Time for take two today for the A to Z Challenge! This post is brought to you by the letter 'V'!
I have a confession to make – I'm one of those people who absolutely loves villains. I love reading about them in books, and watching them in films. Here's a snapshot of some of my favourite villains below:
If a story has a good villain in it, I'm sold.
When done well, I feel like villains can really bring out both the good and bad sides of a protagonist. They're there to challenge them and to force them to make decisions that they wouldn't make under normal circumstances; they push the main characters in ways that may not always be comfortable, but that's integral to the MC's journey. In short, they are imperative to any story.
The only thing that I don't like is flat villains. Villains that spell out their plan to the MC for no good reason, except to inform the reader of said plans. Or villains that are meant to be subtle/a plot twist (e.g. the bad guy being the MC's best friend or something) that are actually completely obvious. Or villains that don't do anything 'villainy' at all, and instead just twirl their moustaches and laugh evilly. To me, the very best villains are the ones that you know are evil/fundamentally flawed, and yet, you end up loving them anyway (Game of Thrones anyone??).
I have so much fun with my villains – to be honest, I love writing them more than my good guys. I love exploring their motivations, and trying to understand why they do the things they do. I love making them a challenge for my MC's to figure out. I love to hate them!...although, quite often, I end up just loving them instead ;).
Do you enjoy writing about villains? Why/why not? What kind of villain do you like best? Who's your favourite villain of all-time?
