I know I'm supposed to be working on things that aren't a TAW fix and/or another Shiloh & Alexi story. And for the most part, I have been, I swear. But I was on a walk during one of my breaks at work when, just for the hell of it, I decided to think on what I could change in TAW to make it work. And that helped me realize a serious problem that I somehow missed throughout the entire creation process:
The book lacks a good, solid antagonist.
It's one of those things I would deny if I hadn't realized it myself. But it's true. The Big Bad makes two appearances, and we get little of its motivation. (Yes, it's an it. Demons in this world don't have genders.) Other than that, there are the demon's nameless minions, two minor demons, a powerful minion with a name whom I only brought in because he was going to be significant in the sequel, and ████████, who becomes the surprise antagonist right at the end.
So, since the antagonist's part is both weak and spread among too many beings, the entire story comes off as an excuse for the two main characters to go on a journey and end up together. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's not what I was going for.
I think this is part of a larger problem for me. I write characters I like, and I want to see them do well. Hell, I want them to be awesome. So it's a lot easier for me to write them doing great things rather than being in direct or indirect conflict with a main antagonist. Too many of my plots have the heroes and the Big Bad come into conflict only right at the beginning and at the end, with the main characters simply achieving various goals all throughout the middle.
I realize this structure is exceedingly common. Yet somehow it doesn't quite feel right.
It's kind of a given that the antagonist has to have more power and
resources than the heroes, otherwise it's not much of a conflict. The
trick is finding ways to keep both sides involved without either
overcoming the other until the end of the story. (Ways that make sense,
of course. If the antagonist is a political manipulator type, it's
hard to justify them as behind the carnivorous badgers that dog the
heroes' every step.)
The other side of this is risking the antagonist becoming a cartoon villain. If the main adversary has reason to kill the main characters, they can't encounter said antagonist every few chapters, or it turns into "I'll get you next time, Gadget!" after the third or fourth time. (Or you run out of main characters halfway through the book.) If the antagonist wants to capture them, it's easy to assume they'll always escape, until the story's final act. A variant of this is when the antagonist sends mooks of subsequently greater power after the heroes, all of whom end up defeated, leaving the heroes stronger and the reader wondering why the Big Bad didn't send the strongest mooks right at the start.
I think the Empire from the original three 'Star Wars' movies is probably one of the best examples of how to do this right. They bring about conflict both personal and galaxy-spanning. They're more powerful than the heroes, yet still the heroes can both achieve major victories and suffer significant defeats without either side being brought down. Lastly, their final conflict is orchestrated on multiple levels, and it couldn't have happened at any other point in the story.
So, question time: what sort of antagonists do you like the most? What sort do you like to write? Have you also struggled with making sure they work as they should? And if so, how did you fix them?
I'm not very good at making the antagonist be one person. I can do it with a race or an object, but not one character. Although in my trilogy, my main character is often his own worst enemy.
ReplyDeleteAt least you know how to fix the issue now.
It might be less "fix" and more "what not to do later", but yeah, it's good to have figured this out.
DeleteAnd I should try to write someone who's their own worst enemy. Most of my characters get to be too good at what they do.
I struggle to write villains/antagonists. I also have trouble 'torturing' my MCs. Of course, I write romance, so I tend to focus on the H&h's relationship to the detriment of other aspects of the story. I also tend toward conflicts that aren't people.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, it sounds like you had a breakthrough of sorts regarding your story. That deserves a fist-pumping woot! :)
Or at least a mild cheer. ^_^ But yeah, it's hard to be mean to the main characters sometimes, especially when you want things to turn out right in the end.
DeleteYeah, I like my characters too much to torture them, too. It's a problem! I need to get more cruel.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see this as an issue when I read it, but I don't think it would do any harm to up the antagonist ante, either. Why not give it a try??
I have been thinking on some ways to fix it, but they would all necessitate rewriting the entire book - this isn't something I can fix with just some editing. It bears further thought, but I'm not sure if I want to do that.
DeleteI think you've hit on something here: "If the main adversary has reason to kill the main characters, they can't encounter said antagonist every few chapters." So true! And I love that "Get you next time, Gadget." Ha! I think it's great that you've had this breakthrough. Rock on, man. One thing I had to do was give my antagonist a code of honor, so to speak. Otherwise, they'd be going around all willy-nilly, offing everyone in their path!
ReplyDeleteThanks. ^_^ Though this is another one of those things I wish I could have figured out before I started writing. Hopefully I can make better use of it in the future.
DeleteIn my last book -- a fantasy, so it's the closest to yours -- there are a series of smaller antagonists that build toward the Big One, who only appears at the end. The initial antagonist isn't really a villain, just someone blocking the MC's goals. This relationship evolves and changes over the course of the book. Meanwhile the MC encounters a real antagonist, who introduces him to the next antagonist, who basically sells him out to the Big Guy. For this book, the first in a series, it seemed to work. In the subsequent books, however, the main antagonist is introduced in the beginning and remains prominent throughout.
ReplyDeleteSo, when world-building in a fantasy, perhaps a slow build toward the Big Antagonist is acceptable? At least in the first book?
Definitely acceptable, and it sounds like you're doing it right. I'm going to have to steal that plan, as it actually works out with one of my plots-in-progress. Thanks. ^_^
DeleteMy favorite bad guys are either tragic or puppet masters. I love the villain who could have their own story with all the same depth as the MC's (confession, I sometimes write journals from the bad guys POV to be sure I get them). So yeah, I always have really overdeveloped bad guys. After that, my favorite bad guys are the ones who know they're evil and enjoy every minute of it.
ReplyDeleteOne of my plots-in-progress came about because I found the antagonist much more interesting than the heroes and decided to write something where she was the main character instead. I have no idea if she'll eventually become a villain, but the potential is still there.
DeleteAnd I'd love to write someone who's obviously evil, as it does sound like lots of fun. I'd have a rough time not giving them a mustache just so they could twirl it, though.
A lot of my stories don't have an antagonist at all. If there is one in a story I like to know who they are and why they're doing what they're doing. I even like it when they're given a sort of sympathetic treatment, when their goals aren't necessarily evil they just conflict with the protag's. Or they're just 'different' in a way that isn't safe, like Teatime in Hogfather. I like it too when the antagonist can sometimes end up on the same side as the hero who suddenly have to fight something far worse. Or they go back n forth like whatshisname with the goatee in Farscape, he goes from bastard to kind of okay to bastard to hero in the end. As soon as they are all "i am doing evil because i am evil hahahaaaa" it loses all impact for me unless it was hiding some other truth like I dunno like in mastermind where the blue guy is only "evil" because he hates the fat one or the guy in despicable me who just wants to please his mother. Y'know. I mean when you think about even LOTR the real evil isn't sauron who is just an eyeball popsicle it's really the interplay of the characters and frodo fighting the power of the ring and blah blah blah or like in GOT where the blue zombie guys aren't really much of as threat as the politics being played out which have so far killed vastly more people than the zombies probably ever have. Which i think is also the point.
ReplyDeleteso yeh, in most of my stories if they have a "bad guy" at all it'll be that they have a sympathetic story where if you were following their story you might also want them to succeed and where the best outcome isn't that the "good guy" wins but maybe that they need to compromise.
Yeah, there are tons of options for this sort of thing. The real issue is figuring out what's best for each story, and still finding a way to make it work.
DeleteMy problem: When I like my antagonists too much, they start to take over the show. Mwahaha...
ReplyDeleteLike I said in my comment to Rena, I had one who became so interesting in the plotting process I decided I'd rather tell her story. I haven't had that happen while actually writing a story, but it still could.
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