Making Your Villain More Evil

Hi ya'll! Today on the blog I am going to be sharing with you some ways to make your villain even more evil. Since I have struggled with this one myself, I thought I could let you in on some of the things I've learned during my research.
 If you are a member of any writing group, ask them for advice on how to get the perfect amount of evil from your bad guy. They may have some great tips for you, like this one from author Carley Fisher:
           For my villains, I like to make them seem like normal people, people who wouldn't cause immediate fear, but then they commit heinous acts. Lure the victims in and then unleash the scary.

You can also read about serial killers and criminals to get an idea of what an evil character should be like. For instance Jack The Ripper, Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, you could search them up and see what crimes they committed. See if you can find the reasons behind the horrific acts they committed.

You need to make your character seem like any other normal person you write about. Even though you are creating a sadistic person, he is still human. You want your character to have at least one lovable trait that will make your readers empathize with them, even if they are so evil that they would make Hannibal Lecter look like a soft, fuzzy kitty.
 How can you do this? Simple, ask yourself what made him like this? What caused him to be the way he is? Abuse from someone in his past?Did someone betray his trust? What does your antagonist fear most? Create a backstory for your villain.
Some antagonists are almost mirror images of the hero. They both have the same gifts that they use in entirely different ways. Or they can be complete opposites. Then there are your antagonists who are pure manifestations of evil. The Joker is the type of character a reader can love to hate.
With my first novel, I have struggled with making my villain more evil. I do feel that he is bad in some ways. He has been in and out of trouble with the law since a young age. He even committed some very heinous acts as a child. Still, I feel there is something else missing. I feel that he's not "bad"enough". As I go through and reread the chapters where this character is doing his so called criminal activity, I think to myself... what else has he done? Was there a reason behind his doing this certain act of violence?And what made him want to be evil in the first place?
As I said before, writing groups are a great place to get help with this problem. You can also use Google or Pinterest, or maybe you can talk to police officers or judges. You could even binge watch shows like Criminal Minds or Law and Order. The possibilities are endless when it comes to ways to help figure out your bad guy.
 I hope you have found this post to be helpful. Keep creating those villains and happy writing!!! Until next time... LATER DAYS!!!!!