Monday 1 April 2013

A is for Antagonist

Antagonists are the driving force behind any story. The main character has to have something to overcome or fight against.

I have to admit I don't think I'm very good at creating multi-dimensional antagonist characters. My better (in my opinion!) antagonists are not people but situations, institutions or regimes. I find it much easier to write about a character fighting to try to get out of a difficult situation than to write about them fighting against a person. Even when I have a person as the antagonist I still find that they're representative of an institution or regime.

I think my challenge from this post will be to try to create some antagonists as characters in their own right, rather than have them appear only as a necessary plot device.

And....

A is also for Arlee Bird - the guy who came up with the idea of the blogging A-Z challenge! I'm looking forward to trying this for the first time, so a big THANK YOU to Lee for starting the challenge :)

2 comments:

  1. I think your writing will be a lot stronger for taking up your challenge.

    A small tip: Character interviews. If you "talk" to your antagonist in a neurtal-ish tone, you might just find the complexities of his or her personality.

    I'm the minion patrolling your blog's section of the participant lists, so I'll be back again soon. :-)

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  2. Great post! My problem with my antagonists are giving them TOO much to overcome. I struggle with this as well!

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