3 Tips How to Write Lovable Villains
Most readers are tired of the same typical type of villain. He looks bad, smells bad, feels bad, is pure evil, and probably has horns and a pitchfork. But how do we write more lovable villains?
Readers want a villain that is hard to find. One that hides in plain sight. They want a villain that they can kind of like and not feel bad about liking.
They want the anti-hero.
They are looking for a villain that is against the “hero,” but doesn’t always do the wrong thing.
Sometimes the villain does the right thing. Sometimes they team up with the hero against a greater evil.
Sometimes they team up with other heroes against another “hero.”
The villain character arc is expanding and as writers, we need to expand with it. Stories are more complicated than they used to be.
It is no longer the shining knight coming to save the damsel in distress.
Now it is the ogre coming to save the other ogre or the two brothers, one mischevious and one arrogant teaming up to try to stop a sociopathic tyrant trying to wipe out half the universe. Now it is the alien that eats people but doesn’t want to see all of humanity destroyed, he just wants to be free to do what he wants when he wants and oh yeah, he still wants to eat people, but just the bad ones for now…
These are the types of villains that readers and audiences are falling for these days and as writers and screenwriters we have the opportunities to give this generation some really interesting complicated villain that people can fall in love with.
Not because they are perfect, but because they are not perfect.
Let’s dive in
# 1 Our lovable villain should be misunderstood.
You could go the route of writing a villain that is truly misunderstood. A misunderstood villain is someone that was hurt deeply in their past and they don’t even know for themselves why they feel and act the way they do, but for whatever reason, they do bad things out of a sense of victimization.
In other words, they were the first victim.
Think of a child being kept in a cage for the first 13 years of their life. This is a horrific situation but is a good backstory for a villain that you want your readers to feel bad for. They lose the ability to be totally upset with their behavior and they start to wonder the age-old question, “is it really their fault?” “I mean look at the tragedy that befell them. They didn’t have any control over that. They need help, not some guy with a hammer smacking them in the face.”
But even a tragic back story won’t make a villain readers love we have to take it further. A tragic backstory will make them feel bad for the villain, it may even make them feel like rooting for them or wanting to help them but it won’t make most audiences fall for them.
# 2 They’re bad to the bone.
Readers can really start to enjoy a villain that’s bad but in a unique and exciting way. More of a rebel with a cause than just an evil person.
When spiderman went rogue for a short period of time, wearing the black venom suit they tried to write him, cool, and emo, and bad.
It came across a little humorous and easy to, make fun of but I understood where they were going with it.
They wanted him to be cool to be a rebel.
They wanted him to do what he wanted when he wanted because he wanted to.
Readers like that idea, of being independent and being able to go anywhere and do anything thing and being able to “stick it to the man!”
They don’t want to be told when to get up and how long they have to stay and that they have to do “this” and they have to do “that.” They want to be free.
So make a villain that is “free” the way they want to be free and they will inevitably like that villain.
Great example: Robin Hood.
Any vigilante will do wonders towards having a character that is part villainous and that your readers will be curious about and drawn to but robin hood rings out past the punisher and batman. Robin hood stole from the rich and gave tom the poor. He didn’t have a boss and would roam the woods will his gang of “rebels” and hide out from “the man” the rich guy in the big tower and he would occasionally take a bunch of money from him and give it to the starving, lowly, and destitute.
Robin hood could, for the most part, do what he wanted when he wanted and people are attracted to that, but even more than that, He was a rebel with a cause.
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# 3 Readers Love a villain with a cause.
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Our readers love to find a cause they feel like they can support and get behind. Some causes are little “I really need to get a good grade on this test.” And some causes are big, “Smaller Government means more freedom for the citizens of the nation.”
Whatever the cause may be if you can find a good one to give to your villain, people will want to rally behind that villain and they may just secretly want them to get away with it.
A great example is Ocean’s 11. This band of thieves gets together to pull off one of the biggest casino heists in history. They want to do it against a greedy really really REALLY RICH guy.
If you think about it the rich guy doesn’t seem all that bad, so why do we find ourselves rooting for the criminals?
“Because, in the end, the house always wins.”
“Yeah!” we say from across the table. “The house does always end up winning! It must be rigged! We should do something about that! Danny should rob him! Show him that the way he’s doing business is unfair and we the people think so and something should be done about it.”
Give us a cause and we’ll jump to it.
But there is more to it than just that right?
What are some other reasons we look up to this team of criminal masterminds?
- They are mostly attractive (Having George Clooney and Brad Pitt helps)
- They are funny.
- They are nice.
- They seem like overall normal good guys in real life (besides the constant lying and stealing)
- We enjoy seeing inside the heist from the thieves’ perspective, because how else would we know (You ever knock down a casino?)
- Also, there’s great music and everyone knows great music is great.
So there you have it. Here are just a few ideas tom hopefully spark some ideas for you as you try to write the more loveable villain in your craft.
Let me know if you liked this read and if you are looking for more advice on creating more loveable villains. Depending on what people say, maybe we’ll continue this post even further and deeper into the loveable villainess mastermind.
I hope this helps! Now get out there and write something!
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3 Tips How to Write Lovable Villains
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Excellent advice! I’m the author of the ATOMICAS Series and I took a “bad guy” from chapter one that caused lots of destruction, but for reasons that would make most of us go Hmmm.
And I have him interacting with the leader of the Mighty Manhattans to beat one of the bad guys in the third book. There is humor that plays out in the interactions in battle. The leader, Captain Diamond, being a straight, serious personality. And the Steam Roller having a biting wit tinged with slight animosity for the automakers.
Let me share an example so hopefully, everyone gets the idea:
“The BATTLETAUR busted through the wall and saw his quarry. The Steam Roller had cobbled a variety of construction equipment into a stand up clunking robot.
“Are you going to use that?” The Steam Roller asks, never taking his eyes off the BATTLETAUR.
“Use what?” Captain Diamond looked around.
“Your face.” The Steam Roller scooped him up by the legs. Cobalt blue cape cracking through the wind as the Steam Roller used him as an indestructible hammerhead on the excavator boom. For the first time ever, the BATTLETAUR’s helmet had a dent in it.”
This was great to get your experienced take on writing good/bad guys. Thank you!
That’s great Doug. Thanks for sharing your humor and ideas with us in live-action :). And thank you, I’m glad you found this post helpful!