How to Make Your Villain Unforgettable

     
     On Friday I watched Unbreakable by M. Night Shyamalan, and I was totally blown away by the whole film.

      I am a huge fan of M. Night Shyamalan, I love how he creates such gripping plot-lines, and his plot twists are always astonishing and well thought out. I have never been able to correctly guess one of his plot twists, they always completely catch me by surprise.

    BUT, Unbreakable made me speechless.

     The character development was exceptional.

     The storyline was awesome.

     And the plot twist, I can't even begin to describe how brilliant it was.

      But what struck me most was the main villain. I loved the villain, so much that this one will be unforgettable for me.

     And that made me start to think, What makes a villain unforgettable?

     1. An authentic backstory. Where does your villain come from? What emotion will their story stir inside of the people who hear or read about it? Fear? Anger? Hate? Sympathy? You don't have to put the entire backstory into your book, but knowing it will help you as the writer to put hints of your villain's past here and there, making them more genuine, and in some cases, terrifying.

     2. A goal. Too often I read about villains in YA who are evil just to be evil. But making your villain have a goal will make the reader feel more than one emotion about them, it will literally tear them to shreds on the inside, and since writers are cruel creatures, that is your goal. In Unbreakable, the villain reveals their goal at the very end, making your heart go out to them, “The scariest thing in life is not knowing why you're here.” In this case the villain's goal was finding their identity.

      3. A personality. Once again, back to the cliché of villains simply being evil. Everyone is passionate about something, some people are just better about hiding it than others. Honestly, one of these days I want to read a book based off of one of the villains in Rapunzel that liked baking cupcakes! I can see it now, “AHA! I have caught you, hero, prepare to die!!!”

The faint sound of an alarm going off in the distance rings through the air, the villain shifts, hanging the struggling hero by his shirt to a tree limb. “Right after I get my cupcakes out of the oven, excuse me.”

      I would totally buy that book. XD

       4. Make them cunning. Back to Unbreakable, in the movie there is another amazing quote that relates to villains, “The villains that fight using only brute force aren't the hero's real enemy, the hero's real rival is the smart one, the one with the brains.” So true. Who doesn't love a good cat and mouse game?

       5. Make them stand out. What makes your bad guy different than the hum-drum thugs, villains with corny capes, and scoundrels with booming laughs? Is it something they wear? Maybe they have their own little catch-phrase? Pick something that makes them different from the normal “evil one” mold, it doesn't have to be big, it can be as small. Just give them something that is their own.  
       Example: President Snow from the Hunger Games stands out with the fact that he loves white roses, and the reason why is revealed later in the plot.

        So that's all I have! Go watch Unbreakable, it's really a good film for writers to watch, especially if you're writing a villain. I wouldn't recommend it for family night, since it does have some more grownup themes, because the hero is fighting against modern day evil (sex traffickers, murders, etc.) And more intense fight scenes.

         But it's actually one of M. Night Shyamalan's cleanest works. The others have a lot of language and more suggestive scenes, but I ignore that because the of the amazing storylines and plot twists.

         I didn't notice any language in this one, but it's not like I was listening for it.
         Speaking of language and swear words, I will be doing a post on Rebellious Writing on September 16th, explaining why I don't like it in YA, so go follow us HERE or go to www.rebelliouswriting.com, so you don't miss that... *cough* PLUG *cough, cough*

       So, yeah. You should watch it and take notes on the character development. And then you need to come back here and contact me, so we can talk about it! XD

Have you seen Unbreakable by M. Night Shyamalan?

Do you have any tips for creating unforgettable villains??

Happy Writing,