How to Write Villains Part 4 - Personality

What is personality?

Personality is what a character or person is like on the inside. It’s a combination of character traits, values and beliefs. It’s usually apparent through a character’s action and speech but can also be shown through how they dress and their thought process. For a villain, their personality can be the biggest influence on making them stand out.

What are the elements of a personality?

There are many different elements that construct a character’s personality. They can include their core traits such as being fundamentally kind or fundamentality cruel, but also the other influences in their life. Like heroes in the story, villains have their own personality that usually compliments their motive and backstory, whether to appear perfectly fitting – such as a short-tempered and violent brute who wants to destroy the kingdom, or to contrast – such as a soft spoken and suave sorcerer who also wants to destroy or wreak havoc. Both examples have their own benefits in how they appear on the page. Here are some elements of personality to consider when constructing your villain.

Traits

What are some core traits your villain possesses that will be obvious to your reader? It may be helpful to begin with the most prominent traits. For a villain, this could mean evil, cruel, cunning, deceitful, prideful, apathetic, etc. But the stock-standard villain traits don’t always have to be present. A villain can be evil without being cruel, and they can be clever without being manipulative. It all connects to their core values.

In the case of villains, it is always more interesting to apply some positive traits, to make them still seem human or sympathetic in some way. It helps readers to connect to these characters and understand where they went wrong and the path that led them to playing the ‘baddy’ throughout the story.

As well as core traits, all characters have other, less prominent traits that set them apart from the classic ‘evil’ villain.

Values

A character’s values can heavily influence their personality and their actions. Values are usually developed through the character’s previous experiences. It will also help determine the lines your villain is or isn’t willing to cross. They may be willing to make sacrifices if necessary but won’t condone violent killings for no reason, whereas a character who seeks absolute power may believe inducing fear in others through violence and death will accomplish this goal.

Passion

Passions or desires act as a key influencer in many characters and how they come across on the page or screen. It can be passion for a person or a cause, a desire to obtain something, or simply something they are passionate about. For villains, a desire is usually an obsession, whether it’s in response to someone they love but can’t have, or a powerful symbol such as a crown. Villains, like all characters, will have passions but whether or not they come through their personality is up to the writer. It may simply come through as the character quotes famous poems in fitting situations or accessories their clothing with a specific, favoured metal orstone. Some comic book villains clearly have a passion for something or someone that comes through their ‘supervillain’ persona, think Poison Ivy, The Joker or Mr Freeze.

Strengths

Every character has strengths, including the villains. It can be a physical or magical strength such as invincibility or swordsmanship, but it can also be an inner strength. What are they good at? What strength defines them most? Are they very good at sweet-talking to get what they want? For example, villains Ursula or Dr Facilier. Are they driven by a fierce ambition or determination for something? In characters such as Voldemort or Agent Smith, when they won’t stop until their power is all consuming. Is it their intelligence? In characters like Moriarty.

Weaknesses

Without weakness a character is improbable and, quite frankly, boring. A character may appear to have no weakness, but it will eventually be revealed. Again, it can be physical weakness or an internal one. Even villains with human weaknesses usually have some kind of defence to make them seem hard to beat. It is something with the potential to destroy the villain – emotionally or physically.

Quirks

A quirk can help make a character stand out. Certain mannerisms help construct the image of a character. A quirk can be a flaw, a hint to past experiences, or act as a reveal. A subtle touch to a personal item can be a subtle quirk that later reveals what the character holds most dear – maybe it’s a ring given to them by a loved one. A quirk doesn’t always need to mean something, but it can reflect a character’s personality. It can be toying with their hair, picking or sucking their teeth, grand gestures as they talk, finding numbers in everyday life, turning thoughts to poems in their head or only swearing in another language. Seemingly small quirks give the reader hints about the character, even if they’re not all-revealing. It always helps them become memorable.

Appearance

Appearance plays a big part in the kind of character you want the reader to see. Fine clothes vs shabby rags vs armour vs jeans and sneakers can quickly and efficiently help to distinguish characters. Their thought and process into what they wear and how they present themselves can tell the reader a lot about the character. Are they more practical? Perhaps dressing for comfort is their preference. Are they functional? A soldier may wear armour regularly but also fine dresses when the occasion demands it, not putting much thought into the in between. Do they admire clothes but fear themselves not bold enough to dress a certain way? Do they dress in hopes of frightening others or hiding their identity? A character’s choices, even when it comes to what they wear, can show the reader a little bit about who they are, or compliment who they are.

The author can use appearance as a way to provoke emotions in the reader. A character with haggard scars makes us think of past trauma and we make connections to anger, violence or even wisdom. A succinct but stark description can help characters stand out and appear more clearly on the page – sleek grey hair and a sharp angled face. When describing villains or monsters, physical features help invoke the appropriate fear within the reader.

“There was a hand protruding from the cloak and it was glistening, greyish, slimy-looking and scabbed, like something dead that had decayed in water ...”
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

“Where there should have been eyes, there was only thin, grey, scabbed skin, stretched blankly over empty sockets. But there was a mouth ... a gaping, shapeless hole, sucking the air with the sound of a death-rattle.”
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

When examining Marcella in V. E. Schwab’s Villains series, the character’s appearance played a very big factor into her personality. She wore her fine clothing and stilettos as if it were armour, her beauty one of her weapons. Her fine clothes and immaculate appearance tells us she is used to a certain standard of living and accustom to wealth. Her demeanour throughout the story suits the way she dresses, as she takes great pride in herself, what she does, and is hungry for power. Her beauty is another way to access power.

How to structure a personality

           

Personality Groups

When exploring personality in fiction, and creating characters, many writers look toward personality markers to help guide them, such as the Meyers-Brigs Type Indicator. This may be helpful and work for some writers to structure their characters, and can help build a believable character. However, my personal preference is to keep personality references simple. Some are complicated and make you feel as if you are trying too hard to squeeze your character into a box.

In the case of making a character believable, we know that humans, in the real word, act strangely, unpredictably and, yes, completely out of character some days. When you are trying to fit an entire, complex, layered person into 300 + pages it seems near impossible to make them do anything ‘out of character’ without a deep explanation. Truth is stranger than fiction, and although our characters should be layered and complex, trying too hard to make them completely and utterly human will not only exhaust you but will also not necessarily translate on the page very well. You may have had a similar experience when experimenting with dialogue. An actual conversation between two people includes many mistakes and miscommunications. From the many variations of ‘um’ and ‘like’ that, if put on paper, would make a character appear confused or nervous, to the random hiccups such as laughing mid-conversation because you misheard a phrase that sounded entirely out of place.

Personality can come across the same. Trying to imitate life too much doesn’t necessarily make them real. That’s not to say characters shouldn’t be realistic, they should, but I could not fit all the many complex features of my best friend (as an example) into one narrative. It simply would not do her justice.

There are some personality markers that may be helpful, especially when they are prominent in fiction or specific to the genre. You may find personality categories helpful, whether it is simply to separate your characters from one another by at least one fundamental trait, or group them together to find some common ground. Zodiac, for example, even if you don’t give any merit to astrology, maybe help you find different personality types, especially because there is so much out there. Archetypes and elemental personalities may also help with this, to find a place for each character and separate the villain from the ‘good guys’.

In some narratives, these kinds of personality categories can play a role. Harry Potter gave us the four houses that many of us use to identify ourselves and, a lot of the time, our favourite fictional characters outside the Harry Potter universe and our own Original Characters.

In the series Divergent, each faction was separated by their primary trait: selfless, brave, honest, peaceful, intelligent. The characters’ way of life within these factions grew around the primary trait, and the characters within them were to uphold it above their other values. Of course, the primary conflict in this story came from characters not fitting into one specific box.

Questionnaires

A lot of writers find the use of questionnaires to be helpful when fleshing out characters. I always try to use them and then get bored halfway through. There are some things about your character you do need to consider, and others that are a mystery to you. Upon reading Stephen King’s On Writing: a Memoir of the Craft, I enjoyed hearing about his process, and how a writer is there to uncover the story. Having a picture of your villain is good, but sometimes uncovering them yourself is better.

"A good novelist does not lead his characters, he follows them. A good novelist does not create events, he watches them happen and then writes down what he sees."
Stephen King

When it comes to creating characters, there’s no right or wrong but rather, do’s and don’ts depending on what kind of villain you want. My personal preference is to let them come out throughout the story. It hasn’t always been ideal, as sometimes I’ve found my plot controlling my villain as opposed to the other way around. Now, I like to look at motive, dabble in their backstory, but personality is usually what takes shape first. I usually begin with an image, a persona, and build them for that. Choosing a few key traits and features that will compliment your story is a good place to begin.

Examine your favourite characters and pick them apart. What made them stand out? What made you like them? We’re usually attracted to personality on the page more than anything else. What were your favourite villains like? What did they do that made you like them?

How personality appears in fiction

Demeanour – a character’s outward behaviour/manner/attitude.

A character’s demeanour may be the very essence of their personality. It’s how they act as opposed to their actions, or what they do throughout the story. They can be polite, well-mannered, charming, snide, witty, patronising, condescending, boisterous, or rude. This demeanour can also change based on the people they are with, whether it is in the presence of their underlings, a powerful ally, or the enemy.

In all types of fiction, I have found the most chilling villains to be calm. A calm and collected bad guy makes the audience believe the villain is unworried or unaffected by the events. This creates tension, as we think, even when it appears that the villain is thwarted, what do they know that I don’t? Something is coming. Some back-up plan is about to be revealed. This also creates a sense of satisfaction when the villain finally breaks, when the calm demeanour finally evaporates as they are defeated. Steelheart, for example, was confident and seemingly in control throughout the entire story until the very end, until the moment he realised he was defeated.

The rationality of these calm villains also makes it easier to hate them, and harder to hate them. Through rationalising and being sensible about their situation, the villain can create a reaction from the reader because it shows they are either A – impossible for the hero or anyone else to reason with and/or B – reasonable.

The villains that come easily to mind are always those from the movies I watched as a child. Jafar had a very calm, suave demeanour, while Dr. Facilier had an outlandish, entertainer’s personality that could very quickly darken, and Cruella Devil with her poised but snide demeanour accompanied with her quick to rise anger and insulting nature.

            However they come across in fiction, a character’s demeanour can be seen through their voice, mannerisms, and sometimes their appearance.

Voice

Voice tells a lot about a character from the vocabulary they use to the way they control the volume of their voice. An articulate villain implies they are intelligent or trying to impress someone or attempt to put themselves above others. A manipulative character uses their voice above anything else, to make others doubt or to lead them down the path they wish. An accent or certain phrases they use can tell the reader about who they are as a person, or their origins.

“It’s dialogue that gives your cast their voices, and is crucial in defining their characters — only what people do tells us more about what they’re like, and talk is sneaky: what people say often conveys their character to others in ways of which they — the speakers — are completely unaware.”

Stephen King

Relationships

The way a character acts can change around certain people. Are they wicked and cruel to those below them but when it comes to the hero, are they smooth talking and flirtatious? Is there someone close to them they feel they must protect? A child? A stray they picked up that they favour? A villain can show a soft and meaningful side by reacting to a certain someone as if they are wonderful, even as they command an army. When looking at a villain, how they treat their allies, their servants, and their enemies can say a lot about who they are. Are they reasonable when speaking to their minions even when they disappoint? Or do they master with fear?

Standing Out

How dos the character stand out from the other characters in the story? If they are a villain there must be some disconnect between them and ‘the people’ or them and ‘the hero’. As well as their world, how do they stand out on the page? How do they make us want to keep reading and stay memorable in our minds? They are unique. They are interesting to read about. They have something the readers connect with – negatively or positively. Look at your favourites and ask why they stood out to you. AIDAN stood out to me because he was not a person but a program. He began to learn more about humanity but still his programming made him choose the most practical option. A pragmatic villain is intriguing to me, due to it seeming not necessarily evil but chooses what needs to be done, even if a good guy would never have made the choose. I enjoyed the Darkling because of his personality; his dark, brooding demeanour as well as his personal relationship with the heroine.

When it comes to writing a memorable villain we have the greatest resources at our disposable, books and movies and fiction of all different types. It all starts with the writer. What makes a great villain according to you?