What advice would you give writers on creating realistic and memorable villains?

Deidre Knight

Ah, the villain you want to see transform, whether he does or not—definitely my favorite type of character. I would say giving the villain one aspect that makes them seem truly human. Something that, however small, makes the reader want to root for them—if only for a moment. It’s Hannibal Lecter defending Clarice’s honor to Miggs in Silence of the Lambs (even if he goes about it in a horrible fashion). In The Man in the High Castle, it’s Obergruppenführer Smith, a Nazi, having such tender compassion toward his son’s illness. As a reader and viewer, I want my villains to come with a healthy dose of me cheering, “Oh, please transform! You know you can do it!” I definitely don’t want them to be one-dimensionally bad, vile, or evil.

Lucienne Diver

It’s important to make your villains as multi-dimensional as your heroes. If you develop them the same way as your protagonists—know their backstories, their goals, their strengths and flaws, and what they truly value—then they’ll be well-fleshed out, convincing, and far more interesting than some garden-variety evil that’s solely after power or money or creating chaos.

Nephele Tempest

I think the key to writing a good villain is remembering that a villain is the hero of their own story. No one actually believes that they themselves are evil; they have reasons for doing what they’re doing, and they feel perfectly justified. When they start spouting plans of world domination and cackling over their evil plans, that’s when you end up with cookie-cutter bad guys that no one quite believes. 

Melissa Jeglinski

A memorable villain, for me, is often one who is a surprise. Their prior actions may have led me—and the protagonist—to believe they were a friend or advocate. Not that it should be a huge surprise that totally blindsides the reader, but I enjoy the gradual realization that they are not who we thought they were. This also usually leads to them being more multi-dimensional, a character I’ve had a chance to know and maybe even empathize with.

Janna Bonikowski

A villain should have defined goals and motivations just like the protagonist of any story—they can’t simply be “evil,” or the character will be flat and boring. And a villain with motivations a reader can sympathize with is much more interesting!

 

 Tragen Moss

Facebook

Tragen Moss writes gay romance, eats cake, and drinks coffee. A lot of coffee. A lot of cake. A lot of kissing.

Reese Ryan

Website  Twitter  Facebook

Reese Ryan writes fiction filled with complex characters, sexy banter, a dash of humor, loads of family drama and an unexpected twist. Author of more than seven romances, panelist at the 2017 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, and a nominee for the 2017 Donna Hill Breakout Author award, she's an advocate for the romance genre and diversity in fiction.

 

TJ Klune

Website  Twitter  Facebook

Winner of the Lambda Literary Award, bestselling author Travis Klune writes queer fiction full-time from his home in Virginia.

 

 

Victoria Burgess

Website  Facebook

Victoria Burgess is a two-time RITA nominee whose work has consistently earned a coveted Romantic Times “Top Pick.” She loves witty dialogue, razor sharp plot twists, and happy endings--and is determined to provide her readers all three. Victoria lives with her family in a small town in southern Vermont. 

Bryan Kozlowski

Bryan Kozlowski is a lover of “lit wit” – bringing the wisdom of classic literature into everyday life. From Charles Dickens to children’s cookbooks, his books celebrate the modern magic of living literarily.