So, how do you make your bad guy good?
(You do know that I mean, when I say 'make your bad guy good', to make your bad guy convincing? This isn't about how to get your baddie to turn to the good side.)
First, don't cackle. Cackling is probably one of the most cliche things your baddie can do.
Second, make him truly evil and cruel. Maybe a few...interesting...torturing devices lining his throne room or something.
Third, he doesn't have to look evil. Think of Feragho (I think I spelled that right) in Salamandastron, by Brian Jacques. He's handsome and has baby blue eyes, and yet he is a really, really evil bad guy.
One of the hardest parts for me is when the bad guy speaks. You know what I mean? It's then that my bad guys are most vulnerable to looking rather fake. I've actually considered having a bad guy who doesn't talk at all. But that would be a little hard.
Any other advice for bad guys?
5 comments:
I'll be thinking and hopefully come up with something, and then I'll get back to you. :)
~Eldarwen
Great advice! Thanks. :)
I know how it is! I'm going to do a book based on a bad guy, and it is really hard to make him sound convincing.*sighs* I(in a different book) want to make the bad guy look like a good guy instead of, black/gray hair, scar on face, evil laugh, classic evil look.
Hmm, advice? I would suggest some awesome powers, or something of that sort. Maybe some really cool henchmen. Or you could have the main bad guy fight all the battles himself...
oh dear. Have you ever read Inkheart? Capricorn is the perfect example of an absolutely wonderful bad guy. That whole series is full of awesome bad guys! Sootbird, Adderhead, I mean come on! But in the first book, Dustfinger is telling Meggie about him and it goes something like this. "Have you ever seen a bird being eaten by a cat? You'd probably try to save it, wouldn't you? Well Capricorn would feed the bird to the cat just to watch it struggle." Once again, that isn't a direct quote, but... yeah.
I think it's cool when bad guys have weakness', too. The Adderhead is scared of death, for instance. He goes everywhere, killing all of these people and creatures in an attempt to stay alive.
And NO CACKLING!!!!!!!!!!! not unless you want him to be like Ezra in the Leven Thumps series. It should be an empty laugh: one that really has no feeling in it at all. His only true feelings should be hate, remorse, or yes: fear. That is what they are destined for in becoming evil. I mean, there's all these different kinds of bad guys...
Preferably, I looooooove the Joker in the Dark Knight. That's one of the only reasons I like that movie! (And it's one of my favorites.)
This might sound weird, but I like bad guys best. They're dark and mysterious and most certainly are more "cope for the imagination". :)
Exactly how I feel about it!!!
Like my bad guy, Caranthir, is creepy (people say) because he's coldly beautiful.
And his voice is very soft, but you know how evil he is. He'll kill for a small offense, even his right-hand-man (which he does) =)
Post a Comment