Writer's Blockhead

I spent the majority of last night with my friend Sam, discussing our respective novel-writing. While I'm glad to have had this conversation and feel rejuvenated and excited about a project I've been lacking interest in, I'm still stumped on one point.

Villain of the Day: ?????

Whether it's true or not, I've convinced myself that I can't keep writing this book before I truly understand my antagonist. The thing that kills me is that, once upon a time, I did. I was on a road trip and while soaking up the sun on my face along the open road, inspiration struck. I pulled over and used my trusty Sharpie (attached to my keyring so I'm never without a writing instrument) to scribble my ideas on my arm. Feeling better, I resumed my trip, reached my destination, and proceeded to shower off the road-funk... and my brilliant villain. No matter how much I wrack my brain, it's gone.

I've tried to tell myself that it's enough for my villain to simply be a representative of Evil in the classic, eternal struggle versus Good, but I can't accept it. If I can't accept it, how will my reader? This is a work of Urban Fantasy we're talking about, by the way. Angels, oracles, sandmen, soul mates - these beings are real, among others, and what's more, they've been done. I flatter myself that I'm doing them differently, not just presenting them as belonging to their classic archetypes. What does that mean for the purposes of this dilemma? It means that it's not enough to say the bad guy wants to foil the good guy because he's the bad guy.

Now that the sun has come out, I think I'll go for a jog (this is, by the way, workout #3 of the Couch to 5k program) and hope that, at the most inconvenient time, a muse will visit me again.