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| Photo credit: Flickr |
Yeah,
and why not?
They
all seem to be fighting for a cause.
Here’s
a striking example from personal experience:
From
a different P.O.V, Thomas Harris’ famous character, Hannibal Lecter would have been a formidable villain.
I
had the misfortune, or whatever you might call it of reading ‘Hannibal’ first before any of the other
books in the series. I ended up disappointed when Dr. Hannibal was not caught
or gutted (not necessarily in that order) at the end of the story.
I
was rooting for Clarice Starling and completely
ignorant the whole time of the fact that Dr.
Hannibal was the main character of
the book while Agent Starling was tagging along for the ride! Imagine the
surprise when Hannibal annihilated
everything in his path and successfully kidnapped the FBI agent (Starling)
assigned to his case.
The
most fearful villains are the ones amped up with a reason for their actions. Morality issues are added boosts for
these ‘bad guys’. Most of them
believe their actions are for the good of humanity.
When
you arm a villain with feelings and concrete emotions and throw in a bit of
history in the mix, the reader either despairs for the hero of the story or
falls in love with the ‘bad guy(s)’.
Villains
do not understand why people hate or fear them. Many are driven beyond the
lip of sanity because of the way people react(ed) toward them. You might need
to remember this when you create villains for your story.
Making
your villain(s) formidable and lovable involves giving them:
1.
A history
2.
A cause to live or die for
3.
Concrete emotions–may involve making them fall in love, probably with somebody
who doesn’t know who they really are. (This makes your reader see them as
humans and as people going through rough times.)
Of
course, your heroes do not always have human or superhuman enemies but when
they do have ‘em remember your villain
is the next guy’s hero.
Love
them or lose your readers!
Keep
your pen bleeding!
Akpan
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