Fantastic Ways to Create the Perfect Antagonist

by Megan Higginson

​Antagonist: one that contends with or opposes another 

This month my writer’s group met to discuss antagonists, the bad guys of our novels, in a courtyard of a local café, beneath a maple tree that would periodically rain gorgeous red and gold autumn leaves down on us.
The previous month we had dived deep into tone words. For us as a group, we had never looked in depth at the bad guys in our novels.

Recently, while working on my novel, I discovered a new character. I was so excited, but I did not know anything about him accept that I didn’t trust him even though he seemed nice. When Ester, who was running the workshop for this month’s writers’ group, started talking about what makes a great antagonist, we got excited. We are keen to learn anything that will improve our story, and our story telling. 

Ester had been watching Cy Porter's, 'Creating the Antagonist,' on YouTube.   (He really gets stuck into it about 11 minutes). As well as Cy's, 'Creative Writing: Creating Villains We Love to Hate'.

​So, here are some of the questions that Ester had us ask us about our antagonist:

1. What motivates your antagonist?
2. What can you take away from your antagonist?
3. How does your character spend their time?
4. How do your characters—the protagonist and the antagonist—deal with the same situation?
5. What are the human elements of your character?
6. Can you loosely base your protagonist on someone you know?

Allow these characteristics to become part of your bad guy creation

In her article for the Writer’s Digest, 6 Ways to Write Better Bad Guys by Laura DiSilverio, she says regarding antagonists, ‘they’re just as important to good stories as the protagonists are. If your antagonist is not fully realized, lacks depth or is a caricature of evil, your story will suffer.’

Her article brought out six points, two that I had never thought of:

1. ‘Remember that Antagonists are people, too. If I can’t empathize with the antagonist, believe in her motives or understand why she’s dishing out evil, I put the book aside. Flesh out your antagonist. Give us an origin story (how she became the way she is) or show that she regrets something and might change if given a chance.'
2. 'Eschew the totally evil antagonist (except, possibly, in some horror or monster stories). ‘One way to prevent a truly dark character from becoming a caricature is to make her a viewpoint character—because no character is the embodiment of evil in her own mind. No one is the villain in his own story.'
3. ‘If you’re tempted to say your antagonist is a corporation, disease or war—don’t. Abstractions make for distant, unrelatable antagonists. If you think “organized religion” or “corporate greed” is your hero’s antagonist, your story might be more effective as an essay. Put a human face on the abstraction. A hypocritical pastor might make a good antagonist in the first instance, or a ruthless Wall Street type in the second (Gordon Gekko, anyone?). Those people can represent the abstraction and take action against the protagonist.’
4. 'Make your antagonist at least as smart, strong and capable as the protagonist.So heighten tension throughout the story, your antagonist needs to be your hero’s equal, or superior to your hero, at least in some arenas. Consider giving the antagonist complementary traits.'
5. 'Keep the tension strong when the antagonist is a friend, ally or loved one. (I had never thought of this angle for an antagonist).If your protagonist’s dream is to return to college at 40 and her husband tells her she’s too old, he’s the antagonist, even though they love each other.’
6. ‘If your antagonist remains hidden for much of the story (as in a mystery), give him proxies or let him work behind the scenes.’ Laura gave Harry Potter has an example with Lord Voldemort being the main protagonist from the very first book, but it was through a series of proxies (basilisk, death eaters etc.), that his plan unfolded, and he was finally revealed at the end of the series. 

All these tips show that we need to be creative in the ways we structure our protagonist and antagonist interactions. This fascinating information got Jacqui, Ester, and I enthusiastic about our current W.I.P. (Work in Progress). This was also the first month that we ended up working on our current W.I.P., and not use a prompt and make something new, and we were excited to get started on ramping up the tension in each of our stories.          
 
In approaching my recently discovered character (in my current W.I.P.) who is a bad guy, I have come up with a new way to ramp up the tension in my story. One way is to make one of my good guys an antagonist. How can my lovely, kind, caring brother become the antagonist?  I’m also playing with peoples’ perceptions of others. Are the good guys really good? Are the bad guys really bad? Do we treat others through a filter of what we have been told about them? How will this affect the interactions with the antagonists and the protagonist?    

All this is brilliant in adding an extra depth to your story. I'm off to create some havoc in my story. 

Make sure to check out the next two videos. These two women had some fun and creative ways to look at using antagonists in your stories.
Extra resources:
How to Make Your Villains Awesome by Ava J (bookishpixie) 
How to Write a Villain by Jenna Moreci
And for those writing kids lit, this is for you. Top 10 Ways to be Evil in Children’s Books by William Sutcliffe 

Happy writing.

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