How Do You Go About Crafting Villains?

HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT CRAFTING VILLAINS?
(photo: interior of Satis' unfinished HQ, CHASING EDEN)

B.K.: When I am working on a villain I draw character traits from some of the more distasteful people I have known, seen, or read about. But to really get to the heart of them, I have to draw on my understanding that as humans, we all have our good and bad sides, so I must be willing to look inside myself, see if I can think like them, sort of become them for a short while.

SHARON: It's a little frightening how easily I can slip into the mindset of a villain. In each book, there is one psychopathic assassin, who is truly evil of intent. The other characters who are trying to thwart Jaime, I try to make more shaded. In fact, I purposely give each of them some thoughts that echo how I feel about some issue, just so that person and I have a point of agreement, and I have to appreciate his or her humanity.