What is a great villain?

[Space_of_Writing]

What need a great story, excepts good ideas, realistic heroes, etc.? Right. A great villain. (I mean why should you character fight for something when he/she hasn’t a reason to do it.)
A villain can be everything! The dude who loves the same girl, a guy á la Joker from “the dark knight”, a monster with purple tentacles, or even the love itself.
But what should you mind to create the perfect villain for your story? Put your best tips here!

 

[The Judge]

There are a number of threads here in GWD which talk about bad guys and how to write them, though not all of those threads will make that clear in the title. eg recently these two have aspects of a villain's character in a thread dealing with larger issues Scared and powerless and How do you design character hooks? but these older two are more specific Evil Protagonist and How to write better bad guys

Settle down a bit and start reading the threads here. You might find your questions answered before you even have to ask them.

 

[Phyrebrat]

And check out recent entries on The Writing Podcast as they have dealt with villains lately.

What is it that you are having probiems with in developing your villain? Is there something in particular you are struggling with?

pH