Have the Guts to Write Bad Characters

By bad, I don't mean poorly understood, developed or executed. I mean, make them unsympathetic.

For example, in The Devil Wears Prada, when developing the Miranda Priestly role, ""Meryl wanted us to make the character meaner. You know, we had pulled no punches in the script wondering how we're going to attract a big movie star if she's so mean. We had toned it down a bit and Meryl said, 'No, no. Give her more fangs.' " (1)

Or, in Philip Roth's The Plot Against America, there's a bad character named Albert. Albert is the protagonist's cousin, a ne'er-do-well who never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. The protagonist's father Herman struggles mightily to redeem Albert but "Albert was irredeemable."

Mean, edgy characters are compelling. They need not be literal killers; they may just deny their subordinate's humanity or their parent's hopes.