Alright, ladies and gentlemen. Remember that super secret guest post I’ve been talking about on Facebook? Well, it’s here. It is my pleasure to introduce to you my dear friend, Victoria Grace Howell. The story of how I met her is actually really unique. One day, a friend of mine handed me a story, without revealing who wrote it, and asked me to critique it. I made a few comments, then promptly forgot about the occasion. Two to three years later, I found myself in a critique group at the Florida Christian Writers’ Conference. When we went to critique Victoria’s story, I kept thinking to myself, “This sounds so familiar, but I don’t know this girl! Huh, I guess it’s just cliche. It just doesn’t feel cliche though!” After I went home, my friend from sent me a message on Facebook and asked how I knew Victoria. She reminded me of the story she handed me two years before. Turns out, it was Victoria’s story.

Now that I’ve completely distracted you, I want to get back to this post at hand. Victoria has so kindly shared some insights to creating 3-D villains. Without further ado, I present Victoria’s post to you:

Every good speculative, mystery or other genre of action-packed fiction has a good villain. All the best of the genres have that awesome bad guy you love to despise: Voldemort, President Snow, Loki … So how do you make a great dastardly one of your own?

Background is huge for writing a three-dimensional villain that is both evil, but human, as in you can see how that person has become evil and understand why he is the way he is. I’ve discovered these five fundamental factors are the primary motivators for that regular person to turn to the dark side: Fear, Greed, Grief, Bitterness and Distorted Righteousness. Now how do these apply?

Let’s take an iconic villain of the Marvel universe and use him for our example.

Magneto or Eric Lensherr (movie version) was once a simple Jewish boy. When Sebastian Shaw murdered his mother, grief cultivated into bitterness and a craving for revenge against his mother’s killer, tipping the moral scale. Over time, he witnessed the maltreatment of his fellow mutant kind. In result, fear built up as did his desire to dominate over humans in a distorted righteous act to protect his species.

See how it works? Now, one primary factor motivated this person to change and Magneto’s primary factor was bitterness It propelled him to do the things he did.

Part of the cause for Magneto’s conversion to villainy was his childhood. This could be a cause for your villain too. Did the character’s parents ignore him/her as a child so that he/she desires approval? Did his/her parents push ideals or spoil their child so they either cling to their parents, or did they rebel?

Little events that happen in our lives can change us as much as the big ones. Sometimes it’s just harder to see them when they’re so gradual. On the other hand, it may have been one event that caused the transition, or it may partially be the protagonist’s doing that have nudged the moral compass arrow.

Which of the factors motivates your villain? Can’t you point out a motivating factor of a well-known villain? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Knowing how your villain ticks will make your villain more realistic. Knowing details of your villain’s psyche such as these examples will let you know how the villain will act. I hope this post helps you write a deeper villain and that villain features in a novel on a book store shelf soon! Happy writing!

Victoria Grace Howell is a Christian with a love for writing the weird since she heard her first fairy-tale. She is currently pursuing publication for her Christian YA Science Fiction Novel Subsapien Biomech. She is a member of Go Teen Writers and American Christian Fiction Writers. When she isn’t writing, she loves to play piano pieces of her favorite tunes, take walks and draw her characters. You can find her on Blogger, Facebook and Pinterest where she posts and pins about writing, reading and the geeky.

Make sure you leave a comment thanking Victoria for her time and post!

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