Writing ‘bad guys’ when you don’t want to

This issue just came up in the Prep online screenwriting class I’m currently leading: What to do when confronted by having to write ‘Bad Guys’ when their behavior is personally really appalling to you. Here is my response:

A couple of things. First off it’s completely understandable having antipathy toward nefarious, asshole, and particularly evil characters.

However if they have to exist to tell the story, then the writer has to figure out a way to write them.

Some thoughts:

* It’s a story, not real life. This is a fictional character, so even if he’s a prick, he’s not a real prick.

* He is providing a narrative function. That’s the character’s job. Since it is his job, the writer needs to do everything they can to help that character do their job well.

* Even Bad Guys have Moms. In other words, it’s up to the writer to find the humanity within the Bad Guy. Hopefully by finding their humanity, that will provide some basis of connection to the character.

* Even Bad Guys have a world view that works for them. Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs believed he needed to be a woman. Unfortunately for him none of the three medical centers in the world specializing in gender transfiguration agreed. So BB did the next best thing in his mind: He started killing women to cut off their flesh in order to sew together a female skin suit. Now I abhor that world view, but at least it’s something I can understand. In BB’s mind, that is an entirely reasonable position to take. So per that example, go into the Bad Guy character enough that you grasp what their world view is.

* If you’re really having troubles writing a Bad Guy, getting comfortable with that process, try this: Create a writing alter ego. It’s not you writing the story, but this other version of you. In effect you are creating a safety layer between you and the Bad Guy. Now this can only work if you allow this alter ego to really wallow in the depths of the Bad Guy’s persona. That said it could free you up to do precisely that.

At the end of the day, a writer’s sole duty is to the story. Whatever the story requires. When this means that we have to write Bad Guys, even if they disturb us, somehow, some way, we have to figure out ways to do that.

How about you? How do you handle writing ‘bad guys’?

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