I’m happy to say I officially signed off on The Deadly Shallows a few weeks ago. It’s finished with editorial and on to paging. Phew. That book was literally the hardest I’ve ever written. I couldn’t tell you why. Well…five surgeries between the end of May and the end of August didn’t help, but well before that, this book was wrestling inside of me. It ended up causing me to have two years between releases. I felt like I’d let my readers down, but just seeing the excitement for The Deadly Shallows has filled me with such encouragement and love. I have the BEST readers.
The funny thing with The Deadly Shallows was that I knew the hero and heroine well but still struggled to find their story. It turned out it was the villain along with his motivations and actions that finally propelled the story forward.
Recently I took a fabulous online class by Steven James entitled: Villains—How to Write Believable Antagonists, and it really got me thinking about the creation of villains. You might be thinking you don’t read or write suspense, but are villains only in suspense novels? Are villains only the perennial “bad guy?” I did a little digging and I really loved this definition of an antagonist from Masterclass’s blog:
You can read the full article here. It’s fabulous and covers the four types of antagonists.
People often don’t think about conflict-creators or inanimate forces like a tsunami headed for a small island as antagonists, but they are. Every story needs an antagonist creating conflict in the story. But, being a suspense writer, I’m going to focus on “bad guys.” In my humble opinion, the villain makes or breaks the story. He or she drives the story.
Side note: In an effort to avoid writing “him” or “her” every time, I’m going to stick with “him” just for this post.
What do I mean when I say the villain drives the story? The hero coming up against opposition by the antagonist forces him to make a choice very early on in the story: will he embark on the quest to defeat the villain or ignore the path he’s being called to (Hint: if he ignores the path, the story is over and he’s not much of a hero).
The villain’s action affects the hero’s choices and thereby, his world. It kicks off the conflict of good vs. evil, good guy vs. bad guy. From there they dance. The villain’s actions result in a reaction from the hero. The lightning pace and intensity of the ‘battle’ rise in waves of increasing conflict, culminating in the story’s climax. In most stories, the hero defeats the villain. Those are the stories I love to read—good overcoming evil.
As I sit at my desk dreaming through my next book, I find all this tracking through my mind. I know I must create a villain worthy of the story’s hero. A villain strong enough to really press my hero to his limits—to keep the conflict growing, and the pacing tense. I’ve spent time recently thinking of great villains that really grabbed me from literature and movies. Considering what made them great, and what made them so bad? What motivated them and why they were the way they were?
Without giving the villain’s identity away, I’ll just say a few of my favorite literary villains are in Terri Blackstock’s superb novel Predator, Lisa Gardner’s The Perfect Husband, and Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. Brilliant, truly frightening, and well-motivated. I only hope I’ll be able to fashion one as well.
Reader Question: Who is your favorite villain from literature or film? You can just name the novel or movie if you prefer and feel free to share more than one. I can’t wait to see who everyone chooses.
Have a blessed day!
~Dani
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I love when you can almost feel sorry for the villain. It really ramps up the tension you feel! It’s also fun when you’re not quite sure who the villain is and are totally surprised by it when they’re revealed. Thanos makes an excellent villain and was the first to come to mind.
Thanos was my first thought as well, Joy. 🙂
Hi Amy,
So fun you picked Thanos too.
Hi Joy,
That’s so true. It really does ramp up the tension when you almost feel sorry for the villain. Thanos is a great one and we’re huge MCU fans so this was fun to see.
One of my favorites is Javert in Les Miserables because he *thinks* he’s doing right. He’s zealous for righteousness but totally misses grace and forgiveness.
Hi Barbara,
That’s a great point. Villains do believe they’re doing right more often than not. Great villain to pick!
One of my favorite is Ian Shaw in National Treasure. I love his character even though he is “the” bad guy. I wanted NT 2 to have Ben and Riley break him out of prison to do another treasure hunt. Sean Bean was excellent as Boromir in Fellowship of the Ring and I think that’s why I liked him so much in NT. In book form a villain who wasn’t in a suspense book was Rachel Hauck’s The Wedding Chapel, Collette Greer’s sister was pure evil in my estimation. I DID NOT like that woman.
Oh my goodness. I LOVE Sean Bean!!!! And, he was great in National Treasure. I think them breaking him out of prison to do another hunt would have been fabulous. Brilliant idea.
One of my favorites of all time is Tim Curry as Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers. He is awful! And you love to hate him.
Thanks for the post about antagonists. I am working on the villain in my current novel, and I am struggling to make sure he is truly worthy of being the hero and heroine’s antagonist. It’s challenging to make him evil with purpose and not one-dimensional.
Keep up the excellent work! I love the villains in your stories, they are well done!
I love this question because it made me think and in doing so I CAN see how valuable a strong villain in a story can add so much to the story/redemtption of the protaganist(s).
Two that stood out to me would be….
1. Brent, the husband in Lulu’s Cafe by T.I. Lowe
2. Duke from Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
I love this question and it made me think at just how important a good villain is to the story.
Two that I thoguht of were…
1. Brent (the husband) in Lulu’s Cafe by T.I. Lowe
2. Duke in Reediming Love by Francine Rivers
I love your choice of Rebecca. My favorite book and movie.
Villains do make or break a suspense story.