Villains are meant to be scary. I don’t know about you, but I’m finding them increasingly weak in popular culture. So here are 6 tactics to help you create scary villains.
I first watched the Exorcist when I was about 9, I don’t know whether it was the projectile green vomit or badly done makeup, but I wasn’t impressed. If I’d watched it for the first time now, it might be a little different. I was skeptical about everything back then. These days I’m only skeptical about some things because I know there really are things that go bump in the night. Scary movies, books or stories, have a bigger effect on me now—yes, I leave lights on, scan rooms and ceilings and ensure there’s a hockey stick within reaching distance!
I’m my own worst enemy and can never please myself. I started this series because I wasn’t happy with my villain or the villains in popular culture, guess what, I’m still not. So I started investigating what makes a really scary bad guy. This post aims to identify what sets apart your Lemony Snicket from your Michael Myers (Halloween).
I’ve already talked through 6 Simple Steps to Superbad Villains and morals, motives and positive traits for your villains. These things still stand and are really key to creating a truly scary villain. A while back I asked you who your favorite villains were and you listed loads, and some particularly scary ones too:
Lee Harvey Oswald, Vergil from DmC: Devil May Cry, Bellatrix Lestrange, Professor Umbridge, Annie Wilkes, Norman Bates from Psych, Cruella de Vil, Queen Jadis, the Witch from the Chronicles of Narnia, Sauron from Lord of the Rings, Child Snatcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Professor Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes, Nurse Ratched, Jack Torrance (The Shining).
But what is it that makes them really scary? Lots of the stories these characters come from were made into films, and I think there is something we can learn from that. Here are the six things I’ve learned about creating really scary villains:
6 Terror Tactics For Really Scary Villains: Setting, Setting, Setting
One thing I failed to consider when thinking about my villain was what else other than the character themselves contributed to making them super scary. Films have the ability to add music: the creaking of a door, the vibrato on a particularly high note as the character pushes open a door into a darkly lit corridor… oh wait a minute, we writers can do that shit too!
Take the photo right. It’s dark anyway. Put yourself in there, and you’re immediately drawn to the rusted machinery that still looks like it works. It’s positioned just close enough to the light, you know it’s important, it can be used, but it’s obscure enough you don’t quite know what it’s used for… What’s worse than knowing something is awful, but not knowing why? If there was a small splatter of blood slowly dripping down the chair, and another spot on the machine it would just finish the setting off. It tells you the blood is fresh, that someone is wounded, but not dead because there’s not enough blood. It also tells you the machine is involved—and this room is a torture room.
I said ‘splatter’ on purpose because too much blood, and you remove the anticipation, tension, and mystery. Giving a hint of horror, a tiny clue to the atrocities that await you without slamming it in your reader’s face like a knife laid in a whopping pool of blood does so much more for building terror in readers (and your character).
What else can you do to your setting? Think about Pathetic Fallacy (a kind of personification of the weather/nature).
Really Scary Villains: 2 and 3—Credibility & Believability
Credibility leads to believability. Credibility is the quality of being trusted and believed in. Having credible villains means we will believe in whatever scary ‘thing’ it is they are doing. But how do you create credibility?
Use core value: Even though they are a villain they will still have core values— even if that means they are warped and evil. Sticking to core values also means you will be consistent which builds character. It also means your villain has a reason to fight—they will defend their values to the death just as much as your hero will—it just happens that they are opposing each other.
Integrity: Although integrity is about doing the right things for the right reasons if your villain has core values even if they seem illogical—and he fights for them—then he has integrity. A villain fighting with integrity and thinking they what they are doing is right, and for the right reasons is scary. Especially if what they are doing is horrific like a mass genocide or whatever. They will be able to give reasoned, logical explanations for why they are doing what they are doing, and reason and logic mean that occasionally you will believe what they are doing is right too!
Authenticity: Your villain needs to do exactly what they say they are going to do. Especially if that means torturing your main character or killing off a couple of major minor, or minor minor characters. Without following through on their convictions, they become weak and flaky.
Expertise: Having an intelligent villain with expertise in a particular area means they know more than you do and especially more than your main character—this makes them unbeatable—but i’ll cover this later. It also means they can think of new cruel and unusual ways to defeat your protagonist.
There is one more aspect to this, believability can come from playing on fears. I always think some of the things that are the scariest, are those that are the closest to reality, the ones that could almost be true. Take Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. When the film was new, and the child catcher first appeared, it was so close to reality in that there are child kidnappers that it made it scarier. Using concepts that could be true, or things that are just plain wrong, like torturing or hurting children (amongst other topics) brings a frightening element to stories, especially if the Villain can make reasoned arguments as to why they are right.
Really Scary Villains: 4 and 5 Transparency, Clarity, and Secrets
Saying transparency, clarity and secrets sounds like a contradiction. But it’s not. A villain needs to be transparent over their goals and be able to articulate them—verbally or otherwise—with absolute clarity. There is nothing scarier than a villain who is absolutely crystal clear on the consequences of crossing them or, how they are going to exact their revenge on you. But this doesn’t have to just come from spoken words. It might be done through body language or prior actions. Either way, you need to make your reader know the shit is about to hit the fan – even if you just allude to it. Villains need secrets. They need deadly, evil, twisted secrets. To keep the villain credible, the reader and/or the protagonist need to know the villain has secrets, but not what they are. And of course, these secrets need to foil the heroes plans.
Really Scary Villains: 6. Make them Unbeatable
Everyone loves an underdog. Sometimes your hero needs to be the underdog. Really scary villains appear completely unbeatable. They are too intelligent, too many steps ahead with more resources at their disposal than the protagonist. Cut all the heroes options off, pull away all the resources they need. Make life look completely hopeless, and your villain will look even scarier.
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If you liked this post, why not get even more awesome tips in the book 13 Steps To Evil – How to Craft Superbad Villains
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Amazon Book Blurb:
Your hero is not the most important character in your book. Your villain is.
Are you fed up of drowning in two-dimensional villains? Frustrated with creating clichés? And failing to get your reader to root for your villain?
In 13 Steps to Evil, you’ll discover:
+ How to develop a villain’s mindset
+ A step-by-step guide to creating your villain from the ground up
+ Why getting to the core of a villain’s personality is essential to make them credible
+ What pitfalls and clichés to avoid as well as the tropes your story needs
Finally, there is a comprehensive writing guide to help you create superbad villains. Whether you’re just starting out or are a seasoned writer, this book will help power up your bad guy and give them that extra edge.
These lessons will help you master and control your villainous minions, navigate and gain the perfect balance of good and evil, as well as strengthening your villain to give your story the tension and punch it needs.
If you like dark humor, learning through examples and want to create the best villains you can, then you’ll love Sacha Black’s guide to crafting superbad villains. Read 13 Steps to Evil today and start creating kick-ass villains.
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Good advice! I hope I’ve ticked all the boxes. Villains are great fun to write!
Thanks Grace, and thank you for taking the time to read my post 🙂 p.s. I completely agree.
What a brilliant post, Sacha! I’m definitely gonna re-read this again in relation to my next book! Really well thought out and clarified… I get the feeling your villain is gonna be truly terrifying!
aww shucks thanks Ali. haha…. well I hope he’s a credible and believable villain at least! :p
Fantastic post! I’m off to revise my WIP Big Bad…
Thanks Barb 🙂 hope it helps 🙂
Excellent post. Love that last one too since I’ve read so many recent stories with unbeatable heroes. Always preferred it the other way around.
I completely agree Charles, I don’t understand how having an unbeatable hero builds any tension? Thanks for reading 🙂
Even if it isn’t a physical weakness, you need to put something in there. Like a mental weakness or the risk of them failing a loved one.
agreed – no depth otherwise – its unrealistic.
When it comes to the truly terrifying, let the readers fill in the gaps. Only show either the consequences of what’s happened or describe it through the emotions of those affected. Don’t give detail, give sensation. What a person imagines is often far worse more terrifying than what a writer can convey with words.
Could not agree with you more Dylan – I think that’s what I was alluding to when I used the room picture – I just didn’t put it as eloquently as you just did!! lol. I’m tutting myself now! Hows your editing process going?
Sorry, Sacha. I’m not into horror or terror! You lost me when you said you watched the “Exorcist” at 9!! I have not watched, and will not watch, it. I read the book when I was pregnant with my first. Bad mistake. It really gave me the heebie jeebies! I choose to not go down those dark alleys into scary territories. Nightmares are bad enough for me! 🙂
Nor am I Norah – But I was trying to find tricks to make my villain (a YA/NA villain) credible and scary! I probably over egged the title a smidgen! :p Can’t believe you read the book… I imagine it is SOOOOO much scarier :s
I can’t compare. Never saw the movie! Never will! 🙂
Great advice! Villains are so important to the story so we need to be able to give them extra limelight.
Thanks Rachel 🙂 Hope NaNo is going well for you
It is, thanks! Did you participate this month?
Alas not. I will for November I think. But I took a break from my novel this month.
Breaks are always good. 🙂 I’m taking a break from George and writing a different novel. I needed a break from George, but couldn’t pass up the opportunity to do NaNo, lol.
Can’t cope with scary. Poltergeist even made watching TV a problem. So writing a really scary piece would be like having a cheese binge after only 4 hours sleep. Guaranteed nightmares. I’m sure this is great but it’s difficult to read from behind the sofa.
lol… I want to take the mick here…. but I’ll play nice seeing as you’re helping me out on the committee!
Hmm, why am I suspicious of *nice* Sacha?! Thank you anyway!!
Excellent post. Creating suspense in setting is something that I haven’t given as much thought to. Thanks for the advice.
Thank you 🙂 I really appreciate that. Glad you liked the post and hope it was helpful 🙂
For scary, setting and secrets are so important. (Shiver…the mind can imaging all sorts of horrors – encourage that.)
lol, precisely! Thank you for reading, and agreeing more to the point!!
#2 and #3–those are at the the top of my list.
couldn’t agree more – you know I actually did some research of professional/work credibility and translated it across- I guess its all the same thing really.
Nice list. This isn’t my genre, but I appreciate it done well.
Thank you Russell – lovely to meet you – I see you have been nominated for a Bloggers Bash Award!
Excellent article! Very well thought out.
Thanks so much Shannon 🙂 really appreciate you reading my post.
Reblogged this on Speculate That.
Thanks Charlotte ? really appreciate it
Great tips. I like the idea that the villain is the hero of his own story. Sometimes this is such truth that the reader wants the villain to win. I had this experience with Death Note anime.
Thanks for reading and for the lovely comment. Couldn’t agree more, we definitely need to write villains like they are the heroes of their own stories 😀 will have a look at that book recommendation thank you
Reblogged this on J.A. Stinger.
Thank you AGAIN 🙂 I wish you a happy new year 😀
Reblogged this on Kim's Author Support Blog.
Thank you again Kim, for the wonderful support 😀
Loved your post. i love to wright about my villain and i keep getting to know him more and more, like i never knew what he could do, even that i created him. I love these post <3 <3 Thank you for getting to know my villian more <3
Thank you for stopping in Catalina, and thank you for reading my post – glad you liked it. Good luck with your novel.
Reblogged this on The Writing Chimp and commented:
great post 🙂
Thanks Georgina really appreciate it 🙂
Some great tips here – particularly useful, as I’m writing the first draft of a new novel with new villains.
The Exorcist terrified me when I first saw it – I think it was the way the demon crept up on the family, beginning with noises in the attic and building up slowly to the full-blown possession – for days after watching it I felt like I was being stalked by something not very nice!
Thanks so much Annabelle, I appreciate it. and Haha, I wasn’t scared as a kid, probably cause I didn’t really appreciate the context of the film. But as an adult, its terrifying!
Thanks so much for sharing
Your very welcome
I was terrified watching the ‘Exorcist’ and could only manage a few minutes of it! I was also scared stupid reading ‘It’ but I had to continue to the end of the book. Clowns freak me out at the best of times but Stephen King’s style of writing still kept me on coming back to continue to story nonetheless! 🙂
I can’t believe you’ve read IT – it’s about 485034986538917895 pages long!! I’m impressed I can’t imagine reading a scary book like that! I’ve never seen the entire film either – still look in the toilet for balloons though after some clips I saw.
I can’t believe I read it either, It was about 15 year ago or so, but it still gives me the creeps when I think about it! 🙂
Great post with helpful tips. Thank you for posting. I look forward to more!