On August 19th, Kasie and Rex finished the discussion started last week about antagonists. Here are the show notes:

Theme for the day

What makes a good antagonist?

Agenda

• Character types
• Antagonist must-haves
• How to write a good antagonist

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Section 1/2

Does the antagonist always have to lose? (link)

What about the mutual satisfaction ending?

Plot-by-role discussion of the antagonist at this link.

• Early (the hook) – the antagonist has their own thing, not really engaged with or concerned about the protagonist
• Inciting incident – the protagonist’s choice puts them in conflict with the antagonist’s goal; the antagonist may still be unaware of the protagonist’s goal, but their paths are converging rapidly now
• Plot Point 1 – if the two haven’t met (and they might not for a while) at the very least, there are proxies setting up challenges on behalf of the antagonist that interfere with the protagonist’s goal
• First Pinch Point – the protagonist should feel at this point the impact of the antagonist’s conflicting efforts; should feel the presence and power of the antagonist as a force working against the protagonist; the antagonist should make some sort of move against the protagonist here

It goes on from there and you can read the whole thing. Suffice it to say the antagonist has a role to play at each place in the plot. Determining what that action is and how it fucks with the protagonist is your job.

Do you have to hate the antagonist?

Create a worthy opponent to your protagonist by giving the antagonist depth. Don’t make them evil just for the sake of being evil. (link)

• Use your protagonist’s own flaw against them: tempt an addict, question a person’s faith
• Give them the same goal
• Mirror the protagonist – show them what they will become if they follow the same path
• Introduce a final boss – someone who’s been pulling the antagonist’s strings the whole time

Section 3/4

So how do you do it?

Get the balance right (link):

• Screen time: you don’t have to introduce them right away, but make their presence known early enough that it doesn’t feel like they came out of nowhere; Darth Vader only got 12 minutes of screen time in A New Hope, but his presence was felt throughout even if he wasn’t specifically named; he’s a representation of The Empire
• Success vs. failure – let the antagonist win once or twice, that’ll help balance the scales and make the protagonist’s victory seem less inevitable
• Force growth in your protagonist – a good antagonist will make your protagonist change in a meaningful way in order to win.

From Masterclass (link again):

1. Give them some goodness – Darth Vader repents in the end; this isn’t save-the-cat stuff, this is tragic backstory stuff; get the reader to empathize with the antagonist’s desires and goal-achievement strategy
2. Balance their power – all powerful is too hard to fight, easily overcome is boring