I’m going to open with a question. Which character’s point of view is most important when plotting a story? I wonder how many of my readers would say “The Protagonist, of course.”
I know I have already discussed this, but it really is something so important that it bears another look. I am going to postulate that, while I can’t say this is the most important viewpoint or character backstory, it is so important that the protagonist can’t to anything without this character or that if they can, it is nearly meaningless.
I’m talking about the antagonist. See my blog post, “Give Your Villain Some Love”. Whether the antagonist be a physical person, a series of events, a group, or a mindset, without knowing what comprises the antagonist, it is difficult to say what the protagonist is going to do because they don’t have anything driving them. If you have a very simple driving force such as to save the world, you still have to know why.
I’m sure there are some among my readers who recognize this quote from the TV series Heroes. Why do we have to save the cheerleader? Why is saving the cheerleader so important and from what or who are we saving her? For a long time, Sylar was kept in the background. We as viewers didn’t really know much about him. Sylar was more of a shadowy influence as he worked his way tick-tocking through the story. Yet the writers would have had to know who Sylar was from the beginning or nearly so because his actions, his plans were crucial to the rest of the story. He was the one who was the danger to the cheerleader. His changes in plans caused obstacles for the other characters to have to maneuver. It caused confusion for the other characters, and it caused new goals for them. He was always the catalyst.
Of course there were other antagonists. Creating other antagonists can be great for plot. I have enjoyed several stories where the protagonists go up against multiple antagonists who were sometimes working, not exactly counter to each other, but with enough differences that it makes the protagonists goals less than straight forward. One of these stories would be Lord of the Rings where we have both Sauron and Saruman, but I am not writing today about the benefits and difficulties of multiple antagonists. I would like to discuss what the consideration of antagonist plans and actions has caused for my epic fantasy series as I work through the writing process.
As some of you might know, I have been working on the first book of the series for some time in between the various tasks of living. I had wanted the first draft to be finished by the end of 2023 (best laid plans of mice and men and all that, but mostly mice). Life happens. I have, however, managed to get through the first draft by the end of 2024… even if part of that draft is still in audio recordings.
We all have those moments where we feel like our work isn’t good enough, where life interferes and makes the writing process take longer so that we fear it will never get finished. We get discouraged. Then, when life leaves us drained of all energy, and we feel exhausted simply thinking of our own names, let alone coming up with dialogue or moving characters along with the plot, we have these dry spells. Obviously, I am no exception.
How were my many dry spells resolved? Well, one is getting enough sleep, which I will discuss in another post. Another of the greatest instigators of a new writing flow, due to a plotting roadblock, is when I focus on the actions of the antagonist. During one dry spell, through talking over my story with others (see “Family, Mentors, and Friends“), I realized my stories flow had gone a bit stagnant, and I was at a crossroads. I had already written a crucial scene in the near future of the story and this scene would up the stakes for my protagonist and her companions. However, I had to write what happened between these two scenes: the first, where she was set on her journey, and this second, which would drive her deeper.
The situation in which the characters found themselves could only cause stagnation without another inciting incident because my protagonist would have to be kept safe in difficult circumstances. Her companions would be driven by this need. Thus, no one would take that step to move her out of her safe-ish position. This does not make for much of an adventure and does make for a dull story. This is where I was stuck. I had a big hole between point A and point B, and my characters could not get across it.
I had already figured out the basics of my antagonist’s behind the scenes maneuvering, but only the basics. So, I decided to revisit what they were doing to get what they wanted and tried to figure out if they only had one set of plans going. I dug deeper into their side plots. How much would they plan? Would they leave anything to chance? I learned that they had information that helped them set up the series of events that they needed in order to draw closer to their desired outcome. Suddenly, my protagonist and her supporting cast had less than a handful of options. I could then choose among these options, whichever I felt would get me closer to my own desired outcome, so long as I didn’t make them do something out of character.
If I could not get my characters to do what I wanted or needed, that simply meant that my antagonist needed to plan a little differently, again, while acting in character. This, of course, begs the question, why does the antagonist have this potential of altering the story more than the protagonist, whom the story is really about? That is simple. The antagonist, (being or circumstance, though probably a bit of both) is the driving force for the protagonist. They wouldn’t even need to act if it were not for this person or these circumstances. Every time the parameters change so must the protagonist’s actions.
What caused me to be able to know what criteria had to be met in my story? It was the antagonist. This person/mindset/actions/circumstances are the cause. My other character’s, including the protagonist’s, actions are the effect. The antagonist causes problems while the other characters must cope with or fix said problems. You cannot have the latter without the former even if the antagonist is comprised of circumstances such as in Romance Novels. Circumstances/misunderstandings keep the lovers apart, and they must figure out how to overcome.
I will take up this conversation again with other, more established examples in my next post. So, as you work through your writing consider how much you actually know about your antagonist’s motives and behind the scenes actions. You might discover a few things and in the discovery remember to enjoy the wonder.
If you enjoyed this post, please, share this site with others, and like this page. If you want to receive further posts directly to your email before they are posted on my site, subscribe. Feel free to leave a comment or make use of the Contact page.