Your hero is not the most important character in your book. Your villain is. Are you fed up of drowning in two-dimensional villains? Frustrated with creating clichés? And failing to get your reader to root for your villain? In 13 Steps to Evil, you’ll discover: + How to develop a villain’s mindset+ A step-by-step guide to creating your villain from the ground up+ Why getting to the core of a … up
+ Why getting to the core of a villain’s personality is essential to make them credible
+ What pitfalls and clichés to avoid as well as the tropes your story needs
Finally, there is a comprehensive writing guide to help you create superbad villains. Whether you’re just starting out or are a seasoned writer, this book will help power up your bad guy and give them that extra edge.
These lessons will help you master and control your villainous minions, navigate and gain the perfect balance of good and evil, as well as strengthening your villain to give your story the tension and punch it needs.
If you like dark humour, learning through examples and want to create the best villains you can, then you’ll love Sacha Black’s guide to crafting superbad villains. Read 13 Steps to Evil today and start creating kick-ass villains.
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As a fantasy writer, I love writing about the hero’s journey. However, as Author, Sacha Black points out, your villain is just as important as your hero. Of particular interest to me was the concept of creating a villain who could stand up to your hero by making the villain credible and believable. This is where the 13 fundamentals of a bad guy come into play. Each concept is discussed in practical terms filled with examples from other books and films that make the concepts easy to relate to.
The author writes in such a way as to coach you on your writing journey by liberally sprinkling her own sense of humor throughout the pages making the discussion fun and never boring. Some of the topics covered were how to avoid cliches, the psychology behind the villain and what motivates them, along with an excellent discussion of anti-heroes.
One of the most important things I gleaned from this book was to not allow my hero to have an easy go of it. The more obstacles I could throw at my hero the better my story would progress. Sacha Black puts it this way:
“No motive, no conflict. No conflict, no story.”
Another section of the novel was dedicated to establishing the mental health of your villain which was created to serve as a reference section for the writer. Here, the author’s advice is clear. When mental health disorders are used as character traits, don’t base them off of myth or stereotypes. Research the mental health disorder and authentically portray your character.
At the end of the book are listings of positive, negative, and neutral traits, along with the lists of positive, negative, and neutral values that can be used in character formation. I found the listing of soul scars to be helpful when trying to figure out what motivates my characters to act or react in a certain way.
I loved this book and will use it as a reference for the future creation of my characters. No matter where you are in your writing journey, you will take away something useful the next time you find yourself crafting your perfect hero, anti-hero or villain.
Author, Sacha Black has created a free short course on villains which is included as a link in the acknowledgments, called Villain School 101.
MY RATING:
Character Believability: 5
Flow and Pace: 5
Reader Engagement: 5
Reader Enrichment: 5
Reader Enjoyment: 5
Overall Rate: 5 out of 5 Stars
A ‘textbook’ with flair.
The author focuses on numerous aspects of villains, how to write better ones, and why they’re so important to your story (they are). Each part is informative and entertaining. The writing style is informal, with a sprinkling of bad language. I liked the addition of the psychological section which breaks from the author’s tone and handles mental illness in villains with knowledge and insight.
Great book to boost your baddies.
Excellent – my only regret I hadn’t read this earlier. Fantastic resource, well written, entertaining and so human. This girl knows her villains!
Confession time. No, it’s nothing to do with my prison record, or my descent into villainy. It’s simply this – I’m pretty lazy about reading books about writing – but Sacha Black’s 13 Steps To Evil has completely changed my mind! What a fantastic kick ass little book! I wish I’d read a copy years ago.
It’s a detailed resource, which informs and entertains in an illuminating, and humorous way. There are so many excellent examples that I am giddy with the potential for villains. The mental health section is handled with great sensitivity (one of my characters self-harms, so I read this with considerable interest,) and I was also fascinated by the detail on narcissistic personality disorder too.
Sacha’s extensive knowledge of villains prompts me to ask….. Is Sacha a secret villain? Or has she been hanging out with dodgy characters? The mind boggles. No, none of these apply… at least I don’t think so! Sacha Black has done her research, and it shows. She studied Psychology to 1st Class Degree level and thereafter completed Masters in Research Methods in Cognitive Neuropsychology. She has also spent an exorbitant amount of time watching villainous films, (from a tender age,) and has read tonnes of books, and absorbed popular culture like a sponge. Where does this woman get her energy? I am in awe, totally star-stuck… or should I say villain struck!
My recommendation: 5 stars. Get a copy now and write a review. Share the love!