Tag: villains

Categories
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Excuse me, Mr. Bad Guy. Why?

mystery suspense thriller

There’s nothing better than a creepy villain.

A deranged killer on the loose terrorizing your hero and heroine.

A madman who won’t back off.

A serial killer stalking his next victim.

Take your pick. The bad guy (or girl) can make or break a story. The antagonist isn’t a prop but a main character whose development is often overlooked.

Villains are fun to write. Yet, as writers, we tend to focus on the protagonists, creating elaborate backstories for our beloved couple. However, by doing so, we miss an important detail while we think up new ways to threaten our hero or heroine. We painstakingly figure out the goal, motivation, and conflict, or maybe the wound, lie, and fear of our main characters, but we miss the ever so important reason why our villain does what he or she does.

Does your villain have a backstory explaining the reason he or she has become a killer? We cannot forget to focus on the why.

The serial killer was neglected by his mother, and now he hunts and kills women he perceives to neglect their children. He transfers his feelings to these women to exact revenge on his mother.

Or the arsonist’s business partner finds out he’s dealing drugs through their company. He kills his partner and sets fire to cover up the crime and destroy the body. The hero or heroine unknowingly sees the bad guy, causing the arsonist to eliminate the witness.

Maybe the stalker was rejected by his high school sweetheart, and he is determined to exert power over any woman that reminds him of his first love.

Don’t shortchange your villain. Give him or her a solid backstory. And in the process of discovering the why, don’t forget to create weaknesses or vulnerabilities in the villain. By doing so, we can make the bad guy or girl human in the reader’s eye. This allows your reader to connect with your killer in a love/hate relationship or to feel sorry for the poor chump who’s out to wreak havoc on your hero and heroine.

So, go ahead, interview your bad guy. Discover your villain’s secret from his or her past? Find out what makes him tick. Make him or her human.

Remember, villains, are important people too.

What method do you use to create a villain that your readers love to hate?

Sami Abrams grew up hating to read. It wasn’t until her 30’s that she found authors that captured her attention. Now, most evenings you can find her engrossed in a Romantic Suspense. In her opinion, a crime and a little romance is the recipe for a great story.

Sami has finaled 15 times in writing contests, including receiving first place in American Christian Fiction Writer’s Genesis Contest in 2019 and Faith Hope and Love’s Touched By Love Awards in 2018. She lives in Northern California, but she will always be a Kansas girl at heart. She has a love of sports, family, and travel. However, a cabin at Lake Tahoe writing her next story is definitely at the top of her list.

Visit Sami at:

Categories
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Identity Crisis

mystery suspense thriller

Let’s talk villains. One of my favorite topics!

The creeper. The serial killer. The diabolical mastermind. The psychotic killer. And villains with a skewed sense of justice.

Does your bad guy (or girl) really know who he or she is?

Thanks to a friend’s advice, I have a list of ways that my antagonist can attempt to kill my hero or heroine. I simply go down the list and pick my favorites for that story. Yes, I am that devious. LOL! However, I’ve learned that I can’t pick at random. I must make thoughtful choices.

Whether you love them or hate them, villains must be true to who you’ve created them to be. Do you know who they are and what they want?

Not long ago, I received feedback from an editor. She liked the overall plot of the story and my writing, but my villain had issues. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I had more to fix then just my bad guy. However, the villain, he’s the one who had an identity crisis. I soon discovered what I had done. I’d chosen a villain, even mapped out what he wanted, but I hadn’t put myself in his head.

When writing your antagonist, think like the character you’ve created. If he’s a serial killer that strangles his victims, is he suddenly going to shoot someone? If he is trying to kill a witness, is he going to ransack the victim’s home when he or she isn’t there?

Stay true to the personality and motivation of your antagonist.

Crawl into your villain’s head. Yes, it can be a creepy place. But ask yourself, how would I eliminate my prey? Put yourself in his shoes.

I’m an arsonist. I’m going to burn down buildings, not run someone off the road and shoot at them.

I’m a serial killer who’s a sniper. I’m going to shoot my victims from a distance, not sneak into their home and attempt to strangle them.

I poison people. I might track my victim’s movements so I can sneak poison into their water bottle at the gym, or coffee at work, etc. But I’m not going to hit my hero or heroine over the head with a lead pipe.

Don’t let your antagonist have an identity crisis. Always make the crime match your villain.

What type of villain is your favorite? And how do you keep him or her from having an identity crisis?

Sami Abrams grew up hating to read. It wasn’t until her 30’s that she found authors that captured her attention. Now, most evenings you can find her engrossed in a Romantic Suspense. In her opinion, a crime and a little romance is the recipe for a great story.

Sami has finaled 15 times in writing contests, including receiving first place in American Christian Fiction Writer’s Genesis Contest in 2019 and Faith Hope and Love’s Touched By Love Awards in 2018. She lives in Northern California, but she will always be a Kansas girl at heart. She has a love of sports, family, and travel. However, a cabin at Lake Tahoe writing her next story is definitely at the top of her list.

Visit Sami at:

Website:  Samiaabrams.com

Facebook Author page:  samiaabrams

Twitter: @samiaabrams

Instagram: samiaabrams 

Categories
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Creating Believeable Villains

mystery suspense thriller

What are the trademarks of a villain?

Do they have dark, piercing eyes, a snarly grin, crooked-yellowed teeth, knobby fingers, an evil laugh? Or is there more to it than that? The antagonist can be the hardest character to write but also the most fun. How can we be successful at it? Here are some tips I’ve learned along the way.

Make them appear human – nobody likes a pure evil villain. They need to be likable or they fall flat. Give them a redeeming quality. Maybe we even want to cheer for them. Think Hannibal Lector or the Blacklist’s Raymond Reddington. Yes, they are evil but still have amiable qualities. We find ourselves applauding them.

Give them a clear motivation for their actions – we need to know why they’re doing their evil deeds. Their motives need to feel fair and just in their minds. Start with the basic reasons for their crime. Passion, greed, jealousy, but give it an added kick. Let’s place ourselves in their shoes. What makes them tick? Why do they think the way the do? In one of my stories the antagonist has a daughter who needs constant medical care for her deadly condition, so he justifies his actions to get the money to provide her with the necessary attention. This gives the reader empathy for the antagonist.

Give them flaws – we can’t make the villain’s life too easy. They need to work hard at being bad. Keep them in constant conflict, making things more difficult for them as the plot unfolds. Maybe they’re OCD and that keeps them from getting their hands dirty at a crime scene. Perhaps they’re disabled and struggle with getting around. Whatever the flaw, make it realistic.

Hide them in plain sight – don’t make the villain a klutzy moron. That robs the reader and makes them angry. We want to keep them guessing and surprised at the end of the story. Also, we can’t make the antagonist a minor character. This is cheating and doesn’t satisfy the plot. Give subtle clues as to who the criminal is, but make them the boy next door or the female everyone likes. This will give our stories plausibility.

Give your villain backstory – I like to do a full character sketch on the antagonist just like I do for my protagonist. Don’t cheat them in the development stage of your story. Get to know them. Sit down with them for coffee and ask some poignant questions. What are their dislikes? Loves? What is their deepest fear? What were they doing at the age of fifteen? We need to know them inside and out in order to make them come alive.

Fit their behavior appropriately – plant seeds along the way so when they commit a crime it doesn’t come out in left field. For example, if your villain is about to strangle someone give him big hands. Perhaps he works out to pump up his muscles. Or if he’s building a bomb, give him a military background or one in science. Remember, it needs to be realistic.

Creating villains can be fun. Study your favorite and then design yours to be believable and one that will keep your reader turning the pages!

 

Darlene L. Turner writes romantic suspense and won the 2017 Genesis award in the Romantic suspense category and was a 2018 finalist. She was a finalist in the 2017 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense contest and won in 2016 (Inspirational Unpublished). She’s represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

Visit Darlene at:

Website: www.darlenelturner.com where she believes there’s suspense beyond borders

Facebook: Darlene L. Turner