Okay, so a lot of you may think. A villain is a villain he just needs to do bad things and its sorted. I don't agree and since i wanted to give my readers a truly great villain. I went and did my research. Research is goooood.

When i think of an awesome villain the first one that comes to mind is Joker in the dark knight. I mean I enjoyed the villain more than I did batman....maybe that makes me strange but I think  lot of people would agree.

Now villains are very important to your story since they are the ones that basically drives it. Yep you read that right. They drive the story. Here are my tips and step by step guide to creating that awesome villain that will make your reader utter all kinds of swear words as they read.

This applies for when you do your story outline! Outlines are important even though they are hateful to make. If you guys would like a guide on it please leave a reply on this post or my post on chapters.

1.Create a fictional character from scratch.

What I mean is think of what he looks like, what he likes, dislikes those type of things.(remember this is only done roughly since it may change when you add other details.) This is just your character creation before you even think of making it a villain or not. Once you are done with that you can decide what to do with your character make him evil or whatnot.

2. What is your story all about and how does the villain fit in?

Is his purpose only to be an obstacle for the hero? (This kind of villain mostly applies to side plots and are only temp villains but not the main bad guy. They are used to show the readers some action and used as a catalyst to make your hero and other characters grow).

Does he represent any aspect of the stories theme? (This is the main villain. The main villain can have both of these things or even more, if you can think of them please add it.)

3. Choose his/her/its degree of evilness!

Now some may be going huh, degree of evilness? This point is extremely important and reflects greatly on the heroes character. Let me tell you why; Some stories rely on the viciousness of a serial killer while others only call for a bully. It is important to fit your villain into the genre of the story e.g horrors need like demons, zombies or evil ghosts those type of things. Why it effects your heroes character; If your hero is going to kill a pickpocket that makes him already a bit of a villain so if you want a normal goody two shoes hero match what happens to the bad guys with what your hero does to them. It all depends on what type of hero you want to portray.

Extra tip: making a villain a member or part of the higher ups in society will make it more interesting for the readers. For instance a high priest or knight or something of the sort someone that looks trustworthy on the surface but is a total douche-bag in reality. So now not only does the hero need to deal with the villain he also needs to work around the good people that think the bad guy is good which leads to all kinds of interesting plots and sneakiness that the hero needs to go through.

4. That single(or more) extremely bad things that made your villain, a villain.

Now I believe every villain should have this and most do. Unless they are Joker and "just want to watch the world burn."-goose bumps. Anyway this single event is what made your villain a villain. Lets say he saw his parents killed and in order to get revenge he even starts killing innocent people- stuff like that. This single event made your villain twisted and ugly. Why is this important; Well, because it makes your villain believable, and it provides the readers with the turning point in its life, it makes your reader think, "Would i maybe have done the same?" "Could i have ended up the same way?" In other words they start to relate. And once your readers start relating to characters. You got them!

Extra tip: this does not only apply to your villain but other characters as well. I think everyone in their lives have had a moment where something just suddenly clicked and you decided this is what I believe this is what I will stand for. Now, it may not always be as dramatic. It could be the way you were brought up. Something someone said that just made you think. This applies to your characters as well. Giving the readers something like this makes them more believable.
It also helps you with CHARACTER GROWTH-and we all know that sh*t is important.

5. Expand on the event/(events).

Okay so now your (soon to be villain) is experiencing this life changing event. Don't go sugar coating it. No! Shove it down your readers throat. make it raw, twist it, exaggerate it. Take that event and make it so shocking people gonna be like. "........What!?". You must do all this within relevance of course. Remember while you do this, this event is going to be your villains rotten core!

6. Find that one thing the villain likes.

This is important k. Every villain needs that one thing. like the guy in the one James Bond movie with the cat, during the movie he was always rubbing that thing. (Always wanted to do that move with the chair when someone walks in. I wait, turn around. give an evil laugh giggle thing. "So you have come." while I give Mr snuggles rubs on my lap.) So the villain needs the on thing. it could be taking walks on the beach to clear his head or he has a little sister that he has to protect and that's why he turned evil but he never shows her that side of him stuff like that.

Does this vulnerability give the hero an edge in some way and will the hero use it or not. these are the things you should think about.

7. Combine the turning point and the single thing.

As i mentioned with the little sister. Think of how you can connect these two things in your mind. how do they relate. if they don't it may seem a bit out of place.

8. Take into account the hero of the story.

how does the hero fit into the villain's life? How does their wants, mix, match and collide. here comes the important part; THE VILLAIN SHOULD BE JUST AS POWERFUL OR EVEN MORE POWERFUL THAN THE HERO.

9. Does the villain stay evil or does he get redeemed?

Decide how your story is going to develop and make this decision based on them. A good example of this is Naruto. How many villains does he convert to his side with his talk of peace as he follows pervy sage's dream. The best example is the battle against Pain. Avoid sudden and complete change since that is unrealistic unless you are going for something like the battle with Pain.

10. Give the villain fear.

the villain should have a fear of something since no-one has no fear of anything. it could be spiders or the dark, something stupid like that but remember to have good reason and not to make too much comedy with it since people may not take your villain seriously then.

11. A GOOD VILLAIN DRIVES THE STORY!

Without the villain there is no hero! The hero wont have to overcome any obstacles or fight or anything he may as well just have sat at home eating cheesy puffs while watching funny cat vids on youtube. The villain makes your hero and vice versa.

12. A good villain is still human.

Now, we right fantasy here. "What is this human you speak of?" You may ask. What i mean by human is just like the hero must have flaws the villain should have some good points. The more the readers can connect with the villain the scarier and frightening, he will be. just remember not to make them like the villain more than the hero.....that would be awkward.

13. The more threatening the villain is, the more their evil plans work.

Dont let the hero always win! That's boring and, and aggravating. When I read stuff like that I get frustrated and just stop reading. When you look at all the other movies, pro books. The hero gets f*cked up more often than the villain. If you don't do that how could the readers ever get excited in a fight scene cos they know he is going to win. There will be no nail biting no stressing no. OOOOOOhhh shit. Give them that guys! Come on, have a heart.



if you guys have anything to add. let your fingers do the talking and add it on here. (Please note this is only applicable to most fictions and fantasy. I know some of you are adding all kinds of weird and funky perspectives.)