A hero is only as good as their villain, right?

But what makes a villain great? Not just terrifying or powerful or clever, but truly memorable. The kind of villain who lingers in your mind long after the book ends. Who sparks more debate than the protagonist. Who makes the hero bleed, both figuratively and literally.

After writing eight books, I’ve found that the most effective villains aren’t the ones who simply oppose the hero — they’re the ones who define them.

A great villain forces the hero to make impossible choices. To risk everything. To question themselves. And in doing so, that villain becomes a mirror, a test, and ultimately, the reason we fall in love with the hero.

But there’s a catch: if your villain is evil just because, they’re forgettable. I believe the best villains don’t see themselves as the villain. They usually think that their actions, no matter as atrocious, are justified. A villain who is evil for evil’s sake is dull. Worse, they’re unbelievable. Real people have reasons. Your villains should, too.

Step One: Give Them a Heart (or at Least a Weakness)

Want readers to care about your villain? Give them something to care about.

It could be a person, a pet, a memory, a belief — anything that anchors them in something recognizably human. Think of Magneto in X-Men, driven by the trauma of the Holocaust. Or Killmonger in Black Panther, shaped by injustice and abandonment.

In Blue Shadow Prophecy, the second book in my Chimera Trilogy, I introduce Michael, who does something terrible in chapter five. His origin stems from a joke with one of my online friends.

So, Michael is a vampire who kidnaps my protagonist and kills another ‘shadow.’ On the surface, he’s the villain. Cold. Dangerous. Unforgivable.

Until you meet Mildred.

She’s the real villain — a witch who cursed the love of Michael’s life, Stacy, leaving her comatose in a hospital bed. Now she controls Michael by threatening Stacy’s life. He’s not evil…