Villainous Villains
Make 'em Bad to the Bone, Irredeemably Wicked

I recently received an excellent revise and resubmit letter for a novel in which the editor stated essentially that my villain didn't have enough of a dominant presence in my novel (this is in a superhero action/adventure story).

I'm trying to figure out what the editor meant by that. It's hard because the villain in this story is a crime syndicate so there is no one real figure. So I'm doing some research on villains.

How do make your villains villainous? Who are your favorite villains?   —Racy Li

 

I like villains because there's something so attractive about a committed person -- they have a plan, an ideology, no matter how twisted. They're motivated.  —Russell Crowe

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From William S. Dean
Some suggestions on what makes a dominant villain...Villains usually rule through villainous means - i.e. fear and force. In a syndicate situation, that would mean that the members of the syndicate absolutely fear and distrust each other because of the overall power of the syndicate. Establish a precedence of punishment that is over the top, for example. Another aspect of super villains, too, is that of arbitrary and unexplained actions, especially punishments and/or actions against innocent victims. The most powerful villains are sociopathic, narcissistic, unpredictable. The play power games just for the sake of showing power.

Think Professor Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes and Buddy Pine/Syndrome in The Incredibles.

From Bob
It would seem you need to put a face to your villain, personify him. Batman fights crime ... but the Joker is his nemesis. Superheroes are archetypal, each one needs an archenemy with a face and a personality.

From Lisabet Sarai
I had to jump in on the question of villains. I have the devil's time writing them, but I know what kind of villain grabs me when I'm reading. The villains that affect me most are the ones that tempt you to the dark side. A character who is totally evil, soulless, relentlessly cruel, irredemiably wicked, is ultimately uninteresting, for me. That type of villain is like a natural force, no complexities, no doubts, no uncertainty. You may hate him or her, but that's the end of it; you're not emotionally involved.

The best villains are seductive, even beautiful, not just horrible. They make the heroine question her motives or even her sanity, as she holds on to her principles, bare-knuckled, in the face of the logic of evil. Ambiguity is the key to the fascination. That, and the attraction of power.

Tulsa has a great column on writing "bitch" characters [Bitch Power] in Erotica Authors' Resources that deals with some of these questions.

Racy, I think that you have a difficult job in front of you, trying to make an organization into a convincing and compelling villain. You need to give the organization a face, a heart, and a blackened soul. This could be one person, or perhaps several. As long as the opposition is abstract, a diffuse group instead of an individual, I think you'll continue to have problems.

From Keziah Hill
I remember some advice from someone (forgotten who) who said if you're writing crime or suspense start with the character and motivation of the villain before the hero/heroine. That way the core of the plot is in place and everything can be worked out from that.

From Mike Kimera
I've always liked "Heroes have flaws, villains have reasons" as a starting point for exploring villainy. Here's an article on what makes a good villain in a film:
http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/sfischo/media4.html 

Try this as a sample:

"Villainy is, in essence, behavior inspired by values which are inscrutable, aversive or repugnant to us in our more civilized moments of reflection. We console ourselves with the thought that villains are twisted aliens. Consequently, what makes a villain truly interesting is to glimpse his or her non-alien, distinctly human rationalization of these values, much as Gordon Gekko's terse philosophizing provided in Wall Street. But, was Gekko a villain to Gekko?"

From Brenna Lyons
Villains have to be three-dimensional. They can't be all bad just because they can. That's boring and it lacks focus and reason. There have to be reasons, and I personally like villains that aren't all bad. I like villains that have a tortured past or became villains in unlikely ways. It's fun to write villains who could be wearing the white hats when described by the right people. I like villains that have a certain appeal, maybe in a dark, sadistic sort of way, but appeal. If you have a syndicate, why not have them do things with a flourish? That helps. Why not have a couple of central characters, even if not seen directly, that add color to the mix?

From Amanda Earl
I like villains that do the unexpected, that make ordinary things seem evil. I haven't written villains myself much. If I did, I'd have them drink tea.

Wikipedia has a great entry on villains: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villain 

From G. Gregory
Making the syndicate the villain is a challenge, but if you can personify the organization with something sinister or villainous, you can pull it off. Keep in mind, some of the most villainous never actually do anything vile...they have someone do it for them. Maybe you can write in something inanimate to personify membership or collusion...like a symbolic tattoo that is burned into the neck of every member. Just the sight of it means violence and/or whatever type of villainy is characteristic of this syndicate. 

Sometimes a villain is only someone to hate, but there is an underlying evil that is embodied in an association or belief...a religion maybe. With a syndicate you will have to define your "evil" in the sense of belief or values that are taken as gossip by membership. Actions may be the personification of evil and the embedded reaction to that evil is...

"What do you expect? He's a member of the syndicate. They're all animals - even to each other."

From The Gray Mouser
Motivation is the key for my villains. Best advice I ever got for writing an effective baddie came from a member of my reviewing team after reading through an earlier version of my first book: "We need to know more about why he's doing all this. The reader needs to know who pissed in Jar'nell's Froot Loops." (Jar'nell being the villain, of course.)

My own Axis of Evil currently includes a wizard, a twisted scientist and a hostile alien race. Best all-time villain for me, however, would have to be Thanos of Titan (C) Marvel Comics Group). Ol' purple puss was capable of destruction on a cosmic scale but was not above siding with the angels if it fit into his overall schemes.

Chaotic evil. Gotta love it.

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