Villains and Scoundrels

[justine_currie]

Libby Drew wrote recently about villains, and whether or not they have to have a redeeming quality. Here's a related (and timely) article on the subject of villains and how to craft a better one.

From Writers' Digest - 3 Techniques For Crafting a Better Villain:

CREATE A VILLAIN WORTH PURSUING
You can’t just throw all your suspects’ names into a bowl and pick one to be your villain. For your novel to work, the villain must be special.

So ... what do you think makes a good villain?

Comments

[gabe-speaks.livejournal.com]

Exactly! Heroes need to build up and/or team up to take on super villains to make the story work. And villains that are pesky little things are so boring. They need to be smart enough to pull of something that doesn't get them caught in the first chapter.

This is why the two-tier villain style of HP worked, I think, because Draco was that pesky villain which seemed so important for a minute, until the real villain shows up. And even Draco was used, basically, to keep things in perspective.

[justine-currie.livejournal.com]

Hee! He was that thorn in Harry's side, while the real villain loomed large. :)

And yeah ... the VAST difference between schoolboy pranks and true evil.