Have the villain personally do evil acts (not just order them to happen). To make it more effective, have the evil acts happen to a person that the reader cares about. [1] X Research source
Sadism isn’t a real motivation. Your character needs a good reason to do evil acts instead of eating dessert in front of their TV. [3] X Research source It’s boring, and not very believable, to have a villain who does evil acts “because it’s fun. " Don’t superficially rip off Nazis. Use literal Nazis as villains, or if you use Nazis as an inspiration, do some detailed research about their rationales and how they worked. [4] X Research source A person or group shouldn’t just seem “bad” because they look like Nazis, but because they are nuanced in their evil beliefs and actions. Mental illness and disabilities don’t make people evil. “They’re evil because they have a mental condition” is lazy writing that is deeply insulting to the many good people with real emotional and developmental disabilities. (Disabled people aren’t more violent than anyone else, but they are much more likely to be victims of violence. Don’t support discrimination by caricaturing them as evil. ) Avoid cheesy, academic language. This is pretty overdone. [5] X Research source
“I will do anything to earn the acceptance of _____/become a true _____. " “The world is full of moral failings, and I am one of the few that is truly virtuous. I must correct others’ immorality. If bad things happen to people, it is because they deserve it. " “People of group X are monsters/in need of controlling/a waste of space. " “Only the strong survive. Losing is a sign of weakness. The weak deserve to lose. " “People who X deserve to be put back in their place. " “I will stop at nothing to achieve my goal, because it is the greatest good. If other people get in my way, I will stop them. If I happen to hurt others, it doesn’t matter, because it is for the greater good. " “Members of Minority X are scary and bad. I will do anything to protect my home/town/country from them. "
Who did your villain care about? Which people or animals are special to them? Consider what the villain won’t do. For example, maybe he is willing to kill people, but considers torture and rape to be unnecessarily cruel. Or she will steal, threaten, and cheat, but she won’t kill unless absolutely necessary. You’ve a lot of licence here with someone who is purely evil. Give your villain hobbies. What purely evil things do they do in their spare time? Do they play chess with live rodents pinned to the pieces, practice shooting, knit itchy sweaters for Fluffy, write their autobiography?
One good way of creating suspense is having other characters talk about your villain, show some of his deeds and give the audience sense of him. Later he may come out of the dark with a frightening entrance.
