65. The Distorted Character Qualities of a Villain

THE STORYTELLER’S MISSION WITH ZENA DELL LOWE

EPISODE 65 – The Distorted Character Qualities of Villains

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EPISODE DESCRIPTION – 

Last week, we launched into a discussion about what makes a great villain since villains must be formidable foes for your heroes. If you don't have a great villain, then you won't be able to show the heroism of your main character.

In Episode 57 of this podcast: 21 heroic character qualities that you can reveal in story, I shared 21 traits that most heroes have. But the interesting thing about this is that many of those character qualities apply to villains as well. Today, we go through traits 1-5 of that very same list from the villain's point of view. How does that character trait change if the character to whom it applies is the villain? 

Trait number one: Villains must be able to think fast under pressure.

Trait number two: Villains must be good at one or more things. Moreover, they have to be better at those things than anybody else in the story world.

Trait number three: Villains must be able to think outside of the box. They come up with clever plans; things that the hero never saw coming.

Trait number four: Villains stuff their personal issues, not for the good of others, but for their personal goals. Or, if they don’t stuff their feelings, they give full vent to their rage and incorporate personal vengeance into their already formulated plans.

Trait number five: For villains, no matter how bad it gets, they do what they intended to do, for the reasons they intended to do it. In other words, they just don't give up. They keep going. They're relentless.

UP NEXT – Next week, we’ll start with heroic character quality number six and continue going through the list to compare how these heroic traits are distorted when it comes to the villain.

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SPECIAL THANKS -The Storyteller’s Mission with Zena Dell Lowe would like to thank composer CARLA PATULLO for the original music she graciously permits us to use in the intro and outro of this podcast. To find out more about this amazing talent, go to  www.carlapatullo.com