Sympathy for the Devils: Using Psychology to Write Compelling Villains

Often, the epic scale of a story is defined by the complexity and power of its villains. After all, your protagonists are only as strong and smart as their opposite number. Poor, cardboard villains make for not only boring and predictable stories, but for a lack of competence displayed by all the characters, even the heroic ones. After all, the old saw is usually true, and every villain is the hero of their own story.

In this course, writers will learn to use psychology to understand and craft complex, layered, and morally grey villains who feel as realized and driven as the other characters in their work. We’ll look at personality, motivation, the dark side of leadership and the negative aspects of the cult of personality, and, of course, at psychopathology and overall moral development. This is the course for writers looking to create villains who will captivate their audience.

Taught at the Fantasy, Futuristic, and Paranormal Romance Writers site. You can sign up here – https://ffprwa.com/