Classes still haven't started yet wheeee~

Time for a random prompt that I made up: What clichés do you secretly like to read/write about?

Mine:

-  Mysterious antihero with an angsty/badass past. Yes, I fall for this every time.

- Amnesia plots. They're unrealistic and far too convenient...and yet I'm always fascinated by what reveals the author can hide from the author and the main character (unless the reveal is predictable).

- (Writing only) Mood-ring weather. I know it's universally regarded as horrible, but I simply can't resist making it rain (or snow) whenever something catastrophic happens. (At least I don't make the sun shine whenever the characters are happy...)

If I think of any others, I'll put them up later.

Double post

From wikiHow:

"Create a single, traumatic incident for your villain. It could be as devastating as seeing his parents murdered or as sublime as seeing a prized rosebush destroyed by the whims of nature. The reason for this is to create a turning point in the villain's life."

My first instinct was to laugh, but then I thought a bit more seriously. A single traumatic incident is obviously cliché and feels like a cop-out ("Feel sympathy for my poor villain who had this horrible event happen to him!"). I don't think a turning point is necessary, though it could work in the right circumstances. More important is some kind of mindset that comes to cross a moral line, and for a character who becomes a villain, it's important to "set up" the fall. For example, Harvey Dent from The Dark Knight is portrayed as a "good" character in the first half of the film, but after getting his girlfriend blown up and half of his face blown off, he becomes a villain. But it's not just the explosion that triggers his going mental; while he is heroic in the first part of the movie, there are also several scenes that show he's not hesitant about using violence himself if that's the way to get what he needs. After the catastrophe, that original instinct just gets blown out of proportion. Without this setup, if Harvey had just been a shining paragon until the explosion, his descent would not have been believable.

Villains have always been my weak point. Anyone have any tips when it comes to creating a villain?