10 Best Tips for Writing EVIL Dialogue

[@Arduousintent4049]

I like it when a villain is delusional. Like they have total faith in what they're saying and doing, even though it's super twisted (especially when they're trying to convince the protagonist to join them).

[@andrewlustfield6079]

Overall, this is a good beginners list. Of course it all depends on the type of villain we are talking about. If they are a human villain, they have human motivations. One of the things I typically like about King's villains is that many of the most memorable ones always seem to be having such a good time throughout most of the story. Whether it's Pennywise, Flagg, Barlow, or Trashcan Man--they all seem to honestly love what they do, and if it hurts someone, especially someone they don't like, all to the good. So there is something to be said for having a villain who enjoys the pain and suffering her/she inflicts to those around them. Rhea of the Coos from book fours of the Dark Tower is an excellent example. Another thing he does exceptionally well, is the villain who starts out mostly alright and slowly descends into madness. Jack Torrence in the Shining is an excellent example of this.

[@rainestar82]

bonus points when that delusion breaks and they have a crisis of faith or it impacts a confrontation with the hero in some way!

[@mapleshadeeatscats]

Yes and those are my favorite types of villains to write!

[@jbcatz5]

Some of the best villains genuinely believe they’re doing the right thing and can not conceive someone would think their viewpoint is anything but wrong. The deaths they cause are worthy sacrifice to attain their core goal instead of slaughter for the sake of slaughter.

[@jbcatz5]

Victoria Ferguson That makes them more of a wild card because you don’t know if they will side with or against the forces they’ve brought into the story, and help or hinder the protagonist if they work together for face a common enemy.

[@renjiai]

"Do the tides command this ship?" "I'm about to celebrate becoming an only child" "Don't flatter yourself. You were never even a player." "My own mother thought I was a monster. She was right of course."

[@tinmvn]

All hail Firelord Azula.

[@RedWizardFox]

Azula lol

[@Msrandomconversation]

@@tinmvn FireLord My Flame burns for thee!

[@hglundahl]

One of them sounds so Nero: _"I'm about to celebrate becoming an only child"_

[@VenomQuill]

The tides speech was so powerful and an amazing intro.

[@ClintLoweTube]

Stephen King made a evil character kick a dog at the start to show his low character, then Stephen gets hate mail for months for cruelty to animals. Can you believe people can't understand a story teller is only making something up?

[@mirjanbouma]

Some people have trouble with the concept of fiction. Idk how that happens, but it's a thing. Actors suffer such reactions too. Anthony Hopkins has had people run away screaming when they saw him in person, after the Silence of the Lambs came out. Which is a shame because he's supposedly very nice. He plays the piano and likes to make jokes. (I follow him on Instagram)

[@ClintLoweTube]

@@mirjanbouma True. I never knew that about Anthony. He's definitely a good actor.

[@mirjanbouma]

@@ClintLoweTube yeah he's amazing.

[@chalkandrubble5702]

Aaaaah this makes me scared to be an author

[@nitsuA_08]

Hirohiko Araki: ‘sweats’

[@arrow_of_ravenclaw5155]

I don’t know if this opinion is unpopular, but I love villains who are just evil. I find those villains fun; like Cruella from once upon a time. Complex villains are great, but sometimes the crazy ones are fun, and some of the scariest because they’re just evil for the heck of it Edit: Jack Horner from puss in boots 2 too

[@thegreatandterrible4508]

I think you need a nice balance. A lot of my villains have some sort of understandable motivation, but are completely willing to burn down the world and kick puppies to get it. Or I'll have a Big Bad and their Dragon with one of them pure evil and the other more complex. Kind of like Zuko and Ozai.

[@rainestar82]

This. But they still follow the other rules, thats the key to be a great villain despite that. They dont have to complex motivationally but the dialogue and character themselves needs to stand out! I have a character who's just pure chaotic neutral/evil, they're supernatural and their purpose is just to mess with anyone they can and cause as much pain as possible. Still a motivation, just not a human one. Genuinely one of my fav characters to write in the past decade I've spent focusing on it.

[@arrow_of_ravenclaw5155]

@@rainestar82 your character sounds awesome

[@RiveroftheWither]

That's why I love Zenos from Final Fantasy 14. The game has a good selection of great, well written complex villains, Zenos is the only one that's stands out as evil for evils sake. He has a slightly more complex backstory being a prince of a conquering nation that was experimented on as a kid "super soldier" style. The result is a homicidal sociopath that's bored with life and only ever feels when he fights someone strong, becoming so obsessed with the player that hes literally bringing about the apocalypse as an "invitation" to have one more fight. Dudes bonkers and I love it.

[@Catpuff818]

Villains who are evil for the sake of being evil can be so much fun and it doesn't mean that they can't be deep. So I'm all for it. I'm personally more partial to the "force of nature villains" /chaotic neutral or chaotic evil villains because I just love a villain who is bat shit crazy/passionate about what they do.

[@Shatterverse]

One of my favorite underapreciated pieces of vilian dialogue is from _Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves_ film where Alan Rickman played the Sheriff of Nottingham: "I'm going to cut your heart out with a spoon!" "Why a spoon cousin?" "Because it's dull you twit, it'll hurt more!"

[@geraldfrost4710]

"Because it will hurt more, you twit!" even spitting venom at his henchmen.

[@mattkhourie4037]

Rickman was a absolute cheese bomb boss in that movie. Loved him.

[@ultimateclotiluver]

RIP Alan Rickman

[@awesomedude2556]

Never watched the movie but I could still hear Rickman’s voice while reading the line

[@rorysyers8457]

I like it when the villain likes the protagonist, like they see the mc as a friend or something like that. I particularly like it if they've been friend for a long time so when it's time to throw out cutting remarks the villain will know just how to hurt the mc.

[@arrow_of_ravenclaw5155]

I just watched something like that

[@rorysyers8457]

@@arrow_of_ravenclaw5155 Cool

[@nabilamiah3814]

@@arrow_of_ravenclaw5155 What was it?

[@arrow_of_ravenclaw5155]

@@nabilamiah3814 it’s really recent so I don’t wanna spoil things

[@eveescastle5866]

See the Villain in one of my wips took in the MC after he was orphaned and basically raised him only to find out he's the one who killed his mom.

[@JohnBradford14]

When you said less is more, you really weren't kidding! SuperEyepatchWolf did a very cool video on villains that mentioned a scene from an anime where a bunch of big scary villains was about to pour drinks while discussing their evil plan, only for the biggest, scariest guy to ask simply for a glass of orange juice. Little bits of dialogue like that go a very long way to fleshing out a character's personality without having to bog down the reader with backstory and exposition.

[@corenlavolpe6143]

Love that video!

[@lostboi2271]

Which one? I've watched a few of his videos but I don't think I know this one

[@JohnBradford14]

@@lostboi2271 "What Makes a Villain Feel Real"

[@samlerf]

And DBZimran did a good video on active and reactive characters with his videos "The Rise of BLEACH: 4 Years Later", "BLEACH: Ruined Reputation | Documentary (2020)" and "Ichigo Kurosaki: THE PROTECTOR | BLEACH: Character Analysis". "Diane Callahan - Quotidian Writer" is also a pretty great youtube channel.

[@ButterCookie1984]

Good point

[@LordDawnWreaver]

A perfect example of a good villain is evil morty he said the line "This seems like a good time for a drink, and a cold, calculated speech with sinister overtones. A speech about politics, about order, brotherhood, power... but speeches are for campaigning. Now is the time for action.” that line was a perfect example of his character.

[@Bahr-im7pn]

"Tonight, the quality of dialogue stops mattering. Tonight, I do that thing I want to do. With the curve thing."

[@starryeyes4513]

You’re a lifesaver, I was having second thoughts on my villain’s dialogue.

[@joekeeryismybbg]

WOA SAME

[@bxttercxp_swxxts]

Everyone knows that Jenna somehow can tell when you're having problems with something in writing, and will post a video on it. It's happened countless times. I'm scared, and impressed.

[@sh4rky466]

@@bxttercxp_swxxts it’s because she’s in our walls, listening to us being upset over our writers block

[@Gearthepunk]

"I've met real people who experience mania, and they don't laugh like that" LMAO 👀 my regular laugh has been coined a cackle thanks to my mom's laugh being a cackle. I'm bipolar and experience mania. 🤣 I'm a real life bad guy trope! I'm living for this!

[@AT-hz9dc]

😂 i love it. I definitely have a wide range of laughs and one is absolutely pure villain. Ive gotten some strange looks when it comes out 👀 but boring laughs are just that-booooring. Power to the wicked laughs!

[@AT-hz9dc]

😂 i love it. I definitely have a wide range of laughs and one is absolutely pure villain. Ive gotten some strange looks when it comes out 👀 but boring laughs are just that-booooring. Power to the wicked laughs!

[@warriorxp7]

my main villain is like a ''the ends justify the means'' type of person. they dont wanna do these things, but feels only they can bring about the perfect world they envision.

[@majacovic5141]

Lol, my *hero* is the "ends justify the means" type of person, because he sees the writing on the wall and goes "fuck it, I'm stoping this. Oh you don't like my methods? Don't care. *Your* methods got us into this shit in the first place. You're not getting us extinct on my watch. Tyrant? Sure, whatever you say, still don't care." Not a perfect world, just a better one. Oh and there's the little part where his Lawfull Good hero got assasinated, JFK- style. Basically a Well Intended Extremist meets The Extremist Was Right.

[@iferawhite7661]

My villain actually appears as a supporting character for the first half of the book. He is legally sane but has lived since the neanderthals and is painfully, painfully bored of everything Because of this he's very wise and knows about many many things, even obscure things, and he's often referred to as a "master of the people" because he's a flawless manipulator and can portray himself any way that benefits him with utmost believability Sometimes he's energetic, childish, and impatient--other times he's calm, compassionate, and quiet. He's usually hard to describe, but his closest attendants typically describe him as relentlessly sarcastic, bittersweet, and flirtatious Hes definitely my favorite villain I've written so far--though I'm still trying to find the right balance so that he's sympathetic (which is required for the plot) but still very hateable And I think this video will really help me avoid any cliches that would spoil all the effort I've put into him. Thanks Jenna :D

[@mapleshadeeatscats]

Wow that sounds so interesting! Honestly I would love to read your book! I love any content with an amazing villain!

[@iferawhite7661]

@@mapleshadeeatscats You have made my day, friend I was just looking for inspiration to write today and in came the (belated) notification for this reply I've had a real issue with garbage villains in the past so I went all-out with this guy, treating him not as a villain but as a protagonist, and I think it paid off ^^ Thank you

[@mapleshadeeatscats]

@@iferawhite7661 No problem at all. I am a young writer and I just love supporting my fellow authors and writers! Good luck with writing your characters ❤️❤️❤️

[@sutomuarashi]

cant wait to read your book !!!!

[@fpena6038]

So far, your story sounds pretty interesting. Speaking of avoiding cliches, the immortal or long-lived person who is bored with everything is itself a cliche, BUT I do like that you also describe this character as relentlessly sarcastic and flirtatious. Should there be a certain sense of "there's nothing new under the sun" to that character? Yes. But also, he should also have some sense of curiousity and even wonder left in him to match that sarcastic & flirtatious nature, and also to balance him as a not purely "bored with everything" cliche kind of character. Perhaps he has an interest in studying people: the development of personality types over time; the changes in philosophy and paradigms; even the concept of how people are all the same, but also unique and different simultaneously. Perhaps his retiunue reflects that he collects people with different interesting personalities over time, to keep him from getting bored. Etc. What you gave described so far has captured my imagination, and I am curious to see how you develop this character and story.

[@WilyGryphon]

"Don't turn your dialogue into diarrhea." There could be a villain who spouts _so_ many cliched villain phrases, but it would set them apart from other, more unique villains. And a veteran hero (or a jaded civilian from an oft-invaded town) could hang a lampshade on it by listing how many times they've heard each line like Abridged Frieza. "Kneel before me!" "82." "Tremble before my awesome might!" "51." "Perish!" "106." "THIS CANNOT BE!" "648."

[@dominicle9831]

Heh, I love DBZA’s Frieza. “Oh, look, more baby seals.”

[@arrow_of_ravenclaw5155]

The dialogue depends on what type of villain you’re doing. In one of my WIPs, the villain has to be suave because he’s tricking a lot of people into imprisioning a bunch of innocent teens because of them has a alien stuck where the sun doesn’t shine . In my other story, my villain doesn’t talk that much. He’s a serial killer whose identity isn’t revealed until late in the book

[@rainestar82]

idk if this is maybe an unsolicited opinion but just be careful you're not doing the thing where you don't give the audience a chance to pick up on it! Villain reveals are no fun when it's someone I only met 10 pages ago (I've definitely done this more than once and had to edit half of my WIP so really sorry if this comes off as lectury/arrogant!)

[@arrow_of_ravenclaw5155]

@@rainestar82 thank you

[@eveescastle5866]

@@rainestar82 I found this insightful as a villain for one of my Wips is the MCs love interest's dad who is absent for most of the story.

[@jaimelannister1797]

@@eveescastle5866 what’s wips?

[@arrow_of_ravenclaw5155]

@@jaimelannister1797 works in progress

[@ashleighhouska9593]

I literally just let my grandma read 2 chapters from my book because she really wanted to and the first thing she said was there was a lot of swearing. The first two chapters are from the perspective of sailors. (But she did like it, minus the extremely appropriate swearing).

[@valtteripennanen4043]

>Villians have layers. They're humans after all. (by default) Me: * suddenly remembers a quote from Shrek *

[@happycheese5135]

Honestly I love a charming villain. It throws off the protagonist because they think the villain is innocent but really they're being made a fool.

[@Emperor-Quill]

There's a special place in my heart for villains who are normally eloquent and intelligent, but *something* happens and they don't necessarily 180 into going ballistic, but they do shout something that would normally be out of character, but in context shows that whatever the hero did just then that really REALLY did some damage. Can't get enough of it oough,,

[@bactriafu3479]

I like the villains being causual, like they're speaking something that they don't realize how painful it sounds to the listeners.

[@SysterYster]

My antagonist starts out as seeming professional and cool, but as his fight with/hunt for the MC goes on, he shows more and more his unhinged side and he gets more obsessed and nasty as time goes on. People seem to like to hate him. :D

[@seanhastings4432]

I love it when the villain starts off as a mentor trusted by the protagonist. Then, instead of getting the Obi Wan treatment, they turn out to be the bad guy.

[@Botticella89]

"What is a man? A miserable pile of secrets! But, enough talk, have at you!"

[@smokey8472]

The 4 dislikes are from cliche villains being outed out. XD

[@christinaglahn8036]

I'll get you, my pretty!

[@plerrythedingus]

The maniacal laughter from Simon in infinity train or the one from azula in avatar however is heartbreaking to watch bc these shows had good writing

[@spencerv5275]

I'm currently working on the first draft of my book I've reached chapter 8

[@anni1961]

Ooh cool! Good luck with it in the future!

[@TheJovan21]

Congrats man, stay consistent 🙌

[@sevdawolf6477]

love learning how to make my villains evil from the most diabolical slice of pizza to ever exist 😁

[@invisibleink1145]

I mean, everybody loves Loki and he's the biggest cliche of them all lol, at least in the MCU. Tragic backstory? Check. Daddy issues? Check. Catchphrases? Check. Maniacal laughter? Check. I really do think it just depends on how you do these things, and if you do them well. Obviously, if you do them badly, without giving it any thought at all, it's going to suck. But if it fits the character and it's something they would realistically do, then yeah, go for it. Just give it some thought first.

[@lampyrisnoctiluca9904]

Very few villains are dynamic characters. Everybody loves well developed dynamic characters. I mean - Is there a fate worse than staying the same person you were back in highschool forever? Nobody likes that kind of people, not even their kids while in highschool. Loki is the opposite.

[@invisibleink1145]

@@lampyrisnoctiluca9904 The Joker too, at least in The Dark Knight, is incredibly dynamic. He doesn't laugh maniacally in every scene because he's just crazy. He does it to scare people, which, if you are going to include a character who laughs like that, is actually a good reason (if it fits the character of course).

[@009013M3]

Do people really *love* Loki though, or are they just unconsciously bored to tears of the MCU and Loki just happens to be the only character beyond early Tony Stark whose character has more than two dimensions?

[@lampyrisnoctiluca9904]

@@009013M3 Yes. They do. He is very likeable.

[@shade08538]

The reason why Loki is so endearing is because he had this vibe where we can laugh with him. He’s hardly ever fazed by anything, and tends to respond with a wisecrack or a threat on your life, a mere mask covering his crippling insecurities and feeling of inadequacy to the brother he’s lived with for centuries

[@amehak1922]

Cute costume! I'm good at writing events and descriptions, etc, but I'm still terrible at dialog. Best burn I ever said: "you don't have to try so hard to convince me that you're stupid."

[@JiffydaRhino]

My villain is my protagonist. To him he is the hero of his own story

[@jirikatoka4554]

I love those kinds of stories

[@JiffydaRhino]

@@jirikatoka4554 gotta tell their side

[@teamawesome5153]

Ooh, that sounds cool!🤩

[@JiffydaRhino]

@@teamawesome5153 According to Jenna my villain is semi morally grey character. He'll save a village but he is always ready to wipe out an entire army

[@Catpuff818]

Writting for Villains is so much fun x3c Especially when you make the audience squirm because of all the dramatic irony. Villains are by and large my favorite characters as an audience and as a creator. I create so much backstory for them even though I know that most of it won't be revealed but it makes writing their actions and dialogue all the more fascinating.

[@warriormaiden9829]

Makes it a bit easier as well, in my experience. :)

[@Omarthedemigod]

I find that to be true as I’m creating my villain. I’m writing a comic book, a superhero one (yeah I know, so original) and I’ve been having some issue with my main villain. I feel that Im making progress now. So basically at the start he seems like the classic rich and powerful villain. Like Lex Luthor or Green Goblin (Norman Osborn). For me I decided to kinda twist at it. Instead he’s someone trying to build not only his legitimate company but run a criminal empire. He’s younger than most rich villains. He didn’t inherit his wealth by any means and had to and is building his empires from scratch. He’s also not as rich as we think since he’s just getting his company up there. He can’t pull a multi billion dollar super suit out of his ass. His powers already do that for him. I have a couple of more things but I don’t wanna write a lot more than I already have.

[@emilymatthews2990]

The best kind of villains for me are the hypocrites who think they’re doing the right thing when they aren’t. Jigsaw for example is one.

[@freefromnuts7889]

Always a good reminder when crafting a dungeons and dragons villain..

[@writethepath8354]

No exaggeration: I put this video on while we were eating dinner, and my 3yo is walking around going MWAHAHAHA for the last half hour

[@warriormaiden9829]

*chuckles* My kid picked up his 'Mwahahahaha' from me. Say what you want about maniacal laughter, but is surprisingly cathartic, especially when you've been getting more and more frustrated over looking for that elusive item, or finally pass that jerk that's refused to follow the posted speed limit/blocked traffic for the last three miles, or what have you. XD

[@writethepath8354]

@@warriormaiden9829 my kid picked up "what the fuck is happening" from me, which I'm fine with. 🙂

[@warriormaiden9829]

@@writethepath8354 🤣

[@thecakegarden5324]

One idea for a future topic could be, (insert number) Best/Worst Redemption Arc Tropes. I feel like we get way too many poorly done ones these days, and I would love to hear your thoughts

[@warriormaiden9829]

Agreed!

[@havk.]

Good idea, I know in shows (and books too) we get far too many rushed or undeserving redemption arcs.

[@eveescastle5866]

I have a few villains in the works are essentially puppets to a greater evil. It's so fun when the MC is wronged by someone only to find out they didn't mattrr in the grand scheme of things and there is something far worse. I have a villain in one of my projects who killed the MCs mom because she posed a threaten to the puppet master villain. It's personal for the MC but in the end the villain realizes he's been played when the puppet master leaves him alone in the final confrontation.

[@cosmicspacething3474]

Final? RIP…

[@andreavolpe2234]

Nice pizza costume! 😂😂😂 and nice writeing tips! 😊

[@star-boltlover9609]

*writing

[@swarple]

I remember watching a thriller that actually started out pretty enjoyable. I’m not sure how original it was but I thought it was interesting and I found the character that was eventually revealed to be the antagonist really interesting. His dialogue was funny. But holy crap the second he was revealed to be the villain the writing just dropped in quality. Not just for him but for everyone and everything, it was so weird. I distinctly remember a moment where the protagonists were trying to track him down underground only for the lights to go out, and thinking “I swear if he starts singing creepily-“ And sure enough that was exactly what he did. And I went from liking the character to really disliking him just cuz the writers turned him into a cliché crazy man at the climax.

[@acheronidae]

Show of hands, how many people use these tips to write fanfiction? ✋

[@joekeeryismybbg]

.....🤚

[@sapphic-ating3702]

🤚🏼🤚🏼🤚🏼

[@trinityjohnson7954]

🙌🙌🙌

[@sora1498]

i dont have enough hands for this

[@neofulcrum5013]

I’m using to hopefully write a book or 2 one day.

[@timotheehuffman2259]

I was always a fan of the villains that were just like "I have no idea who you are." Like the impact that they have on the protagonist wasn't even a blip on their radar.

[@cosmicspacething3474]

“Do you have any idea how little that narrows it down?”

[@scoot-scoot51341]

Literally was just questioning if my villain sounded "villainous" enough. Thanks! ❤

[@mapleshadeeatscats]

Btw since you didn’t know the word is “villainous” I hate to be that one person but I thought I would just say it

[@scoot-scoot51341]

@@mapleshadeeatscats Thanks! And I love your username, by the way. :)

[@mapleshadeeatscats]

@@scoot-scoot51341 Thanks ❤️

[@Sly-Moose]

This vid will actually be SO helpful for me. Ty!

[@poisonivystar4]

Do you have any tips for writing motivational speeches/moments, where they hero is being comforted through their darkest hour?

[@zhoradaiyu5184]

Oh no! Jenna's been eaten by a giant, carnivorous Pizza slice. Om nom nom

[@mirjanbouma]

But what a way to go

[@fallbladew967]

I'm not even a writer and yet I still love these videos

[@AleksandrPodyachev]

How do I pull off characters that are so depraved and power-hungry that they come across as horrifying?

[@cosmicdust2668]

give an example of them doing something depraved and power hungry. show how far they're willing to go and how little it means to them that they're committing these atrocities

[@KittyKarmaCreates]

@@cosmicdust2668 Adding on to this, don't ramble on about how far they're willing to go. I mean by this don't have your MCs thoughts always being about it. Maybe have them be horrified when they realize this guys pulling no stops when it comes to power. IDK but when a character just thinks this, I get bored.

[@RiveroftheWither]

One of Jennas biggest pieces of advice on this channel is "Show, don't tell". Basically just combining what the other two people said. You want to show him doing and atrocious act and then react in accordance to his personality. Example action: Slicing a man in half in front of his children. Example reactions: If the villain has an indifferent personality they would be stone faced, maybe slightly annoyed at the blood staining their sword as they wipe it off on the dead man's clothes, ordering a lacky to silence the wailing brats. If they are the blood thirsty type that gets a kick out of killing they would have a crooked smile and wild eyes, licking the blood off their sword while making eye contact with the kids before slowly walking towards them... Maybe one of the kids escapes and becomes the protagonist, one with first hand experience knowing how twisted the villain is. Never have your villain just brag about what they've done, that's boring. One of the best things about Sauron from LOTRs is he never talks but you directly see his evil influence spread throughout as the different character groups travel across the land.

[@PapaphobiaPictures]

Not to be that guy, but literally look to the current wealthy class. Look to those in power and examine the shit they'll do. There's something more sinister if they have a human kind of face too in having a public persona versus private actions

[@theshinypeliper8813]

I’m working on a villain for an rp with some friends and I just decided to make him just love to see people struggle, he finds it to be beautiful. So he’ll target an individual and fuck up their life before dipping to watch them go through said struggle from a distance. But he doesn’t care if they get out or not because either outcome is equally as beautiful to him. But he does hate quitters

[@t3chkn1ght]

Me with a villain who doesn't speak: Hmmm, yes. Vital information.

[@Abhi.imanyu_]

Yaaay!The pizza is my favourite costume❤️Also loved your video,which brought me closer to writing a evil villain 😎

[@DY2727]

I have no words for how thankful I am Jenna! ☺️❤️

[@braveheart_elemental4435]

You are a mind reader. Thank you!

[@rcj.19]

I like it when there’s a villain you ABSOLUTELY DESPISE and then at the end, when they’re about to die or something, you’re like “NO YOU’RE NOT BAD ANYMORE DON’T DIE”

[@ActiveAdvocate1]

Hi Pizza Jenna! LOL, I love it. I freaking love Hallowe'en.

[@JSMaddy]

exactly what I needed!

[@jeroenvanrossum9705]

I love your videos, Jenna! As for the hint at the end of your video... Could you make a video on writing dialogue for witty/snarky/cunning characters?

[@curioussquidd3987]

"Any creature that exists, does so without my consent" a paraphrase from the Judge, Blood Meridian. First time reading the book, just got to that chapter. Loving it!

[@duncansmit5877]

Howzit. I've been a fan for a debatably short time. I have to say you give the best advice. If I could just say for point number ten I honestly thought for a moment that you were going to say not just what the villain despises and what hurts your mc (my addition here) but what does the villain know about the mc to use against him/her because if the villain and mc are interacting (not always but let's just accept this for this scenario) shouldn't either party learnt one negative trait about the other by the end to use as ammo in the dialogue? It went through my head but I'll take your word that's it's only those two points. Much appreciated for all the work you do and the amazing content you make.

[@intellectually_lazy]

you dont have to be crazy to laugh, even to experience "inappropriate" laughter.it's frequently a sign of stress or discomfort, but i see your point, as it is coded that way

[@p.o.s.starwarsedits7974]

So, I know people don’t really care but I’m planning my book series right now (it’s called ‘The Search’) and I have been watching your videos and they have saved me, like this video. Your videos are so helpful in my writer’s journey, thanks to your video I learned so many apps/ websites that help me a lot, like Milanote. Thank You so much 😊

[@samlerf]

"Diane Callahan - Quotidian Writer" is also a pretty great youtube channel.

[@p.o.s.starwarsedits7974]

@@samlerf I’ll go check them out, thanks

[@joekeeryismybbg]

What if your villain is modelling herself after a femme fatale cliché? Can I still make her hot without her dynamic being flat

[@jvcscasio]

As long as you explore her. Why is she modelling after femme fatale? Does she have preferences? Does it make her feel powerful or does it make her feel disgusted? Does she collect make up magazines? Has she ever dropped the femme fatale act? If so, what made her drop it?

[@EvelinaNinudottir]

I have entertained the idea of a femme fatale who is actually disgusted by and tired of the "sexy woman with no personality"-villain. Instead of being flirty and seductive in a way a straight male reader could appreciate, she is flat out vile and cruel. Not gonna go into gory details, YT wouldn't allow that, but yeah.

[@EytsirhcChristye]

I have a villain. I had him saying things that were racist and sexist who cussed and manipulated and lied and murdered and tortured and twisted things around to get his way. I removed everything he said that was racist and sexist and the cussing and toned down most of his violence. Now he’s like a Scooby Doo villain.

[@geraldfrost4710]

Had a lady friend who wrote a wife-beating husband. Obviously trash talking and vile. "And you better be back in time to fix dinner!" when her ring-slapped face had hadn't stopped bleeding. His wife was a friend of the lady detective. The lady detective used the husband to do some surveillance, and the husband was spotted and got the crap beaten out of him. "Darling! You wrote a jerk and gave him retribution. Well done!" "but all I wanted to do was get him some money so that he'd have his beer and not be mad at his wife!" "You don't have to be nice to all the characters in your book. It's okay to use dark colors." If your villain operates on small animals for fun, you can show your disgust for his actions without glorifying them. Having a villain that is nasty if fine, but let them cuss in believably original ways. "May the demon of lust break your guts with his thrust!" is a bit wordy, but it's better than "F you!" (unless your villain is of limited brain.)

[@salsamaster1245]

honestly I am surprised with myself I have been writing for 3 years but only started watching you 3 days ago and I have to say according to what I here in your videos I am proud of myself for doing things write though I still choose to watch and learn just incase

[@storyphilepremium1724]

Loving the new setup!

[@milenasoloduhina1726]

I would consider myself sane, but often in private or while withy partner break out in maniacal laughter over minor mischief. I wonder if I should worry

[@joekeeryismybbg]

so we all just here trying to write hot complex villains huh

[@SummersKathy]

I do like this video, I am currently writing a western book of a made-up outlaw who is the main character. The main character does not become an outlaw immediately but after a chain of events the main character became an outlaw

[@megankirrmann6624]

Nice Halloween 🎃 costume!!!

[@aussieb1764]

this passive aggresion is amazing

[@morganjones2744]

#10 was my favorite. I love doing that shitz with my villains dialogue

[@illiengalene2285]

Me, not a villain: Muwhahahaha! Breaking the 4th wall and being aware of the trope, as a character... But at heart they are a cinnamon roll with icing and sprinkles...

[@augustawickmanart]

Another excellent video! Thanks for all the great pointers. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[@megarotom1590]

I agree that crazy and evil aren’t necessarily equivalent, in fact, I have a character that has a lot of traits that are often given to stereotypically crazy villains…but they are actually the main hero. Granted they are a bit of an anti hero and part of their shtick is their mind is deteriorating a tad but still

[@sora1498]

my favourite villain is the flirty but devilish kind, its just so entertaining

[@Corbi310]

My villain’s evil behavior stems from low self esteem and fear of being alone. He tries his best to show compassion and he’s overly protective of his captives, but he often slips up and lets his fear take over, causing him to brutally insult and abuse his captives. He is immediately overcome with guilt after each instance. You also don’t find out who the villain is until late in the book, and I think his ability to fit in with the crowd makes him particularly terrifying. Along with how unstable he is emotionally, of course. The book is called Marked for Eternity and comes out October 15 on Amazon!

[@kriosdrexx6404]

I always autoliked every video, they are just great

[@adrianpetyt9167]

Of course, if you do a good enough job of making your villain an insecure jerk, they may habitually use cliched dialogue simply because they think that's the done thing to say at a time like this (how many real life bullies talk like tough guys or bad guys in movies?). You'd probably better have your hero's reaction reflect the reader's eyeroll at this point, however!

[@notproductiveproductions3504]

I’m trying to make a second in command villain who knows damn well good is good and evil is evil BUT will act like good is evil and evil is good; he jokes about his own anti-morality

[@kylegovender6211]

Holy fucking shit,this came out an hour ago I was just binge watching your stuff and thought this was from 2018

[@rsacchi100]

Thanks for posting. You make a good point about the villain thinking they're the good guy. There is also the villains who think their actions are just a job; "We all have our jobs to do, Dale is a doctor, Leslie is a lawyer, I'm an assassin."

[@Mansplainer2099-jy8ps]

I am thinking of Drax and Jaws in Moonraker.

[@rsacchi100]

@@Mansplainer2099-jy8ps Good examples.

[@Cesly-mo3uf]

Villian Man: You and I aren't so different, you and I. Guy Guy: We are nothing the same! Never! Nothing!

[@crocoshark4097]

@Kinda Tard Villain Man: I'm gonna kill you Guy Guy: Citation needed.

[@nathaliealondraleveille8517]

Hello Jenna, I’ve always wondered when you were going to talk about how to write forbidden romances on your channel. Cheers from Canada

[@akuma_killereva3683]

Oh my gosh I needed this, thank you Jenna! ❤️

[@eowynmoonlight]

This is soo helpful for me thank you. Could you do video about how mask a villain, so it would be not or less obvious he/she is the bad guy? I know this is from detective genere but it would be helpful. Thanks:)

[@jademoonphoenix]

I'm really excited to see more from Brontes in The Savior's Army (it'll make his downfall that much sweeter). Even though he was the main antagonist and there's certainly a lot of depth to him, I have yet to see much personality or motivation. I'm curious about his beliefs, his struggles, his history, what he sees for his future, and especially whether or not he actually cares about anything besides himself.

[@cat_the_nerdymama]

I'm hoping it's covered in this video but I just started watching it and am needing advice about how to write for a villain that reoccurs in a series

[@robertagu5533]

You ought to describe horror scenes or maybe jump scares... but then again me an the wife was watching the first couple Conjuring movies earlier today so I digress..

[@anni1961]

Thank you! I have such big problems when it comes to writing villains

[@craigbob7734]

12:12 I have a different thought about that. What does your villain look up to? what is her/his goals? what inspires him/her? The villain can cut to the core of the hero by finding common ground. Example: Star Wars prequel Palpatine

[@autisticdancer]

That pizza costume looks so good it's making me hungry lol.

[@erikagehm2805]

Thank you! You gave me a few ideas.

[@CandyThePuppy]

10:00 Oof, yeah, that's a problem. I recently had to deal with a more classical villain moment kinda like that in one of my own books. Typically I do this thing where the characters and reader slowly find out the villain's goals, motivation, etc, as the story goes along so at the very most all the villain actually has to say in the "monologue" is maybe one short line about something the mc perhaps _couldn't_ have picked up from the clues given. But, alas, in a recent book I simply couldn't do that! The villain was just so sudden, he at least had to have SOME kind of monologue! So what did I do? Simple. I had the two move around the room, bump into stuff, times when one would get closer and the other sprint away, heck, even fall over! Basically anything I could to add movement to go with what the villain was saying. That, and I made sure every single sentence he spouted was important. Both to intimidate and to tell. Anything extra was cut out! By the end, the monologue was still pretty long, but so much had happened in that time that it never felt as if it dragged along or filled with time. If anything, it only grew MORE intense by the end!... I know this at least because I got a LOT of comments from my beta readers saying I did a pretty good job. 😅 You always know when you did good when your beta readers incorporate a large amount of swear words (in a good way lol) in their comments! 🤣

[@phrinus]

"I am Murray, the demonic skull!" This is just. I can't.

[@jonathanfrost8767]

Eyebrows on point Jenna. 11 thumbs up.

[@bseiscio]

Me out here taking notes because my story is a villain origin story and I want my MC to say and do things that casually hint at her future.

[@gregjayonnaise8314]

One villain I’ve been writing is a guy who is undisputedly bad, but also justifies everything in his mind as being right. Rather than this being a sympathetic aspect, I want to highlight it as a point that makes him even MORE evil; he’s aware he does bad things and hurts people, but has such a huge victim complex that he turns every situation into a “woe is me”thing, even if he’s the one doing the damage. He could shoot someone, and he’d only feel bad about how the other person “drove” him to shoot them. He also, bizarrely enough, craves validation from the people he hurts, which makes every interaction with my main character a push and pull of whether he even actually cares about her or not. Basically, he’s a textbook abusive person; a product of trauma who grows up to take it out on others without realizing the irony. I love all kinds of villains, but some of my favorites are villains that are understandable but still irredeemable. Just because you can understand a bad person’s reasoning and feelings does not mean you should condone it or let them walk all over you, and it doesn’t always mean redemption is a possibility. That’s only possible if a bad person recognizes their badness, which doesn’t always happen.

[@ronisila3040]

Oh hell yeah. I've been waiting for this one.

[@Zarreth]

Hearing Emma, the narrator of Savior's sister, speak in a normal non-British accent at the end was a trip. Not sure if she was doing an American accent or is just that good at doing a British/old timey accent in the book lol

[@KohanKilletz]

I wrote a book called "Seven Times and Seven Times I bow" where a lot of the protagonists commit reprehensible acts one would expect from a villain, however, I tried to examine the depth and history of such characters. Many of these characters perform these violent and treacherous acts due to a broken society that rewards duplicity as wisdom and cruelty as strength. Ultimately, in the series the major societal ills war especially becomes understood to be the true antagonist, and the seemingly unreconcilable and unredeemable have to learn how to settle their differences and make peace. But it's too late...

[@brandonthedestroyer1140]

Are they on Wattpad?

[@superraegun2649]

American: "Pizza is junk food" Italians: "Sharpen knives"

[@salsamaster1245]

my villain just kidnapped people to make them his friends because no one ever wanted to be his friend he also planned to rid the world of pain by killing everyone so they would never feel pain again because them life is nothing but pain and suffering

[@stevenferron1229]

I was going to ask how to write the confrontation where the hero and villain finally meet, but I realized there would probably be a lot of overlap with this list. Then another thought occurred to me: how do you write conflict? And I don’t mean the whole hero/villain dynamic, I mean how do you write say animosity between people who have to work together (like two generals on the same side of a war)?

[@ClintLoweTube]

use your imagination and make it up

[@iferawhite7661]

Hm... That's an interesting question. I mean... Naturally they'd fight--a lot. They'd quarrel over what approach was best to take, how to run things, etc. Realistically sometimes they might agree, but not always. But if they have an arch where they become friends, which often happens in that scenario, they probably find common ground and learn to respect each other's differences. But really I think this comes naturally when you have the personalities of the characters worked out. It's not so much a defined formula as it is your imagination, based off of real life experiences and the personalities of the characters Like, say two characters are enemies but have to come together for whatever. One character is Christian; the other is an atheist. One character highly values physical fitness and strength; the other prefers not to be active and instead challenges their mind. Well, there you go..those two characters would most likely get into squabbles about religion, and one might argue that the other should get out more but the other insists that exercising the brain is the most important thing and call that character an idiot for doing nothing but lifting weights and playing basketball, and the conflict goes on... For example, in the story I'm writing, the protagonist and a supporting character are often at odds. The protagonist is shy, insecure, and prefers to avoid conflict--the supporting character is loud, abrasive, and confident. Naturally the protagonist gets upset at the supporting character for being so chaotic, for causing so much trouble--but the supporting character bites back and says something like, "at least I'm not a walking doormat like you" So really conflict stems from a good understanding of your characters. When you have a solid idea of who your characters are, it becomes quite easy to see if they would get along or not--and if not, what they would fight about. If you struggle to write conflict between your characters, it could be a sign that you haven't fleshed out your characters well enough, or you're trying to create conflict between characters that just realistically would not have much conflict between them.