Creating a Better Villain

Because every story needs to have a good villain if it is to succeed (at least if the story does, in fact, have a true villain, rather than simply some outside force acting upon the protagonist). I apologize to all my female friends; I'm going to use 'he' a lot, though I realize that villains can always be female.

1) Make him interesting. While the classic "want to destroy the world" villain is great, there needs to be more to him. He can't simply want to destroy the world without a plan, can he?

2) His appearance needs to be something that fits him. If he's a fully-evil character, don't be giving him pink roses on his armor or anything. Unless it's a humorous story your writing. If he has inner conflict, make that show in his outward appearance. You have to be good at describing people, since your reader needs to be able to actually see him through your words.

3) Give him a back story. While this plays into the interesting part, it is also important enough to be a separate need. Nobody likes bland villains anymore; villains without some kind of backstory are simply boring, and no one will want to read a story with a boring villain, will they? Even if the backstory is simply that the villain is a demon from Hell bent on wiping out mankind, at least there's something there to build off of.

4) Give him minions. Every good villain has minions, or at least someone who is helping him out. This makes it so that the villain at least has some people who follow his cause, and make it that much harder for the protagonist to defeat him.

5) Don't make him ridiculous. Lately novels and movies focus on making villains so dark that they're unbelievable, and that detracts from the story. Keep your villain evil enough so that he fits within the realm of your story (even if that story is not on Earth or anything).

If you have any more ideas or comments, feel free to respond! =)

What about having 2 antagonists or villains who at first work together, but then begin to turn against each other after the protagonist escapes? One of the characters isn't necessarily evil, just devious and crafty while thinking that he is in control of everything, because he has a controlling nature. The second villain is actually the evil one, but he pretends to be subordinate to the first villain to earn his trust, but then he decides he no longer needs the first villain's help and takes full control, striking down the first villain.

Stainqueen wrote:

What about having 2 antagonists or villains who at first work together, but then begin to turn against each other after the protagonist escapes? One of the characters isn't necessarily evil, just devious and crafty while thinking that he is in control of everything, because he has a controlling nature. The second villain is actually the evil one, but he pretends to be subordinate to the first villain to earn his trust, but then he decides he no longer needs the first villain's help and takes full control, striking down the first villain.

That sounds a little classic, but it works if you plan it correctly. I'd love to comment more right now, but I can't think of anything right now.