Villain Archetypes by Sarah Raplee

Those of you who know me well, know as a reader, I have one important rule. Don’t annoy me. Annoyance will pull me out of your story in a nanosecond. One of the things that annoy me is villains who have no real motivation.

Being “evil” or “insane” is not motivation. Even serial killers have reasons for what they do, as the television series, Criminal Minds, demonstrates.

Mental illness creates a vulnerable population of potential victims for villains. The ‘crazed killer’ stereotype is not in line with crime statistics. Please don’t add to this false narrative that creates fear and prejudice against a group that includes one in five Americans.

In order to be relatable and believable, a villainous character must be as well developed as a heroic character. Anything less is lazy writing.

There’s an old saying, not sure who first came up with it, feel free to tell me in the comments: The villain is the hero of his own story. If you can’t imagine writing the story from your villain’s point-of-view,” to paraphrase Thriller Author Matt Buchman, “start over.”

One of my favorite resources for developing villains is Tami Cowden’s book, Fallen Heroes: Sixteen Master Villain Archetypes. These archetypes give you a place to start. Blending two of them in your character is challenging but awesome when done well.

Another method I like to use is to give the hero and the villain the same major character trait (such as arrogance/cockiness; control freak; charm; not a team player) but show how the hero’s character arc leads to change/transformation, while the villain’s does not. In other words: the hero has an epiphany/learns his or her lesson, but the villain does not—at least not in time to save himself/herself.

If none of this makes much sense to you, I recommend you read the craft book, Goal, Motivation and Conflict by Debra Dixon. This classic reference will help you with character development and plotting.

What is your favorite resource for developing characters?

Happy Writing! ~ Sarah