When the reader doesn't know what the villain's motivations are or what they are going to do next, they're absolutely terrifying!

Ooh ooh ooh, what if the villain is actually emotionally attached to the hero?? Could make things quite intriguing.

I love writing villains because they are so complex and fun. I like the type of villain who is sensitive, still human, yet totally evil.

I learned the best way to write an antagonist is to give them an arc just like the protagonist. It could be a negative positive or flat arc depending on the story but it has to mirror the protagonist's arc some how.

Good video, thanks! Side note: "protagonist" and "antagonist" does not mean "hero" and "villain," respectively. The protagonist is merely the lead character of the book, and the antagonist is the character (or other external forces) in opposition of the protagonist. If your story is from the perspective of a villain fighting a hero, the villain would still be the protagonist, and the hero would be the antagonist.

The most amazing villains are actually the tragic heroes (negative character arc). It is so beautiful to watch them descend into darkness (Daenerys - I wish we had more time seeing this process).

It's hard to believe your videos are not more popular

One of my favorite villains is Medusa from Soul Eater because she's pure evil, super smart, very manipulative, and always wins. Even though she doesn't have a fear, she's a really memorable villain

"Actually it sounds very fun!" That's exactly what I was thinking 😂

I’m actually really happy with my latest villain. My protagonist has two older brothers and the eldest is the villain of the story. She used to look up to him and tried to emulate him, so she essentially is a mirror of him, but she refused to follow their family’s bigoted ways and escaped. When she was just a baby, and her eldest brother was about ten, there parents died and they were taken in by family friends who ended up controlling the three children for their own means. Her brother was a puppet for all his life, forced to marry a woman he despises. He retaliates by becoming a puppet master to his siblings. He loves his family, but not for what they actually are. He loves the perfect image of his family. When the second brother has an affair from his arranged marriage, the eldest brother goes crazy and puts him under a mind control. That’s why the protagonist ticks him off so much. He basically groomed her to be just like him, conniving and manipulative, because he wanted to control her. Instead, she rebelled and fought against him. That’s why he wants her dead. She’s what he could have become and he wants to prove that his way was the only way to survive.

A perfect villain would be the one who wants his desire to come to reality. He or she is willing to give up anyone to fulfil their desire. They will make sure that their plan is perfect and they will again success no matter what until the hero/heroine defeats them. Love your videos. I can't wait for 100 Days of Sunlight to come out on 7 August. You are the main reason why I have started writing my book. Love you 3000 : )

You make me want to write again 😩

I question whether all villains must be sympathetic. Consider the Joker. Enduringly popular, but his only mission is chaos, and he has no real virtues to speak of.

This video came right when I needed it! My favorite villain is Loki! I really need to study him more. Thanks for the video! 😘😘😘

My favorite is the villain that gets a redemption arc. It’s so good

Exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you. I have my first novel sitting at 65,000 words and now I have an idea of how I can surface the villain earlier in the story as well as weave in a more interesting back story. Keep up the great work!

You can still write an incredible villain who knows he is evil though. That is insanely compelling and interesting and we need to see more of those villains.

Time stamps: (editing in progress) 2:05 Why does your Villain hate your hero? 3:06 NEVER GLORIFY YOUR VILLAIN 4:20 basic character building blocks Basic framework: Fear- Goal- Plan

When it comes to hero/villain relationships and how they interact, my fav show is Once Upon A Time. It does so well with what makes a villain a villain and a hero a hero. It’s just done so well. Regina’s whole character is AMAZING

Omg when she said to make a good character and then destroy them I was like; ok now this is fun But the sad thing is that I already did it

VILLIANS!!!!!!!!!!! (all the normal people are weirded out by how excited we writers are about villians hahahahaha) But in all seriousness, I LOVE villians. I am also terrible and writing them so THIS IS BEYOND HELPFUL THANK YOU SO MUCH. Honestly I think the best kind of villian is one with a sense of humor because then I relate to them and even though I hate them I also reaaallyyy like them! Oh btw, my family started watching Poldark, we got to season 2 but it was getting less and less family friendly so we stopped. I would like to know your opinion though, do you think it's still a good series to watch? Not as a family with little kids of course, but is it worth it? When we left off, Ross seemed to be straying more and more into the darker parts of his character and being an idiot and I don't know that I can stand a main character like that 😂😂😂 I get so worked up cuz I want to slap some sense into them 😂😂😂 But anyway yes, what's your opinion?

Oh man, after watching this, I cannot wait to get on my laptop and write tomorrow!! This video came at the right time! My favourite villain would be Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove

This was EXACTLY the video I needed! Thank you! I've been struggling with my villain, but after watching this and answering all of the questions, I actually have an awesome villain completely fleshed out with a backstory and everything!!! Thank you!!!

My favorite literary villain is The Darkling in Leigh Bardugo's Grishverse series. Just love him!

I'm not sure every villain needs a fear though. I find Hannibal Lecter to be a great villain. He doesn't have any real fears though.

"And we'll just have to wait until season 5 to see if Ross finally pushes George off a cliff." Well there is a cliff involved, but Ross isn't the one who makes him start to fall..... Season 5 George just brings his story and character to a whole new level. Jack Farthing is absolutely incredible

Varian from Rapunzel is literally such a beyond words amazing villain. I can go on for hours explaining why that is, but I won't, cause I really don't have time for that.

“Everyone starts out good.” That would be an amazing untruth for a character to discover.

3:00 I don't know if I agree. I absolutely think you can make the reader care about and understand the villians motivs to the point that you start to feel for the villian. I don' think "the bad guy is the bad guy" needs to be case in every story. Why can't the antagonists motivs just happen to stand in the way of the protagonist or what if the antagonists actions is for a good cause but the protagonist just happens to stand in the way for his dream. Maybe the protagonist and the antagonist just has different worldviews and their motivs goes against ech other. It's not the same as having two protagonists, you are still stuck mainly following the protagonist as in most stories. Even in stories were the protaganist is the bad guy you're still hoping (or at least somewhat hoping) for him to succed on whatever his doing. I think any good writer can make you be on the protagonists side while still making you feel for the villian.

I’m so inspired to write out the character profile for my villain now.

One of my favorite villains is Hal from Megamind. This is the kind of villain who has quite a realistically creepy obsession behind Roxanne. This is one of those "Nice Guys" who think that because he's nice to a girl he likes, the girl owes him affection in return for being "Nice". But not only is this misbelief stupid, but Hal's not really a nice guy. He basically wants Roxanne just for sex. That's it. And I like this villain because it's what we see in other certain guys in real life. The "Incels" as we call them. Mostly high schoolers back in my day. So seeing Hal getting defeated by Megamind was really satisfying.

Abby, you're so wonderful. I'm a 40 year old mom of a 10 yr old girl and I'm trying to get her hooked onto your videos. You're so wholesome! Please have (real, not just paper) children of your own someday. Your psychological insights would make you a great mom!

I want to wrtite a villain right now, omg hahahah I like "Black Jack" or "Jack Randall" by Outlander. He's despicable and I hate him, so I know he's a very well-written villain. And I love Poldark!!!

I don't know, I've just known too many people who don't care if they're the hero of their own story or not. Who actually sometimes embrace not being the hero of their own story. I do think it makes for great villains, but I don't think they're the only villains out there. Sometimes a good old pure evil villain is what the story needs. But sometimes you need something you want and I think this is a great Place to start for that. thank you

Love these writing videos Abbie!!! I'm learning so much - thanks for putting all of these out!

I know I'm a few years late to the party, but I have been LOVING all your content and watching a good majority of it. After watching this one, I think I've pretty much nailed all the points you brought up, so that is reaffirming. But, I will continue to keep everything in mind as I develop them further. Thanks Abbie!

The fact that you said they are inherently evil right at the start was quite surprising. There are many great villains who aren't evil. In fact, that's often a good way to create a truly terrifying villain. If you're looking at villains through the lens that they're inherently evil you're looking at them in a very shallow and simplistic manner. That's the old black and white method of character creation. We've moved past that. It doesn't even hold up in reality either. Actions can be evil (although even many actions are a grey area viewed as evil by some, and perfectly fine by others. Think about real life and you'll come up with many examples)

Call me cliche or regular but I love Voldemort his motivation and desire and internal conflict is spot on!

I needed this. I needed this so damn much. I literally halfway crealated my villain jotting down notes while watching this. This was the first video of yours I've ever watched. I'm addicted. 💚💜

This is so well spoken and clear! I have not watched all of your videos but it already helps me so much!

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog delightfully flips the hero/villian dynamic.

Roy Batty from the original Bladerunner. You feel attracted by him horrified compassionate and terrified. Great villain.

Binging through all your Videos while working on my own YA Romance. While knowing about plot structure and outline basics those comments/explanations here and there and examples are something that really help and motivate me. I'm sort of using those videos for motivation and for enhancing my novel. Thank you so so so much.

Thank you so much! I don’t like using any novel-writing tutorials except for yours!

Been watching your videos to think of ideas for a light novel or comic book and I have to say they have been really helpful, so thanks for that. Also my favourite villain is probably dio brando purely because of how twisted his beliefs are when it comes to how he views others as naturally inferior to him and how he tricks others to get to his own desires

This video came out at the perfect time! I really needed this because I'm currently writing the backstory for my novel's villain. Amazing video😍😍😍

my favourite villain of all time is Loki and Bellatrix cause their author gave them such a great backstory that makes me love them. Plus can you how to make a good anti-hero in the story ?

This is helpful, first time I watched it I returned to my story and did profiles on all the villains for my story, which was a challenge because ultimately the "villain" is actually a dark conspiracy committed to misdirection and subterfuge each member of the conspiracy has unique motivation from sadism to a desire to change the world for the better the challenge is you don't know who all the villains are until the final act

I love creating villain characters even if they don't necessarily have a story attached to them, so this should be a very fun video to watch!

Not quite on the topic of villains (mine is a fake friend - I SO look forward for the heartbreak that I get to write) but on the video itself. I LOVE what you did with your audio. Paused at the right moment and pulled through until the end. I enjoyed it! ♥

Step One: Give them a badass theme song! ... no? xD

Favourite villain ever - Archibald "Archie" Cunningham in Rob Roy. When he died at the end, the entire audience stood up and started clapping. I'd never seen a reaction like that in any movie theater ever.

5:13 Prepping a creative writing class on characters, especially villains, and watched this video JUST for this point. Thanks so much- I needed the reminder!

I love it when you can relate to a villain like they want something you know you'd want if you were pushed further

I am attempting my first novel, and having a bit of fun subtly planting the idea, that the villain might just have been right.

oh thank you for this vid! I'm trying to find some good videos that can help me make my villain a good villain for my D&D campaign and how I can make her more understandable, and this definitely helped!

You are so aesthetic and this video was so helpful thank u

I'm working on a YA epic fantasy, book 2, where a side character in book 1 becomes a villain in book 2, and so there's a lot of inner conflict from her POV which is fun. Your video has been a nice inspiration to keep me on track with her, I'm doing okay in this process (while I procrastinate on the actual writing) ;)

Great advice, thoughts, and methodology for villains. Also, the excellent series on plotting is a MUST SEE! Thanks Abbie! You DA [WO]MAN!!!!

Thank you so much! I still need a villain for a tv show that I'm waiting and this was pretty helpful! Also, my favorite villain is Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls! Love that triangle!

Really enjoyed the video! I've been creating many different villains over the last couple of months, and the first thing I do similar is going for their past, most of the time I want to give them a past that is either a means for their goals or the reason they're so.. messed up. I don't always give them a fear to say, but I do strive to make them human enough. One I find most enjoyable, although not a great example is my Hans kleiser. A German surgeon with refined techniques who unfortunately was struck by a car, and other lesser surgeons messed up their work on his face. Terrified and outraged, in frenzy he attempted his best but it resulted in him wrapping up nearly his entire head except for his left eye, bloodstains around the bandages, stitches visible, and nearly all his hair gone. His beloved married his brother, which he blamed on the loss of his face. In modern times he was appointed to a growing organization to return the german glory and acted as both their highest-ranked member as a chief surgeon to experiment on soldiers and to torture their victims, ultimately facing off against a heroine Diana, and taking his life in a final gambit.

I loved your video Abbie it was informative, insightful, and entertaining!

"Hitler loved his pet dog" Me: *Crying Laughing*

I LOVE ,,POLDARK''. 😍Thank you for this example and super case study!

Thank you this was really helpful for my series! This video is helpful and great!

Just the video I needed! Thank you!

My all-time favourite villain is DIO from jojo. Especially him in part 3.

Thanks for the advice, it improved my antagonist!

I love this video! Just earlier, I saw a post about how some ppl grow tired of seeing the "villain with a tragic backstory" or "villain with a reason other than being evil". They said they wanted to see more of villains JUST being evil for the sake of it. Of course, this is personal preference, and I can respect that 😂 I, however, like stories with villains that are more complex and more than what meets the eye 🤣 reality is not black-and-white, and I really love to see that in the characters, villains, and stories I read. Great video!!! 🔥🔥🔥

OMG!!! Thank you so much for this video! I've had my villains for almost as long as I've had my story --but now I know WHY they did what they did instead of going the normal way. It just flashed at me at 5:39 :D Their Fear. (LOL and exactly what that fear was.)

It blows my mind how much Takuto Maruki from Persona 5 Royal fits your description of a good villain literally word for word. Want to turn his desires to reality (in more ways than one), thinks he is the hero and what he is doing is right and will do everything he can to achieve it. Not to mention the only thing standing In is way is the hero “not necessarily in reality but in his mind” any fans know exactly why this is relevant. (His palace)

Love your video!

A wonderful video, Abbie! You rule!

“I don’t have anything to loose” the number one quote villains say when they’re about to go all out on the hero.

I like this writing channel cos she is the only few female youtuber that speaks with a normal voice.

Villains are so much fun! You can make them desire anything.... anything anything!

I've always found the "villain is the hero of their own story"-advice really limiting. I mean sure, every villain needs at least some kind of motivation to their actions, and preferably (not always) a back story as well to show who they actually are, but they don't have to think that their actions are right. It places boundaries to what the villain can or can't do, a moral line they would not cross. I think there absolutely is a place for villains who lack morality, those who are out for power, status or personal gain, who aren't afraid to snuff out the innocent only to prove a point or to terrorize the heroes, or perhaps just to feel empowered over it. A villain who doesn't have any moral boundaries is far more terrifying and unpredictable than those who act by their moral code and think what they do is justified. One I can sympathize with, but it's the other that keeps me on the edge of my seat every time they appear anywhere near the characters I've grown to care about.

Zaheer from LOK is hands down my favorite villain, not only because his ideological position, the inherent danger of the avatar, was something I agreed with when he articulated it, but his personal charisma and the fact that he overcame impressive odds to become one of the most skilled airbenders in history. Hard not to root for someone like that.

Here’s my favorite villain :funny valentine

Girl you are so under-rated

This really helped me, and also I agree, Poldark is great

Thank you for making this video

Never watched the show you mentioned, but it reminds me a lot of one of my favorite movies, the count of Monte Christo.

You are so funny! Love your videos, thanks!!

Thanks so much for these tips! I’m a young writer (thirteen) and this really helped! +1 subscriber

I love this so much

Your videos are SO helpful, thank you Abbie! Current favourite villains/pseudo villains: Kennit (Pirate) and Paragon (Mad Ship) from the Robin Hobb 'Liveship traders' series. She's incredible at constructing complex stories with multiple sub-plots in a universe of her own creation. Her villains are complex, simultaneously lovable, relatable, detestable, unforgivable, and have terrible (yet could happen to anyone) events that carved their fears deeply into their psyches and drive them forward, leaving the reader anticipating terrible things even when they have been redeemed (Paragon in the Fitz & Fool series).

I love this and all your suggestions. I am currently writing a story where my villain is actually one of the protagonist’s best friends. He, outwardly does not appear to be the villain, but his motivations steer him in that direction, eventually causing him to directly oppose and eventually destroy the protagonist’s goals… mostly. Any ideas on where the villain isn’t obvious?

I certainly don't agree that villains are "inherently evil" or that evil people are "subhuman", but I see where you were going with that at least? Good advice overall.

omg the hitler example😂 One of my fave villains is Adelina from the Young Elites- mainly because of the way she's written; it's clear we have a complex character, morally gray (although, more DARK gray than light gray tbh), and overall, we can clearly see the struggle of the story at both trying to place her as a hero and a villain.

Just a few nights ago I was mapping out a villain using the ennegram. I found what I consider to be his core personality (1), then chose one of the connecting personalities to be an extension of his positive traits (4) and the other to be an extension of his negative traits (7). Now I can't wait to flesh him out.

Workin on a Jojo comic with a buddy so this might be very helpful, thank you!

One of my favorite villains right now is August from the Swedish show Young Royals !👌

My favorite villain is a politician who wants to stop everything from moving and changing. With glue.

love this! It's just what I need get my villain into gear. I can almost see her! Oh, btw, I love Visser-Three from the old Animorphs series by K. A. Applegate and Joker from the Dark Night trilogy, Count Olaf from Lemony Snickets A Series of Unfortunate Events

This was helpful

One of the best done villains I have ever seen is Petro from Kurt Seyit et Sura, a Turkish period romance drama, one of my favourite series of all time.

YES George is SUCH a good example!!

there's also a difference between an antagonist and a villain. an antagonist works against the protagonist, but isn't necessarily all blood and guts and glory. in the book i'm writing, the hero is the protagonist (obviously) who battles against the antagonist, who is the supposed "villain," but the word villain doesn't accurately describe him. the true villain of the story is completely different than him and pretty terrible, therefore when the true baddie comes out, the story gives the reader a chance to realize "oh wait the antagonist isn't actually that bad compared with this horrible villain that i kinda wanna throw off a bridge."

Can a make a villain protagonist just a full-blown psychopath that doesn't have morals to him as long I have a good idea with it. Because I like those kinds of villains and I tried so many times to create a descriptive or simple hero as the main character and I widen up stressful. Can I at least have a villain protagonist that has the personality of a wild man that kills anything and we all know what happens to the poor fair maidens. I always like the dark stuff in ideas and dark fantasy novels and Dark Fantasy anime is my kind of taste...