Villains in Fiction

by Clare Langley-Hawthorne

In the aftermath of any tragedy it is human nature to seek out a rationale - a reason or some kind of motivation - for what has unfolded. It is a basic part of a psyche, I think to try and understand human behaviour, even when it seems bewildering, horrendous and evil. Real life events, such as what happened on the weekend, are incomprehensible on so many levels and as writers we face many issues and concerns when creating fictionalized evil. We often tread a fine line between entertainment and horror as well as believability and imagination.


As writers we also have to delve into the minds of all our characters to try and understand what makes them tick, and we have to move beyond mere stereotypes, particularly when forming our antagonists. 


It can often be all too easy to fall for the 'psychotic' serial killer or other sort of evil cliche without trying to provide for the reader a solid grasp of what lies behind this. Villains rarely consider themselves villains. Sometimes they feel justified (in their own perverted way) or compelled by something to do what they do. Unlike in real life, in fiction, we can often provide the reader with a rationale for someone's behaviour.


So how do you create a believable villain? How do you ensure that, when it comes to the battle between good and evil, neither side slides into caricature? I've been thinking about this a lot in my current WIP and I have some to a few conclusions (or observations, at least) as I go through this process:


1. Characters don't think they are dumb so don't make them do 'dumb' things just because they are (cue manic Dr. Evil laughter) the bad guy. 
2. Don't fall into the trap of making evil generic. For every character there needs to be a specific reason, cause or motivation for his or her behaviour. The more specific and believable this is, the more believable a character will be.
3. Give you villain a clear objective. I'm not a big fan of the psycho who just seems to do stuff because he is, well, 'psycho' - this always seems to the to dilute the power of having an antagonist. 
4. Think as much about the back story for your villain as you do for the protagonist of the story - this will ensure the character behaves consistently and with clear purpose. It also helps you avoid falling into a cliche if you have a fully realized back story.


So how do you approach the process of creating villains? Are there any 'evil doers' in novels that strike you as the 'dumb and dumber' of their kind? What about the most chilling, compelling and believable villains in fiction?