TYRANICAL TIPS   •   BLOOMSBURY VILLAINS   •   DASTARDLY DEEDS

Creating a supervillain takes thought, imagination and a devious mind! Here are some activities and ideas suitable for bookshops, libraries and classrooms that can help inspire the villainous mind in anybody interested in entering the BigBadWrite.

• Why not hold a special villain day and invite everyone to come along dressed as their villain. Everyone could describe their super-villain, act out a short scene as that villain and get everyone to say what it is about them they really like. This could then be used as the beginning of a story for the BigBadWrite.



• Create a display in your classroom, library or bookshop featuring some of your favourite existing villains. Have a discussion about what makes them so villainous. You could re-design the book jackets in a way that brings out the villainous characters from the books.



• Many films are full of great villains. Watch a segment from a movie and then try and write a short descriptive piece about it. Now try and imagine your villain in that film and write a scene where the two baddies meet.



• Pick a passage from a book and explore the way that villains are described. What words are used to bring out the bad side of the character? How does the character speak? Are there clues in the text that explain why the villain is so bad? Can you use these ways in your sory?



• Not all villains are necessarily bad. Try and think of some sympathetic villains such as Artemis Fowl or Frankenstein’s monster. What makes them different from other villains? How does the author try and get this sympathetic side across? Is your villain really bad or just misunderstood?



• Finally, take the Villainy Test. Try it out on friends, family and classmates to see who is the villainous of them all.

Visit the BigBadRead website for more inspiration