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The Villain's Journey: How to Create Villains Readers Love to Hate
You've read about the Hero's Journey but what about
The Villain's Journey
?
Do you want to write mysteries and thrillers that keep readers up nights? The secret lies inside the Villain.
Discover Debbie Burke's new craft-of-writing guidebook that takes you on that exciting journey.Follow the steps to the darkest depths of the human soul. Trace a character’s descent into malice, mayhem, and murder.
What you’ll
The many flavors of villains, from funny to fearsome to fanatical.How to drill inside the brain of a criminal.Is someone born bad or do they learn to be bad?Reasons why an ordinary person changes from law-abiding to law breaking.Tips for an antagonist who challenges, threatens, and terrifies your hero.How compelling criminals keep readers turning pages.And more...Build-a-Villain worksheets help you create unique, multi-dimensional villains for your own stories.
Even if you don’t write crime fiction, this book shows techniques to bring antagonists to life in any genre.
Travel on The Villain's Journey...if you dare!
Do you want to write mysteries and thrillers that keep readers up nights? The secret lies inside the Villain.
Discover Debbie Burke's new craft-of-writing guidebook that takes you on that exciting journey.Follow the steps to the darkest depths of the human soul. Trace a character’s descent into malice, mayhem, and murder.
What you’ll
The many flavors of villains, from funny to fearsome to fanatical.How to drill inside the brain of a criminal.Is someone born bad or do they learn to be bad?Reasons why an ordinary person changes from law-abiding to law breaking.Tips for an antagonist who challenges, threatens, and terrifies your hero.How compelling criminals keep readers turning pages.And more...Build-a-Villain worksheets help you create unique, multi-dimensional villains for your own stories.
Even if you don’t write crime fiction, this book shows techniques to bring antagonists to life in any genre.
Travel on The Villain's Journey...if you dare!
246 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 13, 2025
4 people are currently reading
6 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 6, 2025
If the only villains you know wear black, swirl their cape to conceal everything except their beady eyes, twirl an outlandish mustache, and declaim their secret plan for world domination while tying a fainting Pauline to the railroad tracks . . .
If the villain is blind to anything beyond their version of world destruction, enjoys no allies, critters, or home life . . . If those are the only villains you know, wait until you meet the evil crowd author Debbie Burke hangs out with.
The Villain’s Journey: How to Create Villains Readers Love to Hate is a mastermind class for writers. In it, Burke excavates the roots of twenty-nine villainous types, ranging from the most twisted to the clumsiest.
Every anti-hero deserves a unique backstory, motivation, rationale, and justification for the way they live and act, just as do heroes. Villains have, or had, families, lovers, dreams, and desires. Writers sometimes appear to forget that even a villain’s choices are rooted in life experiences, beliefs, and emotions.
Burke provides incisive character analyses and questions, sharing stories from books (including her own), movies, and real-life headlines in defining each type of villain. Chapters conclude with a set of prompts, helping writers decide if that protagonist best suits their story and how to bring them to life on the page.
Plotters and pantsers alike will find extra value in Burke’s detailed Build-A-Villain worksheet (at the end of the book), a tool for creating villains so lifelike the writers will shiver when they type the fiends’ scenes. Following this blueprint means never finding themselves in the middle of a manuscript staring at a paper-flat villain whose life and crimes are so dull that the hero just turned around and went home to watch reruns.
An extensive recommended reading list rounds out Burke’s exploration of these characters readers love to hate. The complete package leads a writer to create fully rounded villains with clear motivations, vulnerabilities, and personal value systems. I made copious notes for my WIP while reading, knowing that what I gleaned from this book will add several layers of flavor to my latest anti-hero.
Building a better villain creates a more intriguing foil for the heroic main character. There’s no question that better stories make happier readers. Writers at all skill levels should grab this book and give it plenty of space on their reference shelf. With so many villains lodged between its pages, this volume needs room to stretch out and plot how to take over your next book. Because, yeah, where there’s a villain, there’s a crime.
I received an ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
If the villain is blind to anything beyond their version of world destruction, enjoys no allies, critters, or home life . . . If those are the only villains you know, wait until you meet the evil crowd author Debbie Burke hangs out with.
The Villain’s Journey: How to Create Villains Readers Love to Hate is a mastermind class for writers. In it, Burke excavates the roots of twenty-nine villainous types, ranging from the most twisted to the clumsiest.
Every anti-hero deserves a unique backstory, motivation, rationale, and justification for the way they live and act, just as do heroes. Villains have, or had, families, lovers, dreams, and desires. Writers sometimes appear to forget that even a villain’s choices are rooted in life experiences, beliefs, and emotions.
Burke provides incisive character analyses and questions, sharing stories from books (including her own), movies, and real-life headlines in defining each type of villain. Chapters conclude with a set of prompts, helping writers decide if that protagonist best suits their story and how to bring them to life on the page.
Plotters and pantsers alike will find extra value in Burke’s detailed Build-A-Villain worksheet (at the end of the book), a tool for creating villains so lifelike the writers will shiver when they type the fiends’ scenes. Following this blueprint means never finding themselves in the middle of a manuscript staring at a paper-flat villain whose life and crimes are so dull that the hero just turned around and went home to watch reruns.
An extensive recommended reading list rounds out Burke’s exploration of these characters readers love to hate. The complete package leads a writer to create fully rounded villains with clear motivations, vulnerabilities, and personal value systems. I made copious notes for my WIP while reading, knowing that what I gleaned from this book will add several layers of flavor to my latest anti-hero.
Building a better villain creates a more intriguing foil for the heroic main character. There’s no question that better stories make happier readers. Writers at all skill levels should grab this book and give it plenty of space on their reference shelf. With so many villains lodged between its pages, this volume needs room to stretch out and plot how to take over your next book. Because, yeah, where there’s a villain, there’s a crime.
I received an ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
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August 2, 2025The Villain's Journey is a quick and informative read targeted at aspiring (and other) authors. Of particular interest to those writing mysteries and thrillers, it's also worthwhile for authors of other fiction genres, and even memoir writers, as it looks at some of the psychology behind different kinds of villains. Also, significantly, it differentiates between antagonists and villains (a villain will be an antagonist, but not all antagonists are villains). Many readers will enjoy the useful exercises that are included to help think through creating a convincing villain.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
August 12, 2025
THE VILLAIN'S JOURNEY: How To Create Villains Readers Love to Hate
by Debbie Burke
Early in her writing career, Debbie Burke won literary contests and attention from agents and editors, yet she scored no publishing contracts for her mystery novel manuscripts. At least until she realized that the crucial element they lacked was more input from the dark side. Or, as she tells it: “Despite study, hard work, and persistence, my manuscripts remained unpublished. A key element was missing. But what? In traditional mysteries, the bad guy usually hides in the shadows out of the reader's sight until the big reveal at the end. Unfortunately, in my case, the villain had been hiding from the writer, too! I'd totally ignored the critical character who instigated the very problem the hero needed to solve.”
Once she pulled her villains onstage and gave them a real stake in plot and story, offers came in. Burke had discovered that while a hero is important, they and their problems tend to feel less compelling to readers when there’s no access to the bad guy or antagonist of the tale as well. Her popular Tawny Lindholm series of thrillers are a great example. When she foregrounded the terrorist villain in her first novel Instrument of the Devil, editors finally took notice. Now, in Burke’s new nonfiction work, a writing craft handbook titled THE VILLAIN'S JOURNEY: How to Create Villains Readers Love to Hate, the author shares all she learned on her own journey to publishing success.
The beauty of this pared-down yet detailed work is that it’s not a thick, daunting academic-type door-stopper, but rather a practical, straightforward craft guide with short, highly focused chapters. In them Burke lays out the case for giving the criminal minds, psychopaths, and murderers whose vile acts tend to drive plots in the genre a bigger role. Readers and movie-goers have always been both repelled and fascinated by those who step outside the boundaries of civilized society and commit foul deeds. Burke uses examples from both books and films, as well as real life crimes, to make her case. It’s all laid out in a profluent format with hands-on exercises at the ends of chapters.
Her most imperative advice is to develop the villain as a human being, not just a trope or TV-show cliché. To that end, she advises beginning mystery and thriller writers to view their antagonist or bad guy first and foremost as a human being. How did the villain end up this way? What wounded the killer early on in life, twisting his world view? What’s the motivation for choosing evil over good? And so on.
The book is clearly organized and proceeds from general to specific. Burke begins by defining the territory, examining the differences between mysteries, suspense novels, and thrillers. Then she tells us something we already knew from books and films, but possibly hadn’t considered when we write: It’s fun to think like a villain! To this end, and to explain why the bad guy or girl deserves as much time and work as the protagonist, she introduces another truth that’s not necessarily intuitive, especially to those just starting out in the genre: The villain is the hero of their own story. In many ways they are like the hero, or good guy. Because, in the villain’s mind, what they are doing and how they feel about it not only makes sense; their criminal urges are justified by . . .
Well, it’s up to the author to figure out why this is the case, and relay that characterization to the reader in a believable way. To this end, Burke zeroes in, one by one, on a wide variety of villains and what made them tick. With examples from her own work, the works of other writers, and information from real-life medical professionals in the field. Bonus: The chapter titles are informative, yes, but also amusing and intriguing: "It’s 10 P.M. Do You Know Where Your Villain Is?" Or "Bluebeards and Black Widows". And of course, "The Villain Who Keeps Coming Back".
Once the reader has learned how to determine the characteristics of various types of villains we may or may not be familiar with, Burke lays out the importance of endowing them with their fair share of humanity. Even bad guys have mothers or dogs or goldfish they love. Neglecting to make a criminal character seem real and convincing is a failure readers of this craft book will never make again. And finally, Burke provides a set of “Build a Villain Worksheets” that lead the writer through the step-by-step process of creating an “Origin Story” for their villain. These templates are composed of detailed questions which will draw from the writer all the information needed to begin to mold and shape a realistic, compelling, and believable bad actor, whatever their age, type, or gender.
THE VILLAIN'S JOURNEY may be aimed at beginning to intermediate-level writers, but even a seasoned thriller pro might learn a thing or two from Burke’s very thorough treatment of the topic. It’s a great craft book for anyone who’s embarking on a novel manuscript in the thriller, mystery, detective, or suspense genre. But, as Burke points out near the end, it could also be a valuable tool for those writing nonfiction, such as a true-crime book or article. In either case, highly recommended!
by Debbie Burke
Early in her writing career, Debbie Burke won literary contests and attention from agents and editors, yet she scored no publishing contracts for her mystery novel manuscripts. At least until she realized that the crucial element they lacked was more input from the dark side. Or, as she tells it: “Despite study, hard work, and persistence, my manuscripts remained unpublished. A key element was missing. But what? In traditional mysteries, the bad guy usually hides in the shadows out of the reader's sight until the big reveal at the end. Unfortunately, in my case, the villain had been hiding from the writer, too! I'd totally ignored the critical character who instigated the very problem the hero needed to solve.”
Once she pulled her villains onstage and gave them a real stake in plot and story, offers came in. Burke had discovered that while a hero is important, they and their problems tend to feel less compelling to readers when there’s no access to the bad guy or antagonist of the tale as well. Her popular Tawny Lindholm series of thrillers are a great example. When she foregrounded the terrorist villain in her first novel Instrument of the Devil, editors finally took notice. Now, in Burke’s new nonfiction work, a writing craft handbook titled THE VILLAIN'S JOURNEY: How to Create Villains Readers Love to Hate, the author shares all she learned on her own journey to publishing success.
The beauty of this pared-down yet detailed work is that it’s not a thick, daunting academic-type door-stopper, but rather a practical, straightforward craft guide with short, highly focused chapters. In them Burke lays out the case for giving the criminal minds, psychopaths, and murderers whose vile acts tend to drive plots in the genre a bigger role. Readers and movie-goers have always been both repelled and fascinated by those who step outside the boundaries of civilized society and commit foul deeds. Burke uses examples from both books and films, as well as real life crimes, to make her case. It’s all laid out in a profluent format with hands-on exercises at the ends of chapters.
Her most imperative advice is to develop the villain as a human being, not just a trope or TV-show cliché. To that end, she advises beginning mystery and thriller writers to view their antagonist or bad guy first and foremost as a human being. How did the villain end up this way? What wounded the killer early on in life, twisting his world view? What’s the motivation for choosing evil over good? And so on.
The book is clearly organized and proceeds from general to specific. Burke begins by defining the territory, examining the differences between mysteries, suspense novels, and thrillers. Then she tells us something we already knew from books and films, but possibly hadn’t considered when we write: It’s fun to think like a villain! To this end, and to explain why the bad guy or girl deserves as much time and work as the protagonist, she introduces another truth that’s not necessarily intuitive, especially to those just starting out in the genre: The villain is the hero of their own story. In many ways they are like the hero, or good guy. Because, in the villain’s mind, what they are doing and how they feel about it not only makes sense; their criminal urges are justified by . . .
Well, it’s up to the author to figure out why this is the case, and relay that characterization to the reader in a believable way. To this end, Burke zeroes in, one by one, on a wide variety of villains and what made them tick. With examples from her own work, the works of other writers, and information from real-life medical professionals in the field. Bonus: The chapter titles are informative, yes, but also amusing and intriguing: "It’s 10 P.M. Do You Know Where Your Villain Is?" Or "Bluebeards and Black Widows". And of course, "The Villain Who Keeps Coming Back".
Once the reader has learned how to determine the characteristics of various types of villains we may or may not be familiar with, Burke lays out the importance of endowing them with their fair share of humanity. Even bad guys have mothers or dogs or goldfish they love. Neglecting to make a criminal character seem real and convincing is a failure readers of this craft book will never make again. And finally, Burke provides a set of “Build a Villain Worksheets” that lead the writer through the step-by-step process of creating an “Origin Story” for their villain. These templates are composed of detailed questions which will draw from the writer all the information needed to begin to mold and shape a realistic, compelling, and believable bad actor, whatever their age, type, or gender.
THE VILLAIN'S JOURNEY may be aimed at beginning to intermediate-level writers, but even a seasoned thriller pro might learn a thing or two from Burke’s very thorough treatment of the topic. It’s a great craft book for anyone who’s embarking on a novel manuscript in the thriller, mystery, detective, or suspense genre. But, as Burke points out near the end, it could also be a valuable tool for those writing nonfiction, such as a true-crime book or article. In either case, highly recommended!
September 29, 2025
As a writer, I found The Villain's Journey to be a genuinely useful craft book that finally addresses a gap in writing instruction. While countless books explore the Hero's Journey, Burke tackles the equally important but often overlooked question: what about the villain?
The Build-a-Villain worksheets alone are worth the price of admission. Burke provides practical, actionable prompts that push you to explore your antagonist's backstory, motivations, wounds, and psychological drivers. These aren't superficial questions—they dig deep into why villains do what they do, from their childhood traumas to their justifications for harmful acts.
I particularly appreciated Burke's honest discussion of her own writing struggles. Her epiphany that "the villain, not the hero, acts first" transformed her unpublished manuscripts into a successful thriller series. That vulnerability makes the advice feel earned rather than theoretical.
The book occasionally feels repetitive, particularly in the middle chapters. Some villain categories overlap significantly, and certain prompts appear multiple times in slightly different forms. A tighter edit could have reduced the page count by 20-25% without losing substance.
Despite some structural meandering, The Villain's Journey delivers on its promise. It's an invaluable resource for mystery, thriller, and suspense writers struggling to create compelling antagonists. The worksheets and practical exercises make this more than just theory—it's a workbook that will genuinely improve your villain craft.
The Build-a-Villain worksheets alone are worth the price of admission. Burke provides practical, actionable prompts that push you to explore your antagonist's backstory, motivations, wounds, and psychological drivers. These aren't superficial questions—they dig deep into why villains do what they do, from their childhood traumas to their justifications for harmful acts.
I particularly appreciated Burke's honest discussion of her own writing struggles. Her epiphany that "the villain, not the hero, acts first" transformed her unpublished manuscripts into a successful thriller series. That vulnerability makes the advice feel earned rather than theoretical.
The book occasionally feels repetitive, particularly in the middle chapters. Some villain categories overlap significantly, and certain prompts appear multiple times in slightly different forms. A tighter edit could have reduced the page count by 20-25% without losing substance.
Despite some structural meandering, The Villain's Journey delivers on its promise. It's an invaluable resource for mystery, thriller, and suspense writers struggling to create compelling antagonists. The worksheets and practical exercises make this more than just theory—it's a workbook that will genuinely improve your villain craft.
August 3, 2025
Debbie Burke's The Villain's Journey is an invaluable guide for writers aiming to craft compelling villains. This insightful manual provides practical advice and creative strategies that highlight the importance of depth and complexity in antagonists. Burke's clear writing and engaging examples make it easy for writers of all levels to grasp essential concepts. With Burke's guidance, you'll be well-equipped to create villains that resonate and linger in the minds of readers long after the last page is turned. (I'm an author who rec'd a free advance review copy of this book; however, I'm leaving this review voluntarily.)
October 6, 2025
Writers of crime, mystery, horror, and thriller — if you want a villain that's more than just a bad guy, this book is for you. It's the ultimate resource for creating a truly complex antagonist who will launch your novel into bestseller territory.
Drawing on real-life cases of notorious serial killers and criminals, Ms. Burke provides a deeply researched, practical framework. Her comprehensive guide is designed to prime your creative process, making the challenging work of villain creation both enjoyable and highly productive.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Drawing on real-life cases of notorious serial killers and criminals, Ms. Burke provides a deeply researched, practical framework. Her comprehensive guide is designed to prime your creative process, making the challenging work of villain creation both enjoyable and highly productive.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
November 3, 2025
Wanna take your villain to the next level? Then I highly recommend The Villain’s Journey. This must have resource book for writers takes the time to really develop the villain in your story. With twenty-nine villainous types and build a villain worksheets. I especially loved the fiction and real-life examples of the types that Ms. Burke provided as well. I got so much out of the ebook that I bought the print copy.
December 3, 2025
A smart, well-structured craft guide that shines a light on the side of storytelling most writers overlook. The Villain’s Journey reframes how to think about opposition, tension, and narrative drive. It’s concise, insightful, and easy to revisit when developing characters. Highly recommended for anyone looking to elevate their fiction.
I received a free ARC of this book and am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received a free ARC of this book and am leaving this review voluntarily.
September 9, 2025
I have less than twenty books on writing in my office. Occasionally a book is published that rises to the shelf. I originally received a free digital arc of this book but a quarter of the way into it I realized this gem was going on the shelf and purchased a print copy. This is such a well thought out exploration on villains and craft and story. I highly recommend it.
Currently reading
July 13, 2025I wanted to start by saying I am not a writer, I am an avid reader. This book can be a really useful aid to any writer who wants to give a book or screenplay as much depth and realism as possible. This book can be the greatest aid to a writer since post it notes. This book would be a useful tool in teaching students to add depth to their creations. I hope this book gets translated into other languages. Every college bookstore and library should have this book available.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews