BlueLucario

Um, I have a question regarding characters, I want to make good characters. I know how to make the hero, he has to have a goal and he has to reach for it and have obstacles that will get in the way of his dream and he has to lose battles. But I was searching the web on how to make villains, but they couldn't give me a detailed description. I know there aren't any "rules" of writing, but I want to know what makes a good villain. I also want to know what makes an awesome rival. My story will have lots of rivals. How do I make a rival competitive?

DavidGil

Flaws and shades of gray, for all characters for the most part.

For fantasy, vulnerability and not all powerful for all characters.

One key bit of advice for everything in my view though, why look at your characters as good or bad?

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mi is happy

To make a "villian" good, you first got to get into their point of view. Ask questions to your self using, How what, when, where, why, who. Getting to know your villian is the best way to make a strong charactor. Villians are never bad in their own eyes. As DavidGil stated, why think of them good or bad.

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Rahvin

The first thing I'd do is stay far, far away from labels like 'heroes', 'rivals' and 'villains'. Make them characters - realistic characters - first, with their own pasts, personalities and all that. Then think of your plot, and (provided the characters are 'deep' enough) their responses should fall into place.

However, if you are dead set on making a 'villain', you have to remember one crucial thing: From their point of view, they aren't villains. Perhaps it's a case of the ends jusitying the means, or maybe a more radical idea. Either way, there should be a convincing argument for what they are doing, and why they are doing it. For example:

Say you've got a character who wants to start an apocalyptic war. Genocide on a massive scale. If you were creating him as a 'villain', that's where it'd end. But let's carry on. Why does he want to do this? Well, let's say he used to be a pacifist, firmly believing that war is horrible, but over the years he has become disillusioned and cynical. He now believes that the only way to stop all wars is to have the 'war to end all wars'. All the world's armies and military technology will be wiped out by the war he will begin, and, in the fallout, the survivors can live in peace finally. The huge loss of life is, in his eyes, entirely justifiable, as it is far less than the accumulated casualties from the seemingly endless wars across the globe, only lumped together instead of spread out.

Or maybe you have a character that lives by the saying 'knowledge is power'. Now, maybe he has taken this to a complete extreme, and sees everyone without knowledge as weak, unfit to govern or rule. He has made knowing everything his life's work, and he knows everything that all the world leaders, everything they have ever done, everything about their personalities, he knows them better than they know themselves. He knows exactly how they will react to any situation, and he is determined to exploit this. He wants to place himself in a position of power (or even, for a more morally ambiguous tale, someone else), as he knows that he could do a better job than the bumbling leaders we have today. He has set up a web of seeming chance and coincidence that, when triggered, will set into motion a series of events leading to him (or his candidate) being placed into a position of supreme power.

See what I mean? The reader knows that they are wrong, but deep down, there's a little kernel of sense there, something thyat says 'yes, this a crazy and overreactionary idea, but maybe, just maybe, there's something there...'

Now, the hero. Don't just make him diametrically opposed to the villain. Make him a character in his own right, with a full personality, etc. Then, when he becomes aware of the villain, his reactions will be dictated by his personality, making the plot a result of the characters, rather than the characters a result of the plot.

Rivals... well, basically, what I've just mentioned about heroes applies here. Just make sure they are a little more vulnerable/corruptible/nasty/cynical/etc than the hero. A rival can be a good medium for exressing the villain's point of view (if the villain isn't a PoV character), so exploit that to the full. It's a way of working in back-story without it being an info-dump.

But yeah, what I've been saying boils down to: No good and bad. No heroes and villains. Just characters with different experiences and motivations. Trust me, if your characters are deep enough, it doesn't matter what they are trying to do (in my own tale on here, for example, the 'hero', for want of a better label, is trying to pretty much kill civilisation as it is, in order for there to be a better one in its place. And yet, despite this 'villainous' behaviour, he's still, from the reviews on here and elsewhere, still the favourite and best liked character. Motivations - real, believable motivations - are the key).

Phew. Sorry about the essay...

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Counterside

I had this problem too, i began to write everything i knew about this character i created and had a crap ton of notes.
I kept telling my friends the entire backstory of this character and they all told me i should just write his story first as a kinda prelogue to my main characters story. So thats what im doing.
So over all its best to have every detail you can possible have about a certain person, especially your villan. Hes one of the most important people in your story and helps the story flow through out what your hero does.
And remember that what ever your main character does it has an overall effect on your villan as well.

Mike C

Hero and villain are just two sides of the same coin. They both have hopes, dreams, fears... they both think they're doing the right thing.

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lin

Well, I dunno. I have a soft spot for villains who are just plain evil for it's own sake. Dr. Phibes, Fantomas, Hannibal Lector, Batman baddies, Malificent.

There's a sort of purity in it.

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lin

Let me suggest you start thinking not in terms of heroes and villains, but of conflict.
Start simple. Two guys in love with the same girl. They have different advantages. Maybe one is an athlete, but the other has money or musical talent. They are both totally committed to winning this woman, no compromise is possible. Maybe they are even friends. At first.
Fool around with it. What effect do her parents have on this? Her friends? What is her solution to the choice being presented her?

Two excellent books on this basic triangle, with very different solutions, both presenting all three viewpoints in sequential sections, are "Leaving Cheyenne" by Larry McMurtry and "The Embezzler" by Louis Auchincloss.

Now what if they are both running for president? Or trying to control the destiny of Amazon farmers?

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ClancyBoy

I read this as "they both have herpes."

There's a good novel idea for someone.

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dwellerofthedeep

Thanks Clancy! I was stumped as to what I was going write next.

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Joe Moore

Blue, you might want to try the following advice on creating your villain:

Good luck.

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