In a post on Lit Hub, Minrose Gwin offers advice on creating complex villains. “Villains make trouble, and trouble makes for a good story,” she says “But creating a central character who’s not only villainous but also complicated and even sympathetic can be a real challenge.”
Gwin has crafted a list of questions she asks herself when creating villains:
- Is my villain so seductive and charismatic that even smart people like us, the readers, can be drawn into the villain’s web?
- Does my villain have a past that makes it at least somewhat understandable as to why that person turns away from empathy and kindness?
- Does my villain raise the larger question of the human propensity for and vulnerability to evil and malfeasance?
