Content

• Steps
• Method 1 of 1: Creating Your Own Negative Character
• Tips
• Warnings

Creating a believable criminal, trivial evil or simply "sick" character traits in fiction requires a delicate balance between the bad and, yes, even the good aspects, giving more credibility to the negative character of the story or novel.

Steps

Method 1 of 1: Creating Your Own Negative Character

1. 1 Start by reading about creating a fictional character from scratch. This will give you a foundation for designing any type of character.
2. 2 Is your story entirely devoted to how the negative character weaves into the main intrigue of the story? Is his goal simply to create obstacles for the hero and serve as a catalyst for the development of his character? Is it one of the elements of the plot theme?
3. 3 Choose the degree of depravity or the obvious "infinity" that you want to see in your negative character. Some stories require the depravity of a serial killer, while others require a simple bully. Create your negative character according to the genre of your story. Horror stories require a demon, zombie army, evil spirits, or a possessed person with signs of education (architect, scientist, etc.). A crime thriller will need the head of a criminal organization, the leader of a rival gang, or the leader of a corrupt police gang. An evil twin from an alternate universe, a cyborg assassin, or a robotic destroyer would be good for science fiction. An evil king or sorcerer would look good in fantasy, as would a priest, a high-ranking official, or a member of a secret society dealing with human governance. Regardless of the genre of writing, the negative character will be more interesting if he or she is considered a positive and trustworthy person, but his or her real intentions will be kept secret.
4. 4 Create a special traumatic incident for your negative character. It can be very destructive, for example, being present at the murder of your own parents or watching the whims of nature destroy something valuable and difficult to achieve. The goal is to create a turning point in the negative character's life. It doesn't have to be exactly a traumatic incident, your negative character could simply be brought up in a way that negatively affects his or her present. In addition, even a simple, insignificant, at first glance, case can change a person's life, depending on his perception. Some people may easily succumb to immoral influences, or they may themselves develop their own strong value system that will motivate them to take decisive action.
5. 5 Deploy this Special Incident. Exaggerate, twist and distort it so that it becomes the rotten core of your culprit. Is this in some way opposed to the experience of the protagonist?
6. 6 Choose something that the negative character will adore without greed or anger. It doesn't have to be big - in fact, it's even better if it isn't. For example, a villain may enjoy walking among rose bushes in order to clear his head of unnecessary thoughts. Or, even less significantly, the negative character can enjoy peeling sunflower seeds and enjoy their salty taste. What about a relative in need of a caring attitude, a lost cherished love, a beloved pet? Does the negative hero justify such weaknesses, and is he tough enough that they do not become the motive for the crime? Lost love may be reason enough to ruin him or her. Even memories can bring great happiness to some people.
7. 7 Combine the turning point and the only pleasure and play with them in your mind. How are they related to each other? Why does the negative character love something very much, but is still filled with anger, hatred or millet "sick" characteristics?
8. 8 Pay attention to the main character of the story. How does the main character fit into the life of the negative character? How do their desires fit together, coincide, or collide with each other? How are they similar and how are they different? The negative character must be as strong, or even more powerful, than the main character.
9. 9 Will the negative hero atone for his guilt, or will he still remain the villain? Track how your story unfolds and how your negative character develops, and, based on this, make your decision. Avoid drastic and significant changes unless you intend to create extreme melodrama, which is shown in the work. How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
10. 10 Think about phobias. Everyone is afraid of something. A negative character can be afraid of everything: from the main character to death and darkness, or even to monsters under his own bed! Be creative, but make sure your phobias don't look too silly, or your story won't be taken seriously.
11. 11 Remember, a GOOD villain creates conflict in the story. Without a negative character, the hero will not be able to overcome obstacles and develop as a person.
12. 12 A good villain is still human. The best negative characters are those with whom readers have something in common. The more human your negative character is, the more terrifying / engaging he will leave in the story.
13. 13 And the last thing to remember is that the more evil and threatening your negative character is, the more often his insidious plans should be carried out. Don't let the villain always lose and the hero always win. Plus, a bad guy isn't necessarily just a villain! He must also have positive qualities.Just as the main character has mostly positive qualities, with a small share of flaws, so in the villain there should be not only flaws, but certain positive qualities.
14. 14 Kill a negative character only if he really deserves it. Make sure his death is consistent with his bad deeds. If he was an ordinary thief, then he should get a simple death, for example, he could be shot. If he was a cruel / sadistic / just evil negative hero, then his death should cause more intense experiences, maybe even overly intense. This will give the reader an opportunity to feel the satisfaction that the villain has received what is due to him.

Tips

• The best negative characters are usually those whose motive, in principle, is elementary understandable, but the ultimate goal and the ways to achieve it are extremely twisted.
• Think about your motive. There must be something that the negative character wants to get, or something that he thinks is going to happen, and he must have faith (sometimes fanatical) in whatever needs to be done to achieve that goal.
• Refinement is always well received. Some of the best villains in fiction absolutely sincerely believe that their actions are good and beneficial to others. For such negative characters, a "turning point" may be some discovery that disrupts a measured life, and their subsequent actions are only an attempt to rectify the situation. Such negative characters may ultimately find themselves in violation of their ethical standards, while believing that they remain faithful to the above ethics!
• You may never actually use the "turning point" in the final story, but remember, it is not the reader who needs it, but the writer in order to understand the character's motivation.
• A good way to show that the bad guy doesn't deserve redemption at all is to refuse to describe his good sides. This should be a sign to the hero and the reader that he must be stopped.
• It is immediately clear that an obvious motive is rarely a good idea, therefore, it is better to play with the premises for certain motives. The derivative result of a mortal sin or similar vice can be a good starting point. Instead of anger, what about resentment? A negative character from a troubled family has many preconditions for anger. Instead of sadness or ordinary regret, what about guilt? Someone who feels guilty (whether he is actually guilty or not) can go to great lengths in an attempt to atone for his guilt, sometimes not even on the right path. You can create a believable motive around this, leaving it hidden until it gives you the opportunity to build great intrigue.
• If you want to arouse sympathy for your negative character, or at least try to flesh it out even more, then write several chapters from the point of view of one of his well-wishers or allies, or even the most negative character.
• Think up names. The names of negative characters can determine the type of personality of the villain or the genre of the story in general. Billy Bob Johnson may be a Billy farmer who wants to get the land of the protagonist's family. Sir Oswald Walter Richardson III may be a wealthy tyrant who is determined to become the mayor of a city and turn a small town into a tourist resort, something that the protagonist is very determined against. Coco Bean may be the villain in a funny story who wants to create a kind of cake that makes anyone who tastes it have fits of laughter at inopportune moments. Be creative with names, they really help.
• You can create several "turning points" in the novel, but all of them must corroborate the original incident, revealing in great detail the inner world of the villain.

Warnings

• Try to make your negative character 3D. By the end of the story, the reader should be well aware of why everything was the way it was and not otherwise.
• A good villain usually has plans or goals other than just "hurting the good guy." For example, opponents of James Bond, as a rule, want to take over the whole world, or steal something of value. Becoming an enemy of Bond is their side goal, not their original goal. There are some negative characters who only want to kill the main character, maybe out of revenge, but this is most likely an exception to the rule, and if you do not take care to create a plausible target for your villains, then they will seem unconvincing and fake.
• Avoid the temptation to start working on a negative character based on one of the deadly sins. If you do, you end up with a parody of the bad guy, not the true villain. This is one of the elements for completing the negative hero, who himself is the embodiment of mortal sin. Just don't start there.
• Creating an authentic negative character can be very stressful. Try to write a little about him. Not taking short breaks every half hour or so can absorb some of the villain's negative energy, which in turn can affect your relationships with people you care about.
• Remember that sometimes killing or harming a negative character can be perceived poorly by readers, and the same is true for other characters. The fact that a character is an antagonist does not mean at all that you have to kill him or put him through a series of bad events (except, of course, those moments that relate to the failure of their plans).