Writing Advice: Villains to Hero's

Writing Advice: Villains to Hero's

So the story I’m currently writing is about someone who is kind of terrible but becomes better throughout the story and it’s really...really hard to write him but I’ve learnt a few things which I would like to share with you in case you wanted to create this type of character.

Before I begin I want to establish, Megamind. You see Megamind was always a good character, he was just playing the role of a villain because that’s what society deemed him to be. If you look at examples of villains who become good you’ll most likely get the redeem villain trope but I don’t like those examples.

In most redeem villain tropes, the villains aren’t the main characters of the story and I can’t find any other examples besides Megamind where you follow the villain and his redemption arc. There might be others but Megamind is the only one I know of.

With that being said my character partakes in active genocide, is racist, keeps slaves, kills the innocents, you get the idea. Needless to say, he’s not on any of my reader's top five lists and in the beginning, no one could finish my story because he was so unlikeable.

One of the first things I learned while creating this character is that he needed to be different from everyone around him. Everyone around him is terrible, so I needed to show off his good side early and explain why he had those beliefs, such as looking out for the little guy, and not being sexist. I also had to stick him with other characters who are nicer but are seen as outcasts in his society. These characters would act as a moral compass for a few things, (not all) and when he starts to protect them, the more terrible characters would start attacking him as well.

Over time as the story progresses the main character keeps being introduced to others who are also kind as he creates a circle of friends who show him the error of his ways. Please note this doesn’t resolve him of his past actions and he’ll still have to answer for everything he did in the past.

Despite going through the changes needed to no longer be horrible, my main character is still not one of the top-liked characters in my story and that's because many of my readers have been bullied. They’re part of a minority and while they appreciate his turnaround, it comes down to the fact he was terrible. They acknowledge he changed, but he did so much damage that when others bring up his past, my readers seem to relate more to those he wronged.

Redeem villains are definitely a trope, but there’s one problem with them. How many times does a villain get redeemed but aren’t held accountable for their actions, or are only redeemed through death? Creating a character who’s a redeemed villain, but still has to be held accountable for their actions is tricky but if you want to create this kind of character you might want to figure out what the message of your story is? Why does this character get to have a redemption arc? What does that redemption arc mean?

In my story, it’s the fact that people can change, however, they still have to be held accountable for those they wrong. Not everyone will forgive them, and they need to understand they aren’t the hero. A hero is someone who stands up for injustice and has good morals. My character made the world terrible and is trying to repair it, but some of the damage he caused will never be repaired. He was never meant to be on anyone’s top-five list. He was always meant to be a failed hero, however, even though he knows he’ll never get the world to forgive him, he knows he shouldn’t stop trying to repair it because that’s the right thing to do. If you make a mistake, you own up to it, fix it, and take any consequences you might receive. If you try to brush it off and say you were just a different person, then have you truly learnt anything?

I think a lot of us can relate to my main character. A lot of us have wronged someone in our life and taking accountability for those wrongs is hard. It’s a lot easier to deny them or brush it off. However, I think it’s also important to see that even though it’s hard to accept your past, no matter how much of a terrible person you might’ve been. It’s important to try and acknowledge and repair it. It’s how we grow into a better version of ourselves and please understand that sometimes those who you might've wrong don’t want anything to do with you, even if you feel genuinely sorry and that’s fine. Not every bridge can be rebuilt but hopefully, the newer ones you make will be stronger as you understand what made the previous one fall apart.