The villain. The antagonist. The one who causes the hero and heroine a bucket full of woes.
Fairytales revolve around the one-true-ones facing the dragon, an evil presence, the overwhelming odds and winning the day.
The prince in Sleeping Beauty literally slays the dragon to save his fair princess.
In Snow White, the prince defeats the curse with a kiss. Or, in our case, we can say the curse was defeated by love.
I’m telling you, the power and message of the Cross is all over the world, all over literature, if you dare to peer deep enough.
How do we use the power of evil or the villain in our modern day novels. Several ways.
If you’re writing a suspense or thriller, the answer is more profound. You, well, have a bad guy.
If you need to know more, watch Die Hard or Star Wars.
The bad guy’s job is to cause problems for the protagonist and toss up obstacle after obstacle.
Evil is almost always mature, crafty, experience and committed to the task of destroying hope, good and all the protagonist dreams.
I love this quote from “The Three Battlegrounds” by Francis Frangipane.
“Age and treachery will always defeat youth and zeal.”
Your villain or personified evil needs to be crafty and skilled, treacherous. A formidable foe!
The protagonist must need help to overcome.
Cinderella’s stepmama? Shrewd. Skilled in manipulation and control. She knew how to work it and she didn’t care what it cost Cindy.
Snow White’s stepmama? Down right demonic. Crafted a spell against her. She was mature in her wicked ways.
Create a foe that is more dastardly and more bold than your protagonist. But in the end, it’s the will, the humility, the love, the community around the protagonist that wins the day.
What makes formidable foes in modern stories?
Sickness. Spiritual darkness. If you’re writing a thriller or suspense you could actually have “on stage” demonic activity.
A manipulating parent or grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother or sister.
A friend or co-worker.
Someone so drowning in their thirst for power or conquest they cannot see the lives they are destroying in the process.
Alcohol or drugs. Abuse. (Though it’s been done a lot in fiction.)
Political situations. Governments. Leaders. Racism or societal expectations or traditions.
What about an internal evil foe. In the Songbird Novels, I used fear to hamper and hinder Jade.
Panic attacks and depersonalization kept in her a darkness until love broke in when she met Max. But she had some battling and defeating to do.
Financial troubles. Bad decisions. What if your protagonist is a victim of continual bad decisions? Some she makes on her own, but many made for her.
Sure, that’s a weaker foe, but it’s quite a chore to get out of messes others have created.
Death. A very severe and defeating foe.
So think of your story. What is opposing your protagonist and how is it realized on the page.
Personified evil merely means the opposition to your characters is real and tangible.
In The Proposal, Margaret’s perceived evil is the American Immigration Office. It’s a steel door to her dreams, to her very identity. She must find a way around it.
Drew’s personified evil, if I may, is his relationship with his dad. He can’t face it. He can’t go around it. All he can do is hide from it until love forces him through it.
Evil is conquered by love. Drew telling Margaret he loves her.

Die Hard. Obvious evil. Terrorists attack the building where his wife works. She’s taken hostage and John McCain must gather all of his courage to defeat the foe.
Love is a driving force. But he also partners with a boots-on-the-ground police officer.
John cannot do it alone.

Your protagonist cannot defeat evil alone.
A core fiber of evil is isolation and aloneness. Wickedness says I need no one. I can do it all myself. I’m in control.
(Did you realize control is not a problem but a symptom?)

So to win the day, your protagonist needs love, a team, someone to fight for her. See the Needs to Be Rescued post.
Though it seems evil is winning when the black moment arrives and all seems lost, the protagonist, driven by love and hope, will find away.
You can use metaphors such a forgiveness or repentance of some kind, a life change, to signify the protagonist is ready to face evil and win.
In The Wedding Dress, my hero Tim gave up his motor cross bikes as a confession to his own soul, and before the Lord, he was ready to grow up and be a man.
Just as his brother drove away with his last bike, the heroine Charlotte shows up in the wedding dress with a revelation of her own.
Emily, my second heroine, confronted racism.
In Kim Cash Tate’s new novel, The Color of Hope, deep seated prejudice is the evil in the story. It drives one character into deeper evil.
But in the end, confronting prejudice and old mind sets, the characters and the town is changed.
And the confrontation was motivated by… you guessed it, love.

Oh, everyone should write and read romance.

So, you get the picture. Think of your story. How can you create an evil foe so that it’s tangible on the page?
Consider these things:
1. What problems is my protagonist facing? Can you up the obstacle by increasing the force and maturity of the problems?
2. Are her problems internal or external? Can you layer in more issue,s if say, the problems are only internal?
3. Can you create a living breathing villain?
4. What about a metaphorical villain? Fear. Doubt. Expectations. Belief system.
5. Is there something supernatural going on?

Also, create that strong support cast. Who supports the protagonist? Who encourages her to overcome?
If you’re not writing a romance, what love element helps the protagonist overcome? Cinderella had the prince but she also had the mice and bird brigade.
1. Snow White had seven dwarfs.
2. Drew had his Gammy and mother.
3. Jade, in the Songbird Novels, had her husband, her mother, and the Spirit of God.
4. Joy, in Dining with Joy, had a villain in rival cooking show host, Wenda Divine. She overcame by the love of the hero, Luke.

Think outside the box. Turn the box upside down. In fact, the box is so far away it’s a dot on the horizon.
Create formidable foes and you’ll have readers turning the page.

Happy Writing.

Best-selling, award-winning author Rachel Hauck loves a great story. She excels in seeing the deeper layers of a story. With a love for teaching and mentoring, Rachel comes alongside writers to help them craft their novel.

A worship leader, board member of ACFW and popular writing teacher, Rachel is the author of over 15 novels. She lives in Florida with her husband and her dog, Lola. Contact her at: Rachel@mybooktherapy.com. Her next book, Once Upon A Prince, releases May 7!

Go forth and write!

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