The villain

The villain is every bit as important as the hero. The villain makes the story, the hero plows through it. The villain brings out the hero.

Good villains are delicious things. Darth Vader, the classic baddy. The Joker, a timeless choice. All are every bit as interesting as the hero, and occasionally more so (try to make the hero a little bit more interesting than the villain).

Good villains have a little bit of sadness around them. Darth Vader chose the dark side, the Joker was scarred. Most good villains have had a fall from some type of grace. In my opinion, a perfect story doesn't have you rooting for the villain, but you almost do.

Villains are prime targets for cliches. Mad doctors, evil laughs, twisted plots, evil exposition, elaborate plans, etc. It all gets a little bit campy. It's even gotten to the point where cliche villain spoofs are cliche.

So you'll need to work hard on the villain. Why does he do what he does? What drove him to be this way? What's his "cool" factor? What makes him interesting?

Also, make him evil. He's a villain, for Bob's sake. If you want to make an anti-hero (I'll make a post about anti-heroes in the future), make an anti-hero, but keep it out of your villain.

Make a moment where the villain proves he's evil. Yeah, he's been kind of grumpy before, but WOW, that was just ruthless! Maybe kill a character; gives renewed meaning to the hero's quest against the villain, and let's the reader know this villain is serious buisness.