A purely evil character who has no positive traits.

Many people believe that a purely evil character is the best way to get an audience’s attention, but this can have serious consequences.

The pure evilness of such characters can cause them to become monotonous and unrelatable, which in turn causes readers or viewers to disengage from the story.

There are many different ways you can create compelling villains without making them purely evil- for example, giving them some redeeming qualities (such as a love for animals), or showing their backstory.

Giving them some redeeming qualities.

For example a love for animals, can make it easier for audience members to relate and stay engaged in the plot of your work.

Showing their backstory also helps audiences identify with characters that might otherwise seem too different than themselves.

This is not only true of villains- you should consider how these techniques apply to other types of characters as well! Long-form Content Continued.