June 13, 2008
Good Bad Guys
I’ll be the first to admit…I love, love, LOVE a really good villain. And as writers, I think we all know the importance of them in the story.
But if you really want to make him intriguing to your reader, you might consider giving him a pet. 
Maybe a kitten. Or a puppy, teddy bear, love of nature, or make him a tormented author—anything that might humanize him a bit will not only make him more appealing to your audience, but more memorable and believable (at least, as far as you wish him to be).
Hannibal Lector may have been a psychopathic killer, but he was a very soft-spoken gentleman with a taste for fine wines.
Barnabas Collins? One of the first sympathetic vampires. Why? He not only despised himself for what he was, but carried a torch for the love of his life for several…er, centuries.
The Frankenstein monster. Poor fella didn’t ask to be put together out of spare parts. One of the most horrendous scenes in the film is when he accidentally drowns a little girl. What makes him sympathetic is that a few minutes earler he’d been sharing flower blossoms with her. He not only can’t help what he is, but hasn’t the wisdom, experience, or power to change.
Monsters like Ted Bundy are another story. A complete sociopath, incapable of remorse, he felt perfectly justified in everything he did because he believed what he wanted was all that mattered. And although fascinating in his own way, he isn’t someone I’d like to carry with me for long after the book is finished (unless it’s a particular kind of horror story, of course).
If you can give your villain as much character and extra dimension as possible (without having him take over), your readers will probably thank you for it.
And eagerly look forward to the next one. I know I do. 
Any more ideas on making your villains…well, appealing?
I’ve read that Bundy was both charming and sympathetic - except to his victims.
I read one villain who was protective, courteous and gallant to his mother.
I was going to make the same comment about Bundy that Bernita did. I want to throw in ‘goodlooking’ because (supposedly) it’s scientifically proven that peeps tend to be predisposed towards liking or thinking more highly of goodlooking peeps. I know, sucks, but there it is.
I think the good looks aspect works better on film (especially if it’s a ‘loveable’ actor cast against type). On the other hand give your villian a laundry list of bad physical traits and it can come off as cliched.
“he felt perfectly justified in everything he did because he believed what he wanted was all that mattered”
This is another key. Not only have the villian have a justifiable reason (in his mind) for his villany, but make it a reason that the reader can sort of see why he’d be pissed/hurt, etc., even though, of course, the reader would never justify his/her actions. Kinda make you torn, you can sort of sympathize with the motivations of the bad guy, but on the other hand totally repulsed by what he/she does.
I’ve read that Bundy was both charming and sympathetic - except to his victims.
I’ve read and watched quite a bit about Bundy. Frighteningly fascinating, Bernita. Intelligent, good-looking, charming (and on his way up the political ladder, BTW). A supreme predator.
Kinda make you torn, you can sort of sympathize with the motivations of the bad guy, but on the other hand totally repulsed by what he/she does.
EXACTLY, Vanessa. I think that’s important. To relate, even in some small way, to the villain makes them a bit more real.
A love interest in a story, eventually causing the villain’s downfall, would evoke some sympathy from the reader.
Bernard…ala Harris’s Red Dragon?! I loved that…it really did make him sympathetic for me…i felt sorry for him!
Yup, Bernard and Ames. Good theme, provides suspense, conflict, and makes the CHARACTER of the villain somewhat sympathetic, even if his actions aren’t.
Villainy is often in the eye of the beholder, I find.
I created a villain once who was to me the most repulsive female character I’d ever written, She almost caricatured the worst sort of women, in that she was shallow, self-absorbed, in love with her ambitions, extremely manipulative and most of the time completely oblivious to the feelings of others. I hated her so much I almost couldn’t write her because I kept wanting to kill her off in some horrible fashion. But I made myself do it, and tried not to let my personal feelings color the characterization.
It must have worked, because to this day, I still get fan mail from readers who consider her a great/inspiring/noble character, and want me to write a novel featuring her as the heroic protagonist.
I still get fan mail from readers who consider her a great/inspiring/noble character
Now THAT’S a character that took on a life of it’s own!
Wow, Lynn.