The Write Practice

How to Write a Good Villain: 6 Scenes Your Story Needs

by Jeff Elkins | 37 comments

You have an amazing idea for a protagonist, but for some reason, your story idea doesn't excite you in the way you hoped. You're lacking a fearsome villain, and you're stumped about how to write a villain that feels real. That really raises the stakes. But how do you write a good villain?

how to write a villain

Villains make our heroes.

Without Voldemort, Harry Potter is just another young wizard. Without Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes is just a know-it-all in a weird hat. Without the Joker, Batman is just a rich dude with anger issues and too much time on his hands.

Villains are essential. Without them, our heroes can’t shine. That's why it's important to give our villains scenes where they can wow us with their quirks and scare us with their ferocity . Writing a good villain is about more than making a character a bad person.

But what makes a great villain? In this post, you'll learn how to write a villain—one who is equally memorable to the protagonist—with six scenes that make a significant difference from books where the villain is just, eh.

6 Key Scenes to Write a Good Villain

In general, heroes are predictable and sometimes boring. It’s only when a great villain creates chaos that the good guy has a chance to show us what they are made of.

Yet it isn’t enough to simply point to a character and say, “That’s the bad guy.” You’ve got to let the reader get to know them. Your reader needs to understand what makes them tick.

And most of all, your reader needs to believe that the bad guy can beat the hero and win the day.

Here are six scenes you can use to highlight the villainy, character story arc , dark side, and everything else bad guys.

Scene #1: The Backstory

Every baddie starts somewhere.

The origin story is a wonderful moment in which you can help the reader relate to your villain . In this moment, villain's backstory is brought to the front and center of the scene. Here, their humanity shines through, and you can pull at your readers' heartstrings in ways that might tempt them to see their own lives and choices through the villain's point of view .

As an example, take Pixar's excellent superhero film, The Incredibles. 

When the big bad Syndrome is revealed, we can't help but feel sympathy for him after his reflection about Mr. Incredible rejecting him.

Or how about when we learn why Kylo Ren turns to the Dark Side?

Luke Skywalker vs Kylo Ren | All 3 Flashback Scenes (HD)

Even in an animated world with super-stretchy stay-at-home mothers, these characters become relateable human beings. They are honest and vulnerable. They have emotions, and all of this comes out with their character motivation at play.

If you can make your villain’s struggle an exaggerated version of something we all battle in real life, your readers will begin to understand them on an even deeper level, even when it's a bit scary to do so.

After all, there's nothing more terrifying than a sympathetic villain that readers can see themselves becoming!

Backstory Practice

Come up with one tragic story from your villain's childhood that made them the kind of villain they are when your story starts. Consider how they were forced into a dilemma because of this moment in their life, and how they made a decision that led to the dark trajectory of their existence.

Scene #2: The First Look

First impressions are important. The first time we see your villain at work, we need to be wowed. It’s that first crime, that first harsh word, that first evil glance that will set the tone for your villain.

Take the introduction of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.  In a truly horrifying scene, Agent Clarice Starling must descend into a literal dungeon where the most severely deranged, sadistic serial killers are kept. Once she passes by several, including a disgusting pervert named Miggs, Starling arrives at the final cell inhabited by Dr. Lecter.

Yet she doesn't find a monster waiting for her—at least not at first. Instead, she sees a man standing calmly in his cell, with a polite smile on his face. His first words to her? “Good morning.”

What a contrast to what has come before! There's something freakishly eerie about this man's unnerved demeanor.

As the story reveals, Hannibal Lecter isn't just an overused trope of a misunderstood villain. Lecter is a criminal mastermind who commits shocking acts of evil, willingly jeopardizing Starling's life in the process.

In many stories, writers can often defend that, in the villain's own mind, they are the hero of their own story. These are the villains who truly believe that what they are doing is right, even if their actions are driven by their egos and misbeliefs (take the White Witch in The Lion , The Witch , and The Wardrobe , or really any dictator in history).

Hannibal Lecter may be one of the only exceptions to this trope. He is brilliant, sophisticated—and wildly dangerous. And he owns this.

It's part of what makes him so terrifying. He knows the wrongs he commits, and he's energized by them.

The same goes for the Joker in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight  series.

The 1989 Batman  film introduces the Joker in a memorable way, as does the 2008 The Dark Knight :

Batman (1/5) Movie CLIP - You Can Call Me Joker (1989) HD

In both films, the Joker does very bad things that reveal a twisted dark side of the human psyche. And both scenes are remarkably memorable for just how powerfully and succinctly they capture the bad guy's willingness to harm other human beings.

Nothing and nobody can reason with the Joker. He's out to burn the world.

So plan and write a scene for your antagonist's first look that encapsulates all that they stand for, and sets them apart as a truly evil villain.

First Look Practice

Think about what happens in the scene we first see your story's villain. What progressive complication turns the value in this scene from bad to worse? What action or revelation do we see that shows that surrounding characters shouldn't mess with this  Villain?

For instance, in The Dark Knight , following Joker's POV, there's a moment when one of the pawns in Joker's game holds Joker at gunpoint. For a moment we think, here we go—another one down. But then, Joker (then masked) indicates something about a bus driver. This stuns the other bank robber, seconds before being plowed down by a bus.

The Joker has had a plan all along, and when he reveals who he is to the bank teller lying on the ground, we know this isn't like any Batman movie we've seen before.

Because this villain is . . . something else.

Scene #3: The First Confrontation

This scene shows that moment when the two rivals (protagonist and villain) size each other up.

Consider this the coin toss before the football game, the handshake before the political debate. It's when your villain and hero meet face-to-face for the first time, and in these minutes, the protagonist gets a personal look at how dangerous the villain really is.

It's a wonderful opportunity to show your reader why the villain will be a good foil for your hero .

Because of this, the stakes are raised . Significantly.

Consider the scene when Thanos pulverizes Thor and Hulk in the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War.

Or when Cersei and Jamie come to Winterfell for the first time, we immediately see the contrast between them and the Starks.

These crucial confrontations are at their best when the villain reveals a chink in your hero’s armor. Until this point in the story, you’ve led your reader to believe that the hero was strong and good; but when you show that main character can't defeat this  bad guy so easily, suspense ripples into the story.

The reader sees that everything isn't perfect, and that the main character is going to have a fierce fight on their hands.

Writing villains isn't all about dreaming up stomach-turning atrocities; it's about conflict between two moral forces. And in that first moment of conflict, your hero must discover that the forces of evil pack a wicked punch.

So cook up a great scene in which the tables turn and power whips back and forth between the two, ending with your protagonist on the ropes.

If you want to craft a memorable villain that readers can't stop talking about, you have to be willing to let your hero lose . . . at least for a while.

First Confrontation Practice

It's time to pin your protagonist against your villain for the first time. Make a list of five progressive complications that your hero faces in this scene while battling your villain. Rank these in intensity from one to five, and use these in your scene as  a way to show how matters grow more difficult for your protagonist.

Remember that not all villains are action stories. Let's look at a scene with a stronger psychological focus, Mr. Potter in It's a Wonderful Life . What do you think are the progressive complications George Bailey faces when he confronts Mr. Potter?

It's A Wonderful Life - Mr. Potter vs George Bailey

How could you do something similar in your face-off scene?

Scene #4: The Hero’s Temporary Defeat

This moment is a must for every story.

If your hero gets knocked down after the first confrontation, there needs to be a scene later in which they get knocked the heck out. 

No one likes a blow out—at least in a novel or a short story.

If your heroes win for the entire game, or if there's really not a threat to their goals, then your readers are going to be bored stiff. We need to know that the stakes are real. Instead, your readers should always question whether this story is going to end well until the very end.

J.K. Rowling pulled this off masterfully throughout the Harry Potter series, and especially in the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 

The final book is a bloodbath for the good guys. Voldemort has his way with everyone and everything in almost every scene. And when the good guys do win, by a hair's breadth and a cost that comes with several beloved lives—the highest price.

This shows how dark and dangerous the series has become since book one. Not only does it feel like everyone is fair game starting with Moody, but each time Harry, Hermione, and Ron try to destroy a horcrux, the risk (that impacts their survival) grows worse.

The battle with Voldemort's forces in the end sees the death of many beloved characters. And even the novel's final confrontation, in which Harry bravely ventures into the Dark Forest to face He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named for (what he thinks is) the final time, he is content to sacrifice himself so his friends can live.

Whoa. That's dire.

But rewind for a moment. Remember that this scene is about a temporary defeat for the protagonist. To best accomplish this, it's useful to show a scene where a protagonist relies on old ways or misbeliefs while fighting the villain, and because of this, they suffer a great loss.

in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , this scene is best seen when Voldemort gives his enemies, Harry included, a chance to collect their dead. At the same time, he calls out Harry as a coward and invites him into the forest.

Up to this point, Harry and his friends have fought valiantly, but they can't defeat Voldemort unless, as Harry learns, he sacrifices himself.

Survival for Harry's friends, Harry realizes, can't happen unless he changes his strategy. The very scene that proves this is that which shows Harry's suffered defeat at the villain's hands.

Fred, Lupin & Tonks' death [Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows 2]

While Voldemort isn't a terribly relatable villain, as most real life people have complicated world views and character development (which Voldemort has, but is also pure evil), he is the type of villain that makes readers clutch the book with white knuckles until the very end.

Pro Tip: These scenes can only be accomplished by strong structure. You have to plan ahead.

You have to plan your hero's defeat in advance so you don't “cheat” with a deus ex machina. 

If you write your hero into a corner, you have to know their exit strategy. Somewhere along the journey, the protagonist must have built a relationship, learned a skill, or discovered some secret power or magic that enables them to legitimately escape the fate they find themselves in.

For Harry Potter, as we learn after this scene, it is the scar.

All along, J.K. Rowling knew what it actually was (I won't put it here, just in case you somehow don't already know), and why it would save Harry if he willingly sacrificed himself at just the right moment.

So Harry Potter doesn't cheat, even though Harry technically survives death. He executes a perfect “Resurrection” step in his hero's journey, but this wouldn't exist without Voldemort.

Temporary Defeat Practice

When does your hero rely on their old ways while trying to fight their villain? How do these old ways fail them? Take some time to journal about a scene that keeps the above questions in mind, and then show how your protagonist suffers defeat in this moment—a low moment for them in the book.

Scene #5: The Monologue

The monologue is the moment we all wait for, the moment we love to hate. James Bond is tied to a table as a laser beam is slowly creeps toward him. Feeling that victory is imminent, the villain decides to reveal their master plan.

We, the audience, know it’s a mistake. We know the hero is going to escape, yet still, we eat it up because it’s such an important moment in the story.

It not only raises the stakes of the conflict by giving us a glimpse into what will happen if your hero doesn’t rise to the challenge; it also gives us a clear picture of your villain’s motivation. Does he want money? Power? Or does she just want to watch the world burn?

Who is the maniacal character causing all this chaos? In the monologue, we get to see the world through your villain’s eyes .

Keep in mind that the villain's monologue has become a well-known trope, so be sure to make innovative choices when you write this scene. If you aren't familiar with the way The Incredibles  teases this common archetype, make sure you rewatch the film and pay attention when Syndrome reveals his true identity.

Incredibles Monologue

Monologue Practice

What does your villain want to say that really gives it to the protagonist? What is it that your villain wants in your story, and how is this revealed in this scene through a monologue?

Pro Tip: Knowing this scene will help you understand every motive your villain uses in every scene where they appear. So, if you don't know this scene in your book, try writing it before all the others. It might help you figure out how all the other five scenes fall into place!

Scene #6: The Moment of Partial Redemption

Only the very best villains have these scenes.

This is when, for the briefest moment, we are led to believe that the zebra might change its stripes. It may only last a split second, but in this scene your villain convinces us that there might be a chance that they can be redeemed.

It’s Gollum professing his loyalty to Frodo before trying to take to the ring for himself in The Lord of the Rings . It’s Long John Silver earning Jim’s trust before revealing himself to be a treasure-hungry mutineer in Treasure Island . In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,  it’s the White Witch convincing Edmund she just wants to meet his brother and sisters, making us think for a split second that maybe she isn’t a heartless, hope-crushing, Christmas-hating monster.

If your villain can fool us, we will love them for it.

They'll hook us, and hold onto our attention with both hands.

Moment of Partial Redemption Practice

In your book, what could make your villain want partial redemption? How is this opportunity brought to our attention, and why does the villain fool us—or change—even if for a split second? Take some notes on this idea, and let it cook.

Give Your Villain the Stage

In order to write a memorable protagonist, you need a villain that is equally powerful—if not more so.

Think about it: the bigger the protagonist, the bigger the villain.

And because you’ve worked hard to create a villain that will give your hero a chance to show us what they are made of, you need to give your baddie a place to shine.

To do this, use the six scenes covered in this post. Build them a stage and let their performance wow us. And always keep in mind the importance of raising the stakes with each moment. After all, eventually all your scenes build to your story's final showdown between your hero and the villain.

At your story's precipice, we will see what both your protagonist and villain are really made of.

What scenes do you like to use to create great villains?   Let me know in the comments .

Need more plot help? After you practice these scenes in the exercise below, check out my new book The Write Structure which helps writers make their plot better and write books readers love. Low price for a limited time!

Get The Write Structure for $9.99 »

Think of the hero and villain from your work in progress, or imagine a new hero and villain. Then, take fifteen minutes to write one of the six scenes above. When you're finished, share your scene with us in the Pro Practice Workshop here . And if you share, remember to leave feedback for your fellow writers.

Not a member yet? Join us here !

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Jeff Elkins

Jeff Elkins is a writer who lives Baltimore with his wife and five kids. If you enjoy his writing, he'd be honored if you would subscribe to his free monthly newsletter . All subscribers receive a free copy of Jeff's urban fantasy novella "The Window Washing Boy."

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young writers villains

40 of the Best Villains in Literature

*insert evil laugh here.

Villains are the best. We may not love them in our lives, but they’re often the best part of our literature—on account of their clear power, their refusal of social norms, and most importantly, their ability to make stories happen. After all, if everyone was always nice and good and honest all the time, literature probably wouldn’t even exist.

To that end, below are a few of my favorites from the wide world of literary villainy. But what exactly does “best” mean when it comes to bad guys (and gals)? Well, it might mean any number of things here: most actually terrifying, or most compelling, or most well-written, or most secretly beloved by readers who know they are supposed to be rooting for the white hats but just can’t help it. It simply depends on the villain. Think of these as  noteworthy  villains, if it clarifies things.

This is not an exhaustive list, of course, and you are more than invited to nominate your own favorite evildoers in the comments section. By the way, for those of you who think that great books can be spoiled—some of them might be below. After all, the most villainous often take quite a few pages to fully reveal themselves.

quicksand tanizaki

The brilliance of Mitsuko (and the brilliance of this novel) is such that, even by the end, you’re not sure how much to despise her. She is such an expert manipulator, such a re-threader of the truth, that she is able to seduce everyone in her path (read: not only Sonoko but Sonoko’s husband) and get them to like it. Including the reader, of course. In the end, Sonoko is still so devoted to her that the grand tragedy of her life is the fact that Mitsu did not allow her to die alongside her.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson

Because the very worst villain is . . . get this . . . actually inside you. Also, you just fell asleep one time and when you woke up it was your evil id and not you? We’ve heard that one before. (So has Buffy.)

The Children of Men, P. D. James

Sure, Xan is also a villain in this novel. But the real, big-picture villain, the thing that causes everything to dissolve, and people to start christening their kittens and pushing them around in prams, has to be the global disease that left all the men on earth infertile.

jaws benchley

A villain so villainous that (with the help of Steven Spielberg) it spawned a wave of shark paranoia among beach-goers. In fact, Benchley, who also wrote the screenplay for the film, was so horrified at the cultural response to his work that he became a shark conservationist later in life.

The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein

Take, take, take. This kid is the actual worst.

"The Final Problem," Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

A criminal mastermind— “the Napoleon of Crime,” as Holmes puts it—and the only person to ever give the good consulting detective any real trouble (other than himself). Though after countless adaptations, we now think of Moriarty as Holmes’s main enemy, Doyle really only invented him as a means to kill his hero, and he isn’t otherwise prominent in the series. Moriarty has become bigger than Moriarty.

Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier

The housekeeper so devoted to her dead ex-mistress that she’s determined to keep her memory alive—by goading her boss’s new wife to jump out of the window to her death. That’s one way to do it, I suppose.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

You could argue that it’s Harry who corrupts Dorian, and James who stalks and tries to murder him, but the  real  source of all this young hedonist’s problems is his own self-obsession. Sometimes I like to think about what this novel would be like if someone wrote it today, with Dorian as a social media star. . .

David Copperfield, Charles Dickens

Few villains are quite so aggressively ugly as Uriah Heep (even the name! Dickens did not go in much for subtlety). When we first meet him, he is described as a “cadaverous” man, “who had hardly any eyebrows, and no eyelashes, and eyes of a red-brown, so unsheltered and unshaded, that I remember wondering how he went to sleep. He was high-shouldered and bony; dressed in decent black, with a white wisp of a neckcloth; buttoned up to the throat; and had a long, lank, skeleton hand.” Some Dickens scholars apparently think that Heep was based on Hans Christian Andersen, in which case, mega burn—unless Andersen was into heavy metal .

The Witches, Roald Dahl

As “the most evil woman in creation,” she is on a mission to torture and kill as many children as possible, and often uses murder as a focusing device in meetings. She’s also kind of brilliant—I mean, murdering children by turning them into animals their parents want to exterminate? I have to say, that’s smart.

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Cathy Ames is cold as ice—a sociopath who had to learn as a child how to mimic feelings to get by—but soon also learns how easy it is to manipulate, destroy lives, and murder people to amuse herself. Apparently all this is available to her because of her remarkable beauty. In the end, she has a single feeling of remorse and promptly kills herself.

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë

That’s right, I said it. Mired in self-pity! Sullen and annoying! Dresses up as a gypsy to mess with Jane’s mind! Keeps his first wife locked in the attic! Thinks he can marry a nice girl like Jane anyway! Gaslights her constantly! Whatever.

The Robber Bride, Margaret Atwood

In Atwood’s retelling of the Grimm fairy tale “The Robber Bridegroom,” an evil temptress named Zenia steals the partners of three women (among many, one presumes). Roz, Charis, and Tony, however, use their mutual hurt and hatred to form a friendship—and unpack the many lies and revisions of herself Zenia has offered to each of them. But I can’t really put it better than Lorrie Moore did in a 1993 review of the novel:

Oddly, for all her inscrutable evil, Zenia is what drives this book: she is impossibly, fantastically bad. She is pure theater, pure plot. She is Richard III with breast implants. She is Iago in a miniskirt. She manipulates and exploits all the vanities and childhood scars of her friends (wounds left by neglectful mothers, an abusive uncle, absent dads); she grabs at intimacies and worms her way into their comfortable lives, then starts swinging a pickax. She mobilizes all the wily and beguiling art of seduction and ingratiation, which she has been able to use on men, and she directs it at women as well. She is an autoimmune disorder. She is viral, self-mutating, opportunistic (the narrative discusses her in conjunction with AIDS, salmonella and warts). She is a “man-eater” run amok. Roz thinks: “Women don’t want all the men eaten up by man-eaters; they want a few left over so they can eat some themselves.”

Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray

A cynical, manipulative, intelligent beauty with many artistic talents and a premium can-do attitude at her disposal. You’ve never met a more dedicated hustler. By the end, the novel seems to judge her pretty harshly—but I’ve always loved her.

The Secret History, Donna Tartt

Oh, Henry—brooding, brilliant, bone-tired Henry. Some in the Lit Hub office argued that it was Julian who was the real villain in Donna Tartt’s classic novel of murder and declension, but I give Henry more credit than that. His villainy is in his carefulness, his coldness, his self-preservation at all costs. He is terrifying because we all know him—or someone who could oh-so-easily slide into his long overcoat, one winter’s night.

Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton

Isn’t it awesome? We can just make dinosaurs! There is no foreseeable problem with this. We can totally handle it.

Geek Love, Katherine Dunn

Here’s another novel with multiple candidates for Supreme Villain—should it be the Binewski parents, who purposefully poison themselves and their children in order to populate their freak show? Or should it be Mary Lick, a sort of modern millionaire version of Snow White’s Evil Queen, who pays pretty women to disfigure themselves? I think we have to go with Arturo the Aqua Boy, the beflippered narcissist who grows into a cult leader, encouraging his followers to slowly pare away their body parts in a search for “purity.” (But for the record, it’s all of the above.)

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

It’s true that the monster is the murderer in Shelley’s classic novel—and also, you know, a monster—but it’s Dr. Frankenstein who decided he had to play God and build a creature in his own image without thought to the possible ramifications! Shelley treats him as a tragic figure, but that only makes him a much more interesting villain.

The Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris

Made iconic by Anthony Hopkins, of course, but made brilliant and terrifying—a serial killing psychiatrist cannibal, come on—by Thomas Harris. “They don’t have a name for what he is.” Also, he has six fingers—though they’re on his left hand, so it couldn’t have been him who killed Mr. Montoya. Still, it puts him in rare company.

Moby-Dick, Herman Melville

Did you think the villain was the whale? The villain is not the whale—it’s the megalomaniac at the helm.

macbeth book cover

The villainess of choice for every man who has ever claimed his wife made him do it. But I’ve always found Lady Macbeth more interesting than Macbeth himself—she’s the brains behind the operation, not to mention the ambition. Her sleepwalking scene is one of the best and most famous of all of Shakespeare’s plays. Even this makes me shiver:

Out, damned spot! out, I say!—One: two: why, then, ’tis time to do’t.—Hell is murky!—Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?—Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.

The Woman in the Dunes, Kobo Abe

It may be the devious villagers who trick the poor etymologist into the sand pit, but it is the sand itself that is the main antagonist in this slim and wonderful novel. The sand that keeps coming, and must be shoveled back. The sand that constantly threatens to swallow everything: first the man, then the woman, then the village—though one assumes the villagers would replace him before that happened. Sand.

Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates

In everyone’s favorite horror novel about America in the ’50s, onetime bohemians Frank and April Wheeler move to the ‘burbs, and find it. . . extremely stifling. But it’s not the suburbs exactly but the Wheelers’ inability to understand one another, their fear, their creeping, cumulative despair, that are the forces of destruction here.

“The book was widely read as an antisuburban novel, and that disappointed me,” Yates said in a 1972 interview .

The Wheelers may have thought the suburbs were to blame for all their problems, but I meant it to be implicit in the text that that was their delusion, their problem, not mine. . . I meant it more as an indictment of American life in the 1950s. Because during the fifties there was a general lust for conformity all over this country, by no means only in the suburbs—a kind of blind, desperate clinging to safety and security at any price, as exemplified politically in the Eisenhower administration and the Joe McCarthy witch-hunts. Anyway, a great many Americans were deeply disturbed by all that—felt it to be an outright betrayal of our best and bravest revolutionary spirit—and that was the spirit I tried to embody in the character of April Wheeler. I meant the title to suggest that the revolutionary road of 1776 had come to something very much like a dead end in the fifties.

Never Mind, Edward St. Aubyn

Fathers don’t get much worse than David Melrose: cruel, brutal, and snobbish, a man who enjoyed humiliating his wife, who raped his young son, and who seemed to doom all those close to him to a life of pain. You could also argue that the British Aristocracy is the villain in the Patrick Melrose books, but . . . David is definitely worse (if slightly less all-encompassing).

The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith

Here’s a villain you can’t help but root for—I mean, sort of. You feel his pain as he tries to insinuate himself into the life of the man he so admires (and perhaps loves), and as he is first welcomed and then pushed away. Less so when he murders his beloved and assumes his identity—but somehow, as you read, you find yourself holding your breath around every corner, hoping he will escape yet again.

Kindred, Octavia Butler

As slaveowners go, Rufus isn’t the worst (his father might rank) but he isn’t the best, either. He’s selfish and ignorant, and (like most men of the time) a brutal racist and misogynist, who doesn’t mind raping women as long as they act like they like it. Actually, the fact that he thinks he’s better than his father actually makes him worse. That said, the real antagonist in this novel might actually be the unknown and unexplained force that keeps transporting Dana from her good life in 1976 California to a Maryland slave plantation in 1815. What’s that about?

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey

Big Nurse rules the patients of the asylum ward with an iron fist. She is addicted to order and power, and can be quite cruel in commanding it. In comes McMurphy, our hero, who wants to undercut her. He does undercut her, in fact, a number of times—but when he goes too far, she has him lobotomized. The end! I know Ratched is meant to be evil, and it’s supposed to be depressing that she wins, but I can’t help but sort of like the fact that after a man chokes her half to death and rips off her shirt in an attempt to humiliate her (because no one with breasts can have power, you see!), she simply has him put down.

The Mars Room, Rachel Kushner

Who is  really  the villain in Rachel Kushner’s most recent novel? It can’t be Romy; serving a life sentence for killing a man who was stalking her. It can’t be the man himself, who didn’t quite understand what he was doing. It can’t be any of the prisoners, nor any of the guards in particular. Nor is this a book with no villain, because the pulsing sense of injustice is too great. It is the whole thing, every aspect, of the American prison system—meant to catch you and bleed you and keep you and bring you back—that is the true villain in this novel (and often, in real life).

1984, George Orwell

Of course it’s O’Brien who does most of the dirty work—but it’s Big Brother (be he actual person or nebulous invented concept) that really, um, oversees the evil here.

American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis

He’s a shallow, narcissistic, greedy investment banker, and also a racist, a misogynist, an anti-Semite and a homophobe, and also a sadist and a murderer and a cannibal and Huey Lewis devotee. He’s also weirdly pathetic. Can’t really get any worse than that as a person—but as a character, he’s endlessly entertaining.

The Autumn of the Patriarch, Gabriel García Márquez

It’s José Ignacio Saenz de la Barra who is the most bloodthirsty, but the unnamed General (of the Universe) who is the most compelling villain in this novel: an impossibly long-lived tyrant who has borderline-magical control over the populace, and even the landscape, whose roses open early because, tired of darkness, he has declared the time changed; who sells away the sea to the Americans. He is desperately unhappy; he considers himself a god. Luckily, we get to spend almost the entire novel within his twisting brain.

Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

The genius of old Hum is how compelling he is—that is, despite the horrible thing he spends the entire novel doing (kidnapping a young girl whose mother he has murdered, driving her around the country and coaxing her into sexual acts, self-flagellating and self-congratulating in equal measure), you are charmed by him, half-convinced, even, by his grand old speeches about Eros and the power of language. In the end, of course, no amount of fancy prose style is enough to make you forget that he’s a murderer and worse, but for this reader, it’s pure pleasure getting there.

The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead

The slave-hunting Ridgeway, Whitehead writes, “was six and a half feet tall, with the square face and thick neck of a hammer. He maintained a serene comportment at all times but generated a threatening atmosphere, like a thunderhead that seems far away but then is suddenly overhead with a loud violence.” He’s a little more interesting and intelligent than a simple brute—in part due to that sidekick of his—which only makes him more frightening as a character. Tom Hardy is a shoo-in for the adaptation .

Misery, Stephen King

Listen: Annie Wilkes is a fan. She’s a big fan. She  loves  Paul Sheldon’s novels about Misery Chastain, and she is devastated to discover—after rescuing Sheldon from a car wreck—that he has killed off her beloved character. Things do not then go well for Paul, because as it turns out, Annie is already a seasoned serial killer who is very handy (read: murderous) with household objects.

The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood

The government that has taken control of America in the world of Atwood’s classic dystopia is a fundamentalist theocracy whose leaders have eliminated the boundary between church and state—and worse, have twisted religious principles and political power in an attempt to utterly subjugate all women, erasing their identities and allowing them to exist only so far as they may be of use to the state. It is super fucked up and exactly what I worry about in a country where fundamentalists have any among of political power.

jemisin fifth season

It’s pretty hard to fight back when the thing you’re fighting is the earth itself, which punishes those who walk upon it with extreme, years-long “seasons” of dramatic and deadly climate change. Ah, Evil Earth!

Othello, William Shakespeare

The worst villain is the one who knows you best—the one you might even love. The scariest motive is the lack of one—what Coleridge called Iago’s “motiveless malignity.” The most interesting villain is the one who has even more lines than the titular hero. He is a fantastic villain, a dangerous trickster, whose character has stumped (and intrigued) critics for centuries.

Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy

Possibly the most terrifying character in modern literature (or any literature?), Glanton’s deputy is over six feet tall and completely hairless. More importantly, despite the fact that he might be a genius, he inflicts senseless and remorseless violence wherever he goes. The man murders (and, it is suggested, rapes) children and throws puppies to their doom. He might actually be the devil—or simply evil itself.  He never sleeps, the judge. He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die.

Beloved, Toni Morrison

This entire novel is based on a single idea: that a loving mother might murder her baby daughter to save her from life as a slave. Sure, the slavers are bad (and the schoolteacher is particularly chilling). Sure, you could make an argument that the vengeful spirit Beloved’s presence is destructive, splintering further an already fractured family. But these are only symptoms, in this the Great American Novel, of the Great American Sin.

The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri

The obligatory first place in the scheme of literary evildoers: Satan himself. Though honestly, as depictions of the devil go, Dante’s is somewhat less than fearsome—not least because he too must suffer all the pains and indignities of Hell, tortured and torturing, crying from all six of his eyes as he chomps on Judas Iscariot.

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Andrew Scott as Moriarty in BBC1's Sherlock

Top 10 villains in YA fiction

From Moriarty to President Snow to the truly repellent Apparat, site members HorseLover3000 and Laura,thespecialone suggest the best characters from teen fiction who are evil, cunning or just all kinds of creepy!

Queen Levana, The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

Levana is capable of mind-controlling others, and glamouring herself to appear more beautiful than she is. That, combined with her desire to murder the emperor, kill her family, and take over the world gives her a spot on the top 10.

Amarantha, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

She wears her worst enemy’s eye on a ring so that he can watch all the atrocities she commits after she killed him. You can’t say she isn’t original. Extra points for having all the men under her control and being the Fae Queen too.

Astrid and Athos Dane (The Dane Twins), A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab

Purely sadistic, cunning and terrifying, the Dane twins have an incredible amount of hard won power. I can’t quite pinpoint it, but something about them sends chills down the spine.

Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

No list of villains would be complete without this criminal mastermind, who needs no explanation. If you haven’t already read the original Sherlock Holmes stories, what are you waiting for?

President Snow, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Donald Sutherland portrays President Snow in a scene from "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1." (AP Photo/Lionsgate, Murray Close)

You have to be pretty heartless to send 12 children to their deaths every year. And the thing with the roses makes him scary in a less traditional way.

Natasha, The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

She forces someone who committed treason against her to marry her as a punishment, which is all kinds of creepy.

Thiago (The White Wolf), Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor

The things he does are horrific in so many ways, and Karou having to masquerade as him after what he does to her makes it so much worse.

Dolores Umbridge, the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

Imelda Staunton (left) as Dolores Umbridge

Like the Apparat, Umbridge doesn’t even admit to being evil. She hides behind pink and kittens, and terrifies us a lot more than Voldemort, the main villain of the series, because of how easily she gets away with what she does.

Men in general, Only Ever Yours by Louise O’Neill

Because of how far they must have had to go to let things get to the stage they have got to in the book.

The Apparat, the Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

So it was a tough choice between the Apparat and the Darkling, who are each brilliant villains in their own right. However the Apparat hides his true intentions behind religion, and pretends to be a friend to Alina when in reality, he is just as bad as the Darkling.

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As readers, we all have our favorite characters: the fictional heroes and heroines we’d love to befriend in real life, and the villains whom we long to see fail. As summer vacations allow us to return to leisure reading, we polled Harvard faculty about their literary heroes and villains and received some surprising answers.

Jill Hooley

Professor of Psychology

“For me, Holly Golightly in Truman Capote’s ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ is a villain,” noted Jill Hooley. The head of the experimental psychopathology and clinical psychology program said, “How can you like anyone who abandons her cat in the street when she leaves town?”

Stephen Greenblatt

John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities

Iago, the false friend who betrays Othello in Shakespeare’s play, tops Stephen Greenblatt’s list of villains. Calling him “the enemy of love and happiness,” Greenblatt confessed his heroes and villains “are on the obvious side.”

His literary hero? Leopold Bloom of James Joyces’s “Ulysses,” whom Greenblatt describes as “tolerant, curious, ever-hopeful.”

Charles Maier

Leverett Saltonstall Research Professor of History

Charles Maier finds that his discipline affects his perspective. “I’m a historian and feel overwhelmed enough by real events so that fictional heroes and villains rarely measure up to real ones,” he said. “But for a relevant hero, I’d choose Dr. Bernard Rieux, the rational and courageous Dr. Fauci of Oran, who fights Camus’ ‘Plague’; and for a relevant villain, who better than Sinclair Lewis’ Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip, the demagogue in ‘It Can’t Happen Here,’ and a preternatural role model for Donald Trump?”

Jane Kamensky

Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History

Another Harvard historian, Jane Kamensky, pointed to one character as a choice in either category. “Readers will have to decide whether 64-year-old Mickey Sabbath, the protagonist of Philip Roth’s magnum opus ‘Sabbath’s Theater,’ is a hero or a villain,” said Kamensky. “Both and neither? He’s ravenous and scabrous, a man of his century’s untrammeled appetites. Sabbath’s furious, too: a Lear of the sexual revolution, frustrated by everybody else’s daughters.”

Kamensky, who also serves as the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director of the Schlesinger Library, said: “Feminists are leery of Roth these days, but to bypass Mickey is to miss one of the greatest, vilest, realest creations of modern fiction.”

Dario Lemos

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Contemporary Spanish crime fiction gave Dario Lemos his hero: “Inspector Leo Caldas, main character of a noir saga of crimes in rainy and gray Galicia, by Domingo Villar.” In books such as “Ojos de agua” (“Water-blue Eyes”) by Villar, who died this year, “Leo has to solve complex, often twisted cases, while dealing with an elderly father who’s starting to show signs of dementia. His investigations flow slowly, often through stages that seem to lead nowhere, and have a psychological component that is influenced by the misty coastal scenery and the secretive Galician fishermen’s culture.”

David Damrosch

Ernest Bernbaum Professor

In contrast, David Damrosch went far back in time — to the second century B.C. “My favorite choice both for a villain and a hero has to be Gilgamesh, protagonist of the first great masterpiece of world literature.” The chair of the department of comparative literature explained why he both loathes and loves the Mesopotamian protagonist of the eponymous epic poem. “He actually starts out as a villain — a brash young king, oppressing his subjects, sleeping with women on their wedding night, and despoiling a sacred forest and murdering its guardian. Then the death of his intimate friend Enkidu forces him to confront his own mortality, and he returns at the epic’s end to his city, sadder, wiser, and ready to rule as he should.”

Panagiotis Roilos

George Seferis Professor of Modern Greek Studies and of Comparative Literature

“I have always appreciated heroes and villains who transgress the definitional boundaries these two categories presuppose,” said Panagiotis Roilos. “In Sophocles’ ‘Philoctetes,’ Ulysses is transformed into an untrustworthy trickster who attempts to deceive the homonymous protagonist. Ulysses believes that by acting in this way he serves a higher purpose: the victory of his compatriots at the Trojan War. Does he make him a hero or a villain? As for my favorite literary hero: Luigi Pirandello’s ‘Six Characters in Search of an Author’ exemplifies my preference for heroes who undermine established conceptualizations of heroicity.” The professor of comparative literature quotes the poet Seferis, for whom his seat is named: “Heroes walk in the dark.”

Alice Flaherty

Associate Professor of Neurology and Psychology

Alice Flaherty also had an issue with the traditional definitions of hero and villain, and chose a matched pair. “I could never pick a favorite, but here is a hero-villain pair who fascinated me recently: Philip Pullman’s ‘The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ . ’ In his retelling of the Gospels, Mary gives birth to twin boys, a sickly selfless one and a robust selfish one. Their brotherly love and aggression make the reader’s opinion switch several times as to who is the angel and who the devil.” The author of “The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer’s Block, and the Creative Brain” concluded, “In the end, the fairy tale seems more like a history, and the actual villain turns out to be someone else.”

Visiting Professor of English

Award-winning novelist Gish Jen offered a different take, opting to share neither hero nor villain but instead “a true disappointment.”

“That would be Natasha Rostov in ‘War and Peace,’ who goes from a most vital, enchanting, and unpredictable girl to the most boring and conventional of women, completely ruined by motherhood (and, of course, Tolstoy),” she said.

James Simpson

Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Professor of English

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“I had no trouble settling on my favorite villain,” said James Simpson, naming medieval European folklore character Reynard the Fox. “He’s wily and forever capable of deploying rhetoric and wit to outfox, as it were, the gullible, the greedy, and the rapacious. Not a nice guy, to be sure, and a real villain, but there is something mysteriously, inexpressibly funny about the rapier-like, mercurial, endlessly inventive brilliance of his wit, ever capable of extracting him from very tight and dangerous corners. The humor is dark but all the richer for that. He’s been a best-seller since the 12th century, when he first appeared. In French his name even replaced the word for ‘fox.’ That many million readers and speakers can’t, I hope, all be wrong.

“I took a while longer to agree with myself about my favorite literary hero/heroine,” continued Simpson. “The competition is pretty stiff, but right now it’s Echo, the victim of Narcissus’ narcissism in Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses.’ Affronted by Echo’s garrulousness, Juno punishes her with a speech handicap: Echo will be able only to repeat the last phrase she hears.”

That leads to trouble when she falls in love with the “cold and self-obsessed Narcissus,” Simpson said. “Narcissus hears something in the woods and aggressively challenges the visitant: ‘Come!’ he cries. And hiding Echo? ‘Come!’ she calls.’ The narrative underscores so very much, especially agency working within tight constraints. The story expresses more profound pathos for Echo (she ‘is seen no more upon the mountain-sides; but all may hear her, for voice, and voice alone, still lives in her’) than fury toward Narcissus. It points to the echoic, painful, diminishing voice of lyric across centuries to come. We still hear Echo’s voice.”

Such voices and their tales, both tragic and triumphant, are why we read, after all.

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Brett Jonas

Twisted: short stories by young writers.

I have fun news! I’m getting another short story published in an anthology! This anthology is all about stories with twist endings, written by young authors, which is super cool!

Twisted: Short Stories by Young Writers From dueling families to an insane asylum, these short stories are… twisted. During the autumn of 2016, the team behind the Chapter One Young Writers Conference mentored two talented young writers through the publishing process, giving them a head start on becoming the successful authors of tomorrow. Now, read the stories on which these up-and-coming writers worked, along with four by the Ch1Con mentors themselves. Each of these stories comes with a twist. You’ll never see what’s coming next.

I’m extremely excited, and can’t wait for everyone to read it! For an excerpt of my story, scroll down to the blog tour schedule and click on the link!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today, I’ll be interviewing another one of the authors in the anthology, Cameron Vanderwerf!

First off, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Hey, blogosphere. My name is Cameron Vanderwerf, I’m 22 years old, I graduated from college with a BA in English in 2015, and I love to write fiction. My interests within fiction seem to change rapidly—one month I might be really into British social satires, and the next month I might only be reading Raymond Chandler—but I almost never stop loving authors I’ve loved before, and I never stop loving fiction in general.

When did you decide to become a writer?

Well, I know I’ve enjoyed writing—especially fiction writing—since I was about ten years old, but it wasn’t until this past year that I realized writing is really one of the things that I most enjoy spending my time on. I graduated from college 18 months ago, and being out of school has really given me perspective on how I want to spend my future.

Can you explain your story in five words or less?

Dressage instructor faces thwarted ambitions.

What’s your favorite thing about this story?

My writing generally tends to reflect the type of literature I’m interested in at the time, so this story reflects my own personal take on British literature of the 1800s. I think that era of literature was very apt in exploring the social stratification of the time with honesty, beautiful language, and the occasional touch of dry British humor. I’m obviously no Dickens or Forster, but I always enjoy the challenge of updating old styles of literature to suit more modern tastes.

What’s your favorite thing about writing in general?

If I had to choose one thing, probably character development. There’s nothing more satisfying than creating a person that feels both interesting and well-rendered. Whether it’s their backstory or their way of speaking or their own peculiar habits, interesting characters provide much of my enjoyment in both reading and writing. But that’s if I had to choose only one thing. Writing in general provides both a great escape and a great path to reflection and discovery, and every part of the writing process is an aid to those things.

Where would you like to see yourself in ten years?

Ideally? Travelling the world in my personal high-speed hovercraft, writing first-hand accounts of the world’s many different cultures. But I would be just as happy to stay at home and make a living writing funny mystery novels.

What was your favorite part of the Ch1Con mentorship program?

Every part of the program was great, but if I had to choose a favorite session, I’d have to say working with an editor. Preferences vary by writer, but to me, revising is always the scariest and toughest part of the writing process. I usually get outside critiques from people in my writing group, but it was also helpful to get feedback in the more formal and rigorous context that the writer-editor relationship provides.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Love and friends and family are the meaning of life and the key to happiness. Work hard and stand up for what you believe in. Also, if I may be so brash, I’d like to take this opportunity to plug my own blog. It’s kind of a work in progress, but I’ll try to post something every week. The address is  camvander.wordpress.com . Peace and love.

Thanks, Cameron! It was a pleasure interviewing you. 🙂

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In honor of Twisted ’s release, we’re holding a mini blog tour on the mentors’ blogs. The tour includes interviews, excerpts from the anthology stories, and more. The blog tour schedule is below:

  • Monday, November 21 : Excerpt from Brett Jonas’s story on www.juliathewritergirl.com
  • Tuesday, November 22 : Excerpt from Allison Mulder’s story on www.theultimatelyuselessstoriesofanaverageteenager.com
  • Wednesday, November 23 : Excerpt from Emma Rose Ryan’s story on www.juliathewritergirl.com
  • Saturday, November 26 : Excerpt from Kathleen Rae’s story on www.theultimatelyuselessstoriesofanaverageteenager.com
  • Sunday, November 27 : Interview with Anne Brees on www.literaryabstractions.blogspot.com
  • Monday, November 28 : Interview with Cameron Vanderwerf on www.brettjonas.com
  • Tuesday, November 29 : Interview with Mentors on www.ch1con.tumblr.com
  • Wednesday, November 30 : Giveaway of one paperback copy of Twisted on www.chapteroneconference.com

The paperback and e-book editions of Twisted are available now for order on Blurb.com, and the e-book will be available soon on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iBooks.

  • Paperback Edition (Blurb): http://www.blurb.com/b/7498410-twisted
  • E-book Edition (Blurb): http://www.blurb.com/b/7498410-twisted?ebook=602724

young writers villains

6 Great 2021 YA Books About Teens Who Write

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Abigail Clarkin

Abigail can often be found holding a book in one hand and an ice cream cone in the other. When she is not devouring stories (or dessert), Abigail trains for marathons and writes poetry about growing up with eight brothers and sisters. She enjoys working in marketing for a real estate developer and creating Instagram content for fun (@marathonandmunch) about all the tasty eats found in Providence, RI.

View All posts by Abigail Clarkin

Sometimes we are born with a passion that is all consuming, and other times it takes a lifetime to know what we are meant to do with our lives. In the case of many characters who star in some of this year’s most beautiful young adult fiction novels, the journey to discovering the power of the pen in one’s hands sometimes proves circuitous. From dealing with the challenges of learning English as a second language through writing poetry, to unveiling a Hollywood scandal through intense journalism, teen writers overcome fear to take fate into their own hands. Here are six 2021 YA books about teens who write to change their worlds, all from the first half of the year.

young writers villains

Love in English by Maria E. Andreu

U.S. Americans speak almost too fast to keep up with. Ana learns this the hard way: when the teen moves from Argentina to New Jersey, she is thrust into high school with students whose speech, social rules, and traditions threaten to drown her in confusion. An ESL class, new friends, and Ana’s talent for writing poetry keep her afloat. But when Ana enters a writing competition, she wonders if her personal, passionate stanzas are good enough to win. The tale is sweet and a beautiful story of finding a new home in the USA as an immigrant.

young writers villains

A Pho Love Story by Loan Le

Bao has never felt an inclination towards a career path or what he’d like to pursue after high school. He spends most of his time helping out at his family’s pho restaurant and listening to his parents complain about the other Vietnamese family who own the rival restaurant across the street. But then he takes a journalism class and he’s paired with Linh, the daughter of his parent’s rivals, to write and illustrate food reviews for the school newspaper. Linh is an artist whose paintbrush can transform any surface into a masterpiece. Bao’s life suddenly shifts as he finds two new passions: writing and Linh. Can Linh and Bao find love amidst the tensions between their two families? And just how powerful can the written word prove when their community is threatened?

young writers villains

Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant

Tessa’s story opens in an extremely relatable way: she’s interrupted while writing a much awaited love scene. Tessa is a high school student with a passion for secretly writing romance. When her family moves to a new town, Tessa’s mom secretly sends a writing sample to Chrysalis Academy. All of a sudden, Tessa is attending the prestigious school of the arts and she’s finally surrounded by other creative thinkers. But when words fail her in class, her best friend decides that the best way to get the creative juices flowing is to fall in love in real life. It turns out that love stories get more and more complicated when the pen is no longer in one’s hand.

young writers villains

Angel of Greenwood by Randi Pink

The year is 1921. Angel is the type to show up to school late due to volunteering to babysit for an exhausted new mom. She believes Booker T. Washington’s words hold the key to peace, and her days are filled with worry for her ill father. Isaiah, on the other hand, seems to have a penchant for bullying and following the questionable lead of his best friend. Secretly he constantly writes fiery poetry and devours the words of W.E.B. Du Bois, thinking long and hard about what it means to be Black in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Then one day, Isaiah finds himself writing love poems about Angel. When the two are paired together for a summer job, their lives begin to shift and change comes even faster when a bloody tragedy — now known as the Tulsa Race Massacre — rips through their city and all they know is torn apart.

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Off the Record by Camryn Garrett cover

Off the Record by Camryn Garrett (May 2021)

Numerous articles published on high profile websites? Check. Application to dream college, Spelman College, submitted? Check. Uncovering a scandal that will shake Hollywood to its core? Processing. Josie Wright has always known she’s an exceptional writer. After all, she’s been freelance writing articles for years even though she has not yet graduated from high school. When she wins a prestigious writing contest, she has the opportunity of a lifetime: write a profile on a young actor for the magazine that inspires her. But Josie is not as confident as she seems on paper. When she begins to uncover the dark deeds of a prominent figure in the film industry, Josie has to fight not only her own anxiety but the potential that her future as a journalist will go up in flames by those who want to burn all evidence of the truth.

young writers villains

One Great Lie by Deb Caletti (June 2021)

Last but not least, no list of YA books about teens who write would be complete without female poets and a trip abroad! Amidst a tension-filled home life and a research project that is going nowhere, Charlotte is elated to find out she has won a scholarship to attend a writing workshop. Her summer plans: writing in the sunshine of Venice under the guidance of one of her favorite authors. But one by one, clouds sweep in as secrets are uncovered. Charlotte finds herself facing down generations of powerful men and the women they tried to silence.

Intrigued by these YA books about teens who write, and interested in exploring other young adult fiction about writers? Check out 3 More YA Books About Teen Writers . Want to find out how other fictional characters are using their skills for good? Read about 6 YA Books About Teens Embedded in Technology .

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Your students will love creating crazy combinations to inspire their mini sagas..

Introduce your students to the weird and wonderful world of Ridiculous Writers, the latest contest from Young Writers designed to delight and engage your students. 

They will love the fun of creating wacky characters using the activity sheet or coming up with their own crazy ideas. It's sure to create a buzz in your classroom which will translate into their writing, resulting in imaginative, creative stories!

Benefits of Taking Part

🧙 Free to enter 👻 Chance for your students to be published 🍪 100-word limit takes away the fear of long-form writing 🦄 Example stories from past winners to help inspire your students 🏈 Free book for your school 🍦  Ready-made lesson plan and PowerPoint (also available in Google Slides ) to engage your students

This contest is ideal for 6-13 year-olds, but students outside that age range are welcome to enter. 

Download the graphic organizer which will help your students to plan and write their story, and turn your class into engaged, confident writers today!

Entries need to be received by February 23, 202 4.

Young Writers Socials Feed

To make sure your entries are valid, please follow the rules listed below:

Only one entry per student, there is no limit to the number of entries per school. Teachers please submit your entries altogether where possible!

Mini sagas can be on the entry form or a sheet of paper or typed.

Mini sagas must be your students' own work.

Mini sagas must be told in no more than 100 words (the title isn't included in this).

Ensure that all students include their name and age on their entries.

US entrants only.

Free to enter.

Copyright remains with the author.

If you are unsure on any rules or have any queries, please don't hesitate to Contact Us .

For Schools

The Young Writers’ Award of Excellence is awarded to the school that submits the best set of entries for this contest.

PLUS every participating school receives a free copy of the book their students feature in.

(The more entries you send, the more free books you’ll receive: E.g. Send 1-30 entries & you'll receive 1 free copy, send 31-60 entries you'll receive 2 free copies, etc.)

For Students

Our favorite writer will win a fantastic creative writing goody bag, a trophy and a GIF of their crazy creation!

PLUS every entrant receives a bookmark for taking part. Students chosen for publication also receive a certificate.

(The school & student winners will be chosen from the entries received Jan-Feb 2024 and prizes awarded the following semester.)

Here are the ways you can enter digitally - please choose one:

Send your entries by uploading them:

Use the Online Writing Portal if you want your students to type their work during a lesson or for homework.

Writing Portal

Email Entries

Alternatively, you can submit your entries via Google Docs - please make sure that we have permission to access and download the files.

Send your entries, along with your school entry form, to:

Young Writers Ridiculous Writers 77 Walnut Street Unit 11 Peabody MA 01960

Get FREE writing tips sent straight to your inbox!

Tips will be added here each week that the contest is running.

Get In Touch

Mail Young Writers 77 Walnut Street Unit 11 Peabody MA 01960

Email [email protected]

Tel 323-244-4784

Closing Date: March 01, 2024

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West virginia’s young writers contest winners.

young writers villains

Front row, from left, Paetyn Perry, grade 3; Logan Ware, grade 4 and Allison’s second school wide winner; Krew Karpinski, grade 3; back row, Autumn Reed, grade 4; Anna Hultberg, grade 4; and Adalyn Dawson, grade 3. (Photo special to The Review by Stephanie Ujhelyi)

A dozen students enrolled at AT Allison Elementary School in Chester won West Virginia’s Young Writers Contest at their classroom level. For the past 40 years, the contest celebrates grade 1-12 students’ deep commitment to writing across all subject and its publication. Teachers and administrations in each county are encouraged students to submit writing first at the school level.

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'Young Sheldon' Season 7 Review: The Final Season Goes Out With a Big Bang

The show's writing is as intelligent as ever as it enters its final run of episodes.

The Big Picture

  • Young Sheldon 's writing is brilliantly intelligent and quietly hilarious, with well-developed characters and occasional physical comedy moments.
  • Characters in Season 7 continue to evolve and learn from their mistakes, with Mary Cooper's stern demeanor finally lightening up.
  • Season 7 misses potential in portraying Georgie's journey as a father, while the show's actors continue to shine and bring depth to their roles.

Young Sheldon has managed to do what others only dream of : be a spin-off of an insanely popular show, do it on broadcast television, and be a major success with seven wonderful seasons. The sitcom, which has aired on CBS since 2017, was born from the network's hit The Big Bang Theory , home to the annoyingly lovable Sheldon Cooper, played by Jim Parsons ( Hidden Figures ). While The Big Bang Theory had an ever-growing ensemble cast that included Johnny Galecki ( Blossom ), and Kaley Cuoco ( The Flight Attendant ), Young Sheldon focuses solely on a younger version of Sheldon, portrayed by Iain Armitage ( Big Little Lies ), and what it was like for him growing up as a boy genius living in Texas in the 1980s.

Young Sheldon

Young Sheldon is an American coming-of-age sitcom television series created by Chuck Lorre and Steven Molaro for CBS. The series, set in the late 1980s and early 1990s, is a spin-off prequel to The Big Bang Theory and follows main character Sheldon Cooper growing up with his family in East Texas.

The show's creators took a risk by filling out the cast with members of Sheldon’s family that were rarely seen or discussed throughout the twelve seasons of The Big Bang Theory , but made sure to create well-developed supporting characters that felt like they'd existed on our screens for years. With its seventh and final season premiering on February 15 , Young Sheldon continues to prove its brilliance as it prepares to wrap up the storylines of its now-beloved characters, all while proving why it has lasted, and excelled, for the past seven years.

'Young Sheldon's Writers Are Their Own Type of Genius

Young Sheldon ’s writing team is casually brilliant ; they don’t feel the need for a big wind-up before jokes, nor a long silence afterward to point to the wordplay they’ve just unleashed. The writing on the show simply does what it, and its predecessor The Big Bang Theory , did so well: be intelligently, but quietly, hilarious. Then, when the rare, big displays of physical comedy do happen, like after Missy ( Raegan Revord ) tries her first cup of coffee at the start of Season 7, it pays off big time.

One of the best parts of the show's writing is how it treats Meemaw (played perfectly by Annie Potts ), mother of Mary Cooper and grandmother to Georgie ( Montana Jordan ), Sheldon, and Missy. Most other shows would take a character in their 60s and 70s and make them stagnant, perhaps settled into retirement or in a long-term relationship. Meemaw couldn’t be further from that stereotype, as Season 7 has her continuing to expand her horizons and her life. The producers and writers give Meemaw a chance to be a grandmother with a multi-faceted life and a personality that doesn’t allow her to settle for anything or anyone. It's as aspirational as it is uncommon in Hollywood for a woman in her 70s to have her own intriguing, independent story in a popular sitcom, and it's what makes Meemaw one of the best characters on the show.

'Young Sheldon's Characters Are Still Evolving in Season 7

Young Sheldon continually finds new situations to put its characters in that allow different sides of them to emerge . What’s more, these characters learn from their mistakes, a rarity in sitcoms that rely on the audiences wanting to spend time with a character they are familiar with. Young Sheldon isn’t afraid to treat their cast of characters like human beings , always learning, always evolving. Most delightfully, the first few episodes of Season 7 allow Mary Cooper to lighten up from her constant no-nonsense attitude. Mary’s unrelenting stern and negative demeanor has been a major energy suck in most of the scenes she’s a part of, becoming tiresome over the seasons. It seems she’s one of the few characters on the show that the writers continue to keep a broken record, always scolding and disapproving of the people around her, and rarely (if ever), smiling. So far, Season 7 has given Mary the ability to relax and be someone we might actually want to spend some time with.

In addition to Mary, we’re treated to a new side of Sheldon, who is no longer the smartest person in class now that he’s arrived at an elite institution in Germany. Watching him struggle with this realization is both refreshing and necessary. Many of Sheldon's obstacles throughout the series have come from his inability to understand social situations with his siblings, his classmates, and the faculty at East Texas Tech, the university Sheldon usually attends. Giving him this new setting with a new set of challenges is refreshing and a welcome change of pace. Meanwhile, Georgie's evolution into a father with a concern for right and wrong is another great way to show that these individuals aren't caricatures, but fully-formed people.

'Young Sheldon' Season 7 Misses Potential With Baby Cece

One odd addition to Season 7 comes in the way that Georgie and his now fiancé Mandy (Emily Osment) act towards their new baby , Cece. On the rare occasions that the baby is with Georgie or Mandy, the two always seem to be attempting to pass her off to someone else. There’s a lot of great potential for meaningful scenes with a baby, but most of Cece's time with her parents is spent with them complaining about the situation, and it feels like Meemaw and Mary are the only two who like being around her. Additionally, Georgie talks a lot about being a father, but we seldom see him interact with his child. While the work he does at the laundromat/secret gambling room to provide for Cece is parenting in its own right, there's a missed opportunity for him to learn to be a dad while the baby is actually in the room with him.

With the buildup in Season 6 of Georgie's nerves about being a father, including him delaying his trip to the hospital while Mandy was in labor, there aren't many scenes where he is directly dealing with this fear other than monetarily. With as talented an actor as Jordan is, there's lots to dig into here that isn't being explored.

'Young Sheldon's Actors Make the Show Successful

Another victory of Young Sheldon that continues in Season 7 is the brilliance of its actors. Each one is so perfectly cast in their roles; a major accomplishment for a show that was largely comprised of kids at its start in Season 1 . Iain Armitage, Raegan Revord, and Montana Jordan were cast around eight, nine, and thirteen years old – a huge risk for any show that hoped to continue for as many seasons as Young Sheldon has. Each of the young actors has grown beautifully into their more mature characters and give their adult co-stars a run for their money. Season 7 brings more standout moments for characters like George Cooper ( Lance Barber ), who is always there to knock a one-line joke out of the park . His natural delivery and expressive reactions to the world around him make him a lovable dad and one to watch throughout the funniest scenes.

It wouldn't be Young Sheldon without Sheldon himself. Iain Armitage continues to play the role in a way that so closely mirrors Jim Parson’s adult version that it’s a wonder the two actors don’t share a brain . Armitage has proven over the show's many seasons that he isn’t just good at playing a boy genius but is also able to bring depth to moments that humanize the often hard-shelled character. It would be easier to find an actor to mirror adult Sheldon’s behavior in a smaller body, but it’s a true testament to Armitage’s skills as an actor that he brings so much humanity to the character in moments of sadness. While this is his last season playing this particular role, he is, and always will be, what comes to mind when many think of Sheldon Cooper — not in replacement of Parson's award-winning performance, but in a way that captures the true innocence of the character.

young-sheldon-iain-armitage

Young Sheldon's final season goes out with a bang, proving to be one of the best spinoffs to an already popular network show.

  • Young Sheldon's writers are incredibly intelligent and thoughtful and don't add unnecessary fanfare around their jokes.
  • The show's characters are treated like multi-faceted human beings who learn from their mistakes and continue to evolve season after season.
  • The show's actors, as always, are brilliant.
  • There's some missed opportunity in the storyline of Cece and her parents, Georgie and Mandy, who only have surface-level scenes with their daughter.

The final season of Young Sheldon premieres February 15 on CBS and will be available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S. the day after airing.

WATCH ON PARAMOUNT+

IMAGES

  1. Fictional villains

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  2. 4 Types of Writer's Block Villains : And How to Conquer Them

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  3. Blog

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  4. 40 of the Best Villains in Literature ‹ Literary Hub

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  5. Twisted YA Book Villains (Young Adult Edition with K.M. Robinson, Elle

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VIDEO

  1. 76 (Every) Young Justice Villains

  2. QUOTES FROM VILLAINS WHO WERE COMPLETELY RIGHT

COMMENTS

  1. Fictional villains

    Who first comes to mind when you think 'villain'? Maybe it's someone you know, a character from a Marvel movie or someone more iconic, timeless, someone from history. We often think of the Spidermans of the world, saving people and making a difference, but for every superhero comes a villain just as well-known.

  2. Exploring Anti-Villains

    Erik Kilmonger - Touching upon lessons from the past and today, this antagonist from Black Panther holds direct parallels between the imagined world and the one we live in. Erik's goal is to carry out the work of his Father, he wants to take the advanced weaponry of Wakanda and arm oppressed black people across the globe, by doing this however h...

  3. How to Write a Good Villain: 6 Scenes Your Story Needs

    Scene #2: The First Look. First impressions are important. The first time we see your villain at work, we need to be wowed. It's that first crime, that first harsh word, that first evil glance that will set the tone for your villain. Take the introduction of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.

  4. Inside the Mind of a Villain: 8 Journeys and Motives Behind Evildoers

    What was going on inside their head? How did they go from quiet and nerdy to hateful and violent? Were they isolated, disenfranchised, lost? Were they triggered or born a monster? We usually blame mental health issues, poor upbringing, bad wiring, and then we move on. Writers are encouraged to go deeper.

  5. 40 of the Best Villains in Literature ‹ Literary Hub

    Infertility, The Children of Men, P. D. James Sure, Xan is also a villain in this novel. But the real, big-picture villain, the thing that causes everything to dissolve, and people to start christening their kittens and pushing them around in prams, has to be the global disease that left all the men on earth infertile.

  6. Top 10 villains in YA fiction

    Queen Levana, The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer Levana is capable of mind-controlling others, and glamouring herself to appear more beautiful than she is. That, combined with her desire to...

  7. How to Write an Unforgettable Villain: Tips for Writing a Great Villain

    From Darth Vader to Count Dracula, some of the best fiction writing contains unforgettable villains. Villains help define your story's hero, drive the conflict, and capture the reader's attention. For that reason, villains are just as important as the good guys in your story.

  8. A Fiction Writer's Guide To Better Villains

    Of all the characters you will ever create as a writer of fiction, one of the most rewarding is a good villain. Like our friend above, he (or she) should be scary, perhaps a bit enigmatic, have a good if slightly macabre sense of humor, and above all else, be worthy. The worst insult we can give our readers is to create a paper tiger — a villain who's only purpose is to be put down.

  9. How To Write The Perfect Villain

    Have a think about the following well-known villains: Darth Vader, Voldemort, Hannibal Lecter and Count Dracula. What is it that makes all these characters stand out? What is that makes readers almost root for their victory?

  10. Young Writers

    · November 7, 2021 · Twisted Tales challenges writers to look at villains from a new perspective Which villain would you choose? Can you tell us why villains aren't all bad? What's their back story? Are they just misunderstood? https://www.youngwriters.co.uk/com.../KS3-4/twisted-tales... All reactions: 5 3 comments 9 shares Like Comment

  11. Who is your favorite literary hero, villain?

    Ernest Bernbaum Professor. In contrast, David Damrosch went far back in time — to the second century B.C. "My favorite choice both for a villain and a hero has to be Gilgamesh, protagonist of the first great masterpiece of world literature.". The chair of the department of comparative literature explained why he both loathes and loves the ...

  12. Competitions

    What lurks in your child's imagination...? Get them involved today in this ghost story writing competition for writers aged 5-11 years! Open All Year View View All | View Winners Primary 7-12 Once Upon A Dream 2024 Ideal for ages 7-12

  13. Twisted: Short Stories by Young Writers

    During the autumn of 2016, the team behind the Chapter One Young Writers Conference mentored two talented young writers through the publishing process, giving them a head start on becoming the successful authors of tomorrow. Now, read the stories on which these up-and-coming writers worked, along with four by the Ch1Con mentors themselves.

  14. 15+ Best YA Book Villains

    The Darkling - The Grisha Trilogy (starts with Shadow and Bone) The Dad Well he's a serial killer who raised his son as an accomplice no biggie - Jasper Dent Series (starts with I Hunt Killers) Commandant Oh she's the worse kind of head mistress meets drill Sargent but there are lots of baddies - An Ember in the Ashes series.

  15. Best Villains in YA Fiction (168 books)

    The Lost Ones (Star Wars: Young Jedi Knights, #3) by. Kevin J. Anderson (Goodreads Author) ... Tags: best, creepy, fiction, interesting, saved-the-plot, scary, villains, young-adult. Like. Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes. People Who Voted On This List (104) kiwi 1702 books 105 friends Oxy 1547 books 616 friends Karen's ...

  16. 6 of the Best 2021 YA Books About Teens Who Write

    Tessa is a high school student with a passion for secretly writing romance. When her family moves to a new town, Tessa's mom secretly sends a writing sample to Chrysalis Academy. All of a sudden, Tessa is attending the prestigious school of the arts and she's finally surrounded by other creative thinkers. But when words fail her in class ...

  17. Ridiculous Writers

    They will love the fun of creating wacky characters using the activity sheet or coming up with their own crazy ideas. It's sure to create a buzz in your classroom which will translate into their writing, resulting in imaginative, creative stories! ... Young Writers, 77 Walnut Street, Unit 11, Peabody MA 01960 | Tel: 323-244-4784 | Email: [email ...

  18. Villains • Young Writers Society

    Due to the fact that I know RPers are in this club, I'm gonna shamelessly advertise: A callout to role-players of all genres and styles! The Role-play Geeks has a shiny new Discord, for all YWSers that want a piece of it! With more than a dozen RP rooms and an accessible backlog, you can do it in a real-time chat and be able to return to your role-plays later on - not to mention the dice ...

  19. One Piece of Advice From 18 Young Adult Fiction Authors in 2023

    Collected here is one piece of advice for writers from 18 different young adult fiction authors featured in our author spotlight series in 2023, including Daniel Aleman, Jean Louise, Elizabeth Lim, Julian R. Vaca, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Matt Mendez, and more. Robert Lee Brewer

  20. Hayley Hoskins Guest Blog

    The Whisperling is my take on gothic girl power, and I've packed it full of friendship, unlikely allies, séances, creepy houses, dastardly villains, ghosts, and above all finding the courage (and the power) in embracing your true self. Blending The Real & Imagined

  21. Speaking Out as a Victim of the 'Young Writers' Vanity ...

    Writing in the Media · 5 min read · Jan 31, 2023 How to con a family and get away with it: predators of the publishing industry continue the lucrative business of scamming children. Photo by Green...

  22. Creating Villains • Young Writers Society

    The Young Writers Society is an online social network for young people ages 13+ to share their creative works. ... Resources; Knowledge Base; Writing Tutorials; Creating Villains. Gender: Points: 1822 Reviews: 1253 Thu Dec 24, 2009 3:48 am. View Likes, , Elinor says... SAY IT! Two-Face. ...

  23. West Virginia's Young Writers Contest winners

    A dozen students enrolled at AT Allison Elementary School in Chester won West Virginia's Young Writers Contest at their classroom level. For the past 40 years, the contest celebrates grade 1-12 ...

  24. Young Writers Anthology 2023 by Annabelle Scott

    Young Writers Anthology 2023. Annabelle Scott, Maddox Ryan, Audrey Hackman ... WorldMaddox Ryan's Aulus the Speaking TreeAudrey Hackman's HopeYou'll chuckle, you'll cry, you'll root for the characters, but more importantly, you'll enjoy these tales. After reading these stories, you'll agree that our future looks very bright indeed. ...

  25. 'Young Sheldon' Season 7 Review

    Young Sheldon 's writing is brilliantly intelligent and quietly hilarious, with well-developed characters and occasional physical comedy moments.; Characters in Season 7 continue to evolve and ...