The bad characters are as important to a story as the good characters. The story is driven by the plot and conflict between good and evil is essential to a good story.
It is fairly easy to find inspiration for a protagonist; somebody that you can relate to. Maybe someone you would want to be.
What about the bad character? The role nobody wants to play? How do you create an evil character that is memorable to the reader? Where do you find the model for someone vile, but necessary to the stories' plot? You can start by looking around you at the people who are a part of the real world; the people who play a role in your own life.
In my historical mystery novel, Murder By Plane, I drew the inspiration for several bad characters from real life people. I changed the names and some of the physical descriptions, but made the personalities coincide. This satisfies the stories' need for antagonists, while allowing you to do whatever you want, in fiction, to people you don't like.
Drawing upon real life people for fiction characters helps you to flesh them out. I find this preferable to dreaming someone up from thin air. I had the inspiration for one undesirable character from the memory of a boss with an enormously inflated ego. Everyone knows someone who makes up for his own inadequacies by dragging others down verbally or otherwise. I created a vile, egotistical Hollywood movie mogul who became the main antagonist in the story. If you don't dislike this character you probably need help.
Building a plot-driven murder mystery requires the kind of conflict that only a truly evil person can provide.
T. E. Avery is the author of Murder By Plane.
It is fairly easy to find inspiration for a protagonist; somebody that you can relate to. Maybe someone you would want to be.
What about the bad character? The role nobody wants to play? How do you create an evil character that is memorable to the reader? Where do you find the model for someone vile, but necessary to the stories' plot? You can start by looking around you at the people who are a part of the real world; the people who play a role in your own life.
In my historical mystery novel, Murder By Plane, I drew the inspiration for several bad characters from real life people. I changed the names and some of the physical descriptions, but made the personalities coincide. This satisfies the stories' need for antagonists, while allowing you to do whatever you want, in fiction, to people you don't like.
Drawing upon real life people for fiction characters helps you to flesh them out. I find this preferable to dreaming someone up from thin air. I had the inspiration for one undesirable character from the memory of a boss with an enormously inflated ego. Everyone knows someone who makes up for his own inadequacies by dragging others down verbally or otherwise. I created a vile, egotistical Hollywood movie mogul who became the main antagonist in the story. If you don't dislike this character you probably need help.
Building a plot-driven murder mystery requires the kind of conflict that only a truly evil person can provide.
T. E. Avery is the author of Murder By Plane.