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How to Craft Believable Antagonists
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The antagonist—a character who wants something but goes about achieving it in the wrong way—is one of the most essential parts of any plot. While the protagonist might be heroic and likable, he or she is nearly always going to have an antagonist to fight against and overcome. However, antagonists are not all created equal, and there’s definitely an art to creating that compelling foe who makes your hero’s journey worthwhile.
Why Do Readers Care About Antagonists?
Protagonists that readers can relate to, and whose success one can cheer for, require antagonists. No matter what genre you’re writing in or what your story is about, there needs to be someone, or something, who is standing in your protagonist’s way of achieving his goal. Besides creating obstacles for your hero, antagonists also keep things moving along by creating consequences for characters’ actions and forcing them into difficult situations. Like it or not (and there will be readers who don’t), your antagonist will become a large part of how readers think about and remember your story. It’s important that the antagonist is memorable enough on their own to leave an impression on readers but doesn’t steal attention away from your main character too much.
Antagonists are anchors and drivers. Just as many parts of a story are mirrored, so too are the main opposing forces in a story. If your protagonist is trying to get out of prison, your antagonist might run a business there. If your character is on their way home from war, then their antagonist could travel to start one (or visit those who have). All great stories need strong antagonistic counterforces that help propel them forward and keep things interesting along the way.
Mirror, Mirror
Much like a good protagonist, an antagonist needs to be three-dimensional. Readers need to empathize with him or her in order for them to root for or against him or her. So, give your antagonist a motive: a genuine need, want, desire or fear that is driving his actions. From there, think about how those feelings push your antagonist into doing despicable things that are necessary to satisfy his motives. Do you remember what motivates your protagonist? Make sure you explore similar motivations on both sides of your conflict. When a grudge is fueling your antagonist’s behavior (or vice versa), make sure it makes sense and both characters give it appropriate weight—and don’t forget to resolve it! Your readers will appreciate seeing conflicts resolved as much as seeing them created.
The universe wired our brains to root for protagonists, but when a villain enters our scene, we turn on him or her right away. A primary way to humanize your antagonist is to show what makes them tick. For example, a malevolent character might be in constant pain or suffering from mental illness; otherwise rational characters might do bad things due to pressure from their peers (like Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter); and so on. These are all great reasons a character does evil deeds, but by showing how society judges these characters because of who they are—or make judgments against them because of what they look like—you create empathy in readers even if you still don’t like who they are.
One common mistake writers make is trying to see the antagonist as bad in every way possible. This ends up being a bad idea most of the time, as it feels forced and doesn’t allow you to take full advantage of your character. Instead, choose one type of wrong and make that part of your antagonist’s identity.
Choosing the right type of wrong will also help create nuanced interactions with your protagonist. When you write someone who is all about their own needs with no regard for others, their scenes with a protagonist motivated by family or community will play out differently than if you write someone similar but concerned for others.
If you’re writing an epic fantasy series, then it could be there aren’t many villains—just people on both sides of a conflict doing what they think is right but making mistakes along the way. But even here there has to be a big enough gap between protagonist and antagonist so that readers care about your hero and his quest for justice or vengeance or whatever it may be. The key thing is knowing who everyone is fighting against (even if it’s themselves).
And, here’s one last tip: Be sure to take opportunities along the way to point out that decent people have done bad things throughout history; there’s no virtue attached to morality. Heroes can commit vile acts just as easily as villains can, and readers will always forgive their beloved heroes.
Give Them a Realistic Plan
Like a protagonist, a compelling antagonist is likely to have their own agenda or set of goals. But it’s very important that these goals be at least somewhat realistic—if not possible in real life, then at least plausible within your story world. Most antagonists have a difficult time defeating their enemy. The more unrealistic that plan is, the less realistic they’ll be at succeeding. Give your antagonist something concrete to aim for. That way, they’ll feel more motivated and take more ownership of his or her actions in achieving his or her goal.
Part of what makes antagonists so terrifying is their willingness to do whatever it takes to achieve those goals. One of your protagonist’s greatest strengths—and what we can often use against them—is that they want a win-win scenario for everyone. In order to manipulate and defeat them, give your antagonist a plan with obvious outcomes, but also specific reasons each option won’t work out in his favor. The more you complicate and confuse things for your protagonists, the easier it will be for you to create anxiety and tension for your readers. So give your antagonist a genuine reason to pursue what they want (and maybe some self-awareness of why getting it might not be so easy). This will help you build tension and keep your readers on their toes!
Make Them Vulnerable
Your character’s vulnerability makes them relatable, it gives them depth, and it makes them much more interesting to readers. After all, nobody enjoys reading about a flawless character. Making your character vulnerable can also make them seem more sympathetic if they struggle with certain aspects of their life or if they cannot achieve something they’ve always wanted. This can also make readers root for your villain even though they know what he/she is doing is wrong because at least their motives are relatable. A well-written antagonist that lacks authentic emotion will often feel one-dimensional and will lose reader interest in a hurry. If you struggle with how to characterize your antagonist, try making him/her vulnerable or ask yourself why that might be. What made them vulnerable? Was there an event that changed their perspective on life?
Give Them Power over Their Foes
It’s an adage that power corrupts, but perhaps it also clarifies. When you have a firm grasp on what makes your protagonist tick, why not make their enemy the personification of all of those vices? Give them what they want—or at least something to get in their way — and then let them earn it.
The core of any good antagonist lies in his ability to give your hero a worthy adversary to overcome. Allow them to give your hero rewards greater than money or possessions—such as emotional satisfaction. When given power over another character, they’re more interesting and complex and thus require better writing. After all, just how many times can we repeat ourselves and say he was just evil? By giving your antagonist legitimate control of your hero’s well-being, whether physical or mental (or both), you create something much stronger.
Let Them Complicate It!
The protagonist is a fearless hero/heroine whose job is to make the story move forward by overcoming obstacles and working out problems. We therefore task the antagonist with complicating the life or path of the protagonist. An antagonist doesn’t have to be a bad guy (though many are), but he or she must stand in the way of progress—and thwart it often enough that it can surprise us when things go right for the protagonist. What makes an antagonist compelling isn’t just how he or she complicates things for the protagonist; it’s how they do so in unique ways as we play along with their motivations and desires as an audience member. The best antagonists don’t always want what’s best for themselves, but what will hurt our protagonists most deeply.
Don’t overcomplicate matters. Piling on subplots and a huge cast of characters will only bog down your story; you’re better off focusing on one or two interrelated conflicts. Letting your antagonists complicate (but not solve) your problems is crucial to keeping things interesting. It also gives you more room to play with that age-old narrative tool: time.
The Good, the Bad, and the Conflict
One of the primary jobs of an antagonist is to create and escalate conflict. But there are two different conflicts, physical and emotional. The best antagonists understand how both work, which allows them to use conflict at every level, from a single scene up through an entire book or series. While physical conflict is obvious, emotional conflicts are often subtle—and it’s these that can ramp up tension in a story. So, when creating your antagonist (s), spend some time thinking about what drives them—what do they care about? What do they fear? It might not be obvious what motivates your antagonist at first glance (is Dracula working for love or power?), but by figuring out their core motivation, you’ll be able to more easily connect with readers.
It takes talent to develop a villain who can steal focus from your protagonist without being convoluted. Give your antagonist depth by showing moments where their humanity seeps through or one time when events don’t go quite according to plan for them. Creating such human moments are great ways for readers to sympathize with otherwise unlikeable characters because we see beyond simple motivations and actions into motivations intertwined with other emotions such as regret, loneliness, and love.
-R.E.