I’ve been thinking lately about villains as I write (read: struggle through) a three part novella series that I wanted to release by the end of the month. (Hint: I’m nowhere near that plan.)

I was thinking about all the villains I fell in love with in books I’ve read and that inspire me to write better characters.

I figure if a writer can make me fall in love with the bad guy, they’ve hit the story out of the park.

You know the kinds of villains I mean. They’re the ones you talk about, argue over, secretly desire (secretly because you KNOW they’re bad for you).

So I thought I’d add four of my favs and add one of my own that I really came to love as I wrote him and hoped embodied the concept of great characterization.

So here in no special order is my list.

I’d love it if you would add yours in the comments, OR take it to Pinterest. Pin my graphic and add to the comments who your top 5 are.

1.  Damon :The Vampire Diaries. by LJ Smith

OK. so I’m a sucker for vampire stories and before the series came out on television, I LOVED this series of books. I loved Damon the first time he was introduced and he was the character that kept me reading.

2. Eric: The Southern Vampire Series by Charlaine Harris

If you love vamp fiction like I do, you wouldn’t be able to resist Eric. The main love interest held no candle to Eric when he found his way into the story. (Interestingly, my original love interest in Reapers Redemption didn’t inspire me nearly as much as my ‘villain’)

3. Snape: Harry Potter

It’s entirely possible that my love for Snape came at the end of the series. If you’ve read the series you know why. Nuff said.

4 Dexter: Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Now, I’m not one to love a sociopath, really, but this character just drew me in. I wasn’t intrigued in terms of like….hot stuff…but I definitly loved this character. I wanted to see him transform and find his humanity…and truthfully, most of my fiction has this theme.

5. Azrael: Reapers Redemption series

I must confess, this series is mine. Yup. I put my own book in here. Why? Well, mostly because I didn’t expect to love this character at all. Azrael is the Angel of Death and he’s arrogant and almost sociopathic…except he has a past with Ayla…and well…it’s complicated.

You’ll just have to pick it up to see why.

—I’d love to hear which villains you love to hate to love…Feel free to Pin my post and comment or just comment here…or BOTH! It’s all good.

-t-