Do you prefer likable villains, or ones that the readers are just meant to hate? Which do you write more often?
I personally prefer likable villains, or villains that you can understand where they’re coming from.
That’s the kind I always seem to write, at least. Dr. Agau’s entire character is being a villain with a good goal; she wants to save the world from the effects of climate change. And while I don’t have the TREE antagonist(s?) completely fleshed out yet, they’re not going to be simply hateable villains either.
I personally feel that hating someone takes a lot of energy, and asking my readers to constantly pour out energy to hating a character for the entire book or series is a lot to ask. For me, there has to be something more there, something of substance that you can appreciate or think about when you get tired of hating.
Keep in mind these are my personal preferences and my personal writing tendencies; I’m not saying villains that readers are just meant to hate are bad, but I’m answering a question about my own preferences!
