Writing a good villain that is unforgettable

 In this post I will be sharing my opinions about my experience of writing a good villain a.k.a the antagonist in a story or a novel. 

I must admit - I love a good villain. It simply gives a story an edge.

I believe that the same effort devoted to writing the hero should be devoted to writing a villain. What I despise most is a lazy, card board cut out villain when the whole story has been going so well before.  A good villain lift up the story, gives the hero a challenge and give us a reason to root for somebody.

Furthermore, a villain doesn't have to be a physical person. It could be a force of nature, circumstances or unexplained phenomenon, but a villain must be compelling. 

⭐Make your villains have a cause other than serve as a plot device. A fully fleshed out villain should have a cause to behave the way they're behaving even though the cause might not seem rational to the readers or even the author themselves. 

⭐Make them sympathetic but at the same time reminds us why they're the bad guy. No one is truly all bad and likewise no one is truly all good. Show the flashes of the good side of the villain but at the same time don't forget to show their bad side. This will make the evil things they do even more unsettling because the villain could be a good friend, neighbour or even us gone bad. In other words, make the villain relatable 

⭐Make them come alive by giving them a backstory. What I don't mean is by writing out the whole backstory in your novel as this might be distracting from the story and the hero's journey, but you can give a hint about how they come to be a villain. Perhaps they had a bad childhood or someone did them wrong or it could be due to a series of inciting events.

I hope this posts thought you to think about your villains in your story and how to make them even more realistic.