13 Steps to Evil: How to Craft Superbad Villains

If you're looking for an entertaining book about writing villains, you might like this book.

Maybe.

The first problem is the formatting. This (printed) book is not easy to read. In fact, it gives me a headache after just four or five pages. (Tip: You can get away with two fonts, if one is a plain serif and one is a fairly simple san serif. Two serif fonts AND both used in bold, italics, and lots of different point sizes...? No. It's jarring.)

The second problem is editing. The light, sometimes-snarky humor is hilarious. It should remain, as-is.

However, the serious advice in this book is in desperate need of editing. It's just too dry, and sometimes verbose. It needs to be clean and tightly written, in a journalistic style. That's what would flow better with the regular jabs and giggles of the author's personal commentary.

All in all, the advice in this book seems excellent. I just can't seem to get past the first few chapters, because I lose my focus and patience with the style of the book.

Really, that's too bad, because I think Ms. Black's insights probably outshine most others' who write about crafting villains for fiction. With some judicious editing (which she might be able to do herself, now that she has distance from the original manuscript) and more cohesive formatting, this book could be a classic.

When I read the title, I imagined a short book consisting of checklists and summary information. I did not expect a 40,000 word conversation with Ms. Black about the art of crafting believable, well-rounded villains.

I said "conversation", and that's what it is. The reader absorbs the knowledge presented without having to slog through pages and pages of words that have zero cohesiveness and the innate ability to induce sleep. The writing is a blend of the topics and marvelous word-crafting, occasionally highlighting the author's irreverent sense of humor.

The first 13 chapters -- "Step 1" through "Step 13" -- cover topics including character credibility, cliches, character traits (the good and the bad), anti-heroes, and villain mental health. Examples from books and movies are littered throughout the text to support the topics. As with most writing books, the topics are familiar. In this book, the difference is not the regurgitation of ideas, rather the presentation of such.

Each chapter covers a topic in detail, in conversational prose. A summary follows each in-depth topic discussion, rolling up the main points into an easily digestible list. At the end of each chapter, Ms. Black asks questions to reinforce the chapter's teaching and get the reader thinking about each chapter's "conversation."

The last chapter (14) summarizes and pronounces the reader ready to begin villain crafting. The appendices of reference materials (16 pages worth) support the book's topics and aids the writer in the acquired villain crafting skills.

Chock full of information, “13 Steps To Evil – How To Craft Superbad Villains” is an excellent read for a novice writer and valuable to the seasoned writer as a reference guide.

This book really makes you bring out The Bad, The Ugly, and the down right Evil out of your character. Really made me love and yet hate my character in more than one way. The best book I have owned in creating not just a bad guy, but a mean SOB.

Of all the books on this subject, I thought this was the best. And as a Harvard PhD, you can trust I've read them all.

Need to write a bad guy? No idea where to begin? '13 Steps to Evil' provides a solid starting point. Advice on how to make multi-dimensional and credible baddie while avoiding cliches and amateur mistakes.

I bought this book to help me write better villains but I didn't expect it to be so thoroughly perfect for what I needed. If you are a writer, this is a must-have reference book. Each time I start a new book, I go through it again to make I don't go too far afield into cliched hench-persons, yet still take advantage of the tropes that readers love. I especially love the chapter about anti-heroes since I have several anti-heroes and heroines in my series.

Brava, Sacha! Thank you!

Sacha Black has created both a great instructive instrument and a great reference for writers of any genre. Filled with many examples from both literature and film, the book presents 13 elements or facets of the villain. Most importantly, she hammers home the importance of a villain who can stand up to a hero. Anyone who is writing genre fiction should read this book and take Sacha's advice to heart.

Suprised athow good it was. Recommend for any writer in the early stages

Are your villains layered like an onion, or eye-rollingly cliched?

Sacha Black walks you through the steps to creating more conflict and better villains in your books.

Yes. Even if you write romance.

Her sense of humor is refreshing and fun.
It’s got my wheels spinning for future books.

A must read for writers.

Great information and a good read! I enjoyed Sacha’s writing style and prose which made the reading much more enjoyable.