Evil is an unacknowledged part of every human soul. Everybody does things they shouldn’t. Everybody has selfish “Me’ moments and seductive, and easy. Sometimes, We all want to do things the easy way. Understanding why is important. People have reasons for the things they do. They might not be valid reasons, they might no even be what you, or I, would consider sane reasons, but, nonetheless, they’re reasons have to be understandable and compelling. Why is this person like this? Why do they view the world the way they do? Revenge? have they been wronged in the past? Is the world so incredibly screwed up that only they can fix it? If so, Why? Backstory plays a key roll. The reasons need to be easily understood by the reader. There’s the rub. We like to flirt with evil. We like to poke it with a metaphorical stick and see if it moves. Good & Evil are simply points of view. A good villain is a hero in his own mind. He behaves in such a way in order to achieve his goal. The same could be said for the hero. When both of these people believe they’re firmly planted in the roots of righteousness, conflict grows naturally. Evil is a part of every person. What makes it compelling is that like good, it is rooted in our own point of view.
