When writing a book the author has to make the protagonist lovable and the antagonist hateable. Of course, it is sometimes better to have other sides to characters that are loveable or hateable as well. According to Helping Writers Become Authors, there are 10 ways to make a character hateable.

The first way is to just make them a total jerk who loves to hurt the main character mentally and physically. They do whatever they can to mess with the protagonist and his goal. When readers like the main character they hate anyone who hurts them or tries to mess with their life.

The second way to make them hated is to make them a hypocrite. Everyone hates someone who acts like they’re a good person when they aren’t even close. No one likes someone who thinks they’re like a god, but they are more like the devil; someone who calls other people evil when they themselves are much worse.

The third way is making the bad guy someone the reader can relate to somehow. If the readers see a bit of themselves in someone who is evil and insane, they will hate them even more. This is because most people have things that they hate about themselves, and if they see it in someone else, they hate it even more.

The fourth is to make them super arrogant to the point where they think the world revolves around them. It’s one thing to make them arrogant, but it’s another if they don’t have anything to actually support their arrogance. If they think they’re so great when in reality they have nothing to show for it, the reader will hate them, but that’s more for a character who isn’t the main antagonist.

The fifth way is to make them overpower the protagonist. They can’t completely overpower the main character. They just have to be strong enough so the main character has to fight with everything they have, if not more. The antagonist has to use their power to get in the protagonist’s way, so they can’t move forward easily. That makes them both frightening and hated.

The sixth way is to just make the character as frightening and strange as possible. People hate it when they fear or can’t understand someone. So if you want the readers to hate your antagonist, an easy way is to make them a serial killer who loves killing or thinks that he’s killing with a purpose. Almost everyone hates people who think they have justification to kill people.

The seventh way is to make them seem unstoppable, make them seem like nothing can hurt them. Most of the time this kind of antagonist might seem boring, but if you pull it off correctly, it infuriates the reader. However, they do have to have at least one or two weaknesses so the protagonist can beat them.

The eighth way is to make them really skilled in different expertise. Although usually people respect others who are skilled, if that skill is used for evil, they will despise that person. The antagonist has to be able to fight toe to toe with the protagonist and maybe be a little better than him. The more skill they have the more the reader will hate them.

The ninth way is to make him as unpredictable as possible. Though readers hate predictable characters, they also hate it when they are very unpredictable. That is because their unpredictability puts the protagonist at a big disadvantage and brings them to places that they would never even dream of.

The last and easiest way is to have them be a friend to the main character and then betray them. Everyone hates a person who betrays themselves as well as other people. This is usually because they have experienced it themselves. They know what it feels like when they’re betrayed by someone they trusted and cared for.

These are ten ways to make a hateable character, but it’s better to use more than one. They can be multiple at once in order to make it even more intriguing. It’s always better to have an antagonist that changes every once in a while. It’s the same way for the protagonist. If they don’t change over time it will get boring and won’t feel real enough.