Fear Itself

on writing unforgettable villains

Jul 10, 2025

There’s a piece I read this week about how to write great villains - those characters who stay with you long after the book ends. Not just the ones who scare you, but the ones who make you think about why you were scared in the first place.

I’ve been working on mine for a while now.

His name is Itself. Sometimes The Only Thing. Sometimes The Zipper Man. He’s not just the bad guy in my story - he is the fear. Fear, personified. The heavy, quiet dread that follows you down a hallway and waits behind decisions you don’t want to make. The kind that zips open like a body bag and pulls you in.

The article laid out four truths about unforgettable villains. Four points. Four reminders that a villain isn’t just someone to defeat. They’re someone who teaches you what the story’s really about.

1. Villains Believe in Something

Itself believes in fear. And fear is food.

In his eyes, he’s not doing harm. He’s a predator maintaining the natural order of things. Doing what It needs to do to survive.

So, how do I answer the question, “What does you villain believe in?”

The Joker, for example, is a twisted nihilist who believes that human morality is a fragile construct that he can bend if he puts people in the right situation. This belief system, however warped, provides a logical, albeit terrifying, foundation for his actions.
If you know what someone believes, you know how they're going to act. And you can write scenes around that.

Because Itself feeds on fear, it seeks out vibrant sources of fear, it both hunts and gathers fear. It looks at Toby as a source of fear like we look at a dairy cow as a source of milk. Fortunately we don’t need to terrorize Daisy to get a gallon.

2. Villains See Themselves as Heroes

This one is tricky. To Toby, Itself is terrifying. A presence that chokes. A whisper that waits. But to Itself? It’s just doing what it must do for it and its kin to survive and thrive. And that makes it worse.

Because how do you reason with that?

3. Villains Target the Hero’s Vulnerabilities

Itself doesn’t punch. It pokes.

At Toby’s doubt. His guilt. His grief.
It doesn’t have to invent fear - it just leans into what’s already there. Toby has a lot of areas to exploit - trauma to build upon. The dark corners. The old memories. The questions with no answers. Like: Why did Ryan get sick? Why wasn’t it me? Why am I so afraid?

Itself doesn't attack from the outside. It climbs up from within.

4. Villains are Unstoppable Forces

This one gave me pause. “By being an unstoppable force, the villain forces the hero to rise to a new level and become the person they need to be to defeat them.”

Because I don’t know if I want Toby to destroy Itself. That doesn’t ring true, exactly. Fear doesn’t vanish in a final scene. It is always there.

But maybe it can lose its power. Not by being beaten, but by being understood. By being faced. By being named.

Because if I’m being honest, I don’t think Toby overcomes Itself in one big moment. I think he chips away at it, slowly. Fear isn’t something you kill. It’s something you outgrow. Or maybe out-love. I’m still working that part out.

But I know this much: Itself can’t be defeated unless Toby becomes someone braver than he believes he is. That’s the real challenge.

So here I am - scribbling notes about zippers and shadows, trying to shape a villain who feels like a nightmare but reads like a mirror. And somewhere along the way, I’m realizing: the best villains aren’t the ones you want to destroy. They’re the ones you have to understand. Even if it means looking straight into the dark.

And seeing what looks back.