persons bad guy. A well written bad guy is someone’s friend, son or daughter. They might love ice cream or affectionate dogs and on the weekends plots the downfall of the world, because you know, you need a hobby.
Well said, Ella!
What a great post! I like that our bad guys have human frailties and they don’t see themselves as bad guys.
Have fun at DetCon!
Melissa
daringzoey at yahoo.com
I’m sure I will, Melissa! Thank you!
Awesome. I’ll have to remember this for my next villain.
Tweeted.
Thanks, Victoria!
We never wrote for a public audience before launching Issue #1. We used what we know: as a clinical therapist, I made fictional psychological assessments for each character. Now, we have clearly defined triggers for emotional responses and plot hooks. Our characters have internal motivation, and probable reactions to stress and situations to be explored! This is a helpful guide for making villains become three-dimensional on a two-dimensional page.
Excellent suggestions! Thanks!
Just as the ‘tortured hero’ has become an overused trope, the ‘tortured villain’ is in danger of falling into trope-ness as well. Give me a well crafted character, certainly, but go easy on the sauce.
I agree, Widdershins. You can’t use the same reasoning every time!
Or even the same seasoning every time! It would be like too much salt on your food.
LOL, Retrieverstock! but true.
My WIP is a steampunk story at the moment, and I’m actually finding my villain quite easy to craft, though they’re more of a ‘background’ villain at the moment, since my MC is looking for her fiancé, whom the villain has kidnapped.
I guess I kind of like villains who aren’t the obvious let’s shoot-’em-up villains.
Cool!
The winner was MISS ALEXANDRINA! If you can contact me at cindy@cindyspencerpape.com, I can get your prize mailed out!
Splendid! Will get that email to you soon. 🙂
Hmn, how to start.
In book 2, the villain is under stress from the Queen Victoria to build an airship that can travel across words, when he looses the ship, he does everything to get it back.
When he captures the current owners he kills one and mistreats the other to get the ship back. in the end he is killed but it turns out that he is being manipulated by darkers powers after one of the ship owners. As you stated he is a misguided man believing he is doing the correct thing for the grater good!
Where as the MC, he starts out good and turns into the bad guy killing the actual bad guy in revenge and starting a war against the good!
Nice twists, James!
Your post brought to mind a silly thing I haven’t looked at in years: “The Top 100 Things I Would Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord” ~ if you would like a copy, email me privately.
That sounds like a lot of fun, Joan! My email is cindy@cindyspencerpape.com
Not always but sometimes I like to see a glimmer of redeemablility in a bad guy. Even if it never happens or he/she destroys that little sliver of hope in the course of things.
I think that can certainly add an edge to a story!
Someone who has some redeeming qualities, and, given the right circumstances, could be a hero and not a villain.
That makes a lot of sense, Anne!
The exact villainous attributes must vary with the hero, but one way of thinking about it would be to say that the villain must possess the attributes to drive the hero to give his or her very best to beat said villain, to challenge him or her to the very utmost before the villain’s flaws result in just barely falling short. You don’t want a villain that is either too easy to beat or so impossible to beat that luck must play an inordinate part.
One example that comes to mind is Sax Rohmer’s infamous and totally non-PC Dr. Fu Manchu. The evil doctor was ten times as smart as all the heroes put together; the trouble was that he KNEW it and was continually tripped up by the resulting overconfidence, especially with regards to what the old MCP regarded as the weaker gender. With just a smidgeon of humility, Fu could have won the day.
How very true that the villain & hero have to be well matched!
Two kinds of villains I like: 1) The one you know is the villain, but you really don’t know his/her identity. Maybe the reader experiences the villain’s thoughts, but not the identity. Or maybe the reader does not even know what the villain is. 2) The villain appears to be a good. Subtle hints may be dropped throughout the story. I should either be surprised at the end, or I should get to say ‘Aha! I knew it all along.’ – even though I was just guessing!
Good points, Riley!
I can’t seem to kill off my WIP villain. 😦
Good luck with that, Erin!
I’m late to this but had to comment. I had no idea what my villain was up to in my first manuscript and was about 60,000 words in before I stopped to even consider it. Once I finally did, I had to stop and darn near rewrite the entire thing. That taught me a valuable lesson – always know what the dark one is up to from the very beginning. Now I even stop and write a bit of the story from their perspective so I can really get in their heads before I get more than a few pages into a new idea. This has resulted in a true fascination with the bad guys on my part. I mean, as you pointed out, they never see themselves as the “bad guy” and something (usually a string of somethings) happened to shape them into who and what they are. I’ve developed a bit of a soft spot for villains…
Your first point raises an interesting question: has there ever been a villain who genuinely believes that they are the hero? Such a person would not automatically hide whatever they were doing..