5 THINGS YOUR ANTAGONIST SHOULD NOT DO
LEE LOFLAND
The antagonist of your story is , of course , someone who opposes the hero . It ’ s the antagonist ’ s job to prevent the protagonist from achieving her goal .
ANTAGONISTS provide stumbling blocks and hurdles for the lead character to overcome , and they create tension and drama .
VILLAINS , on the other hand , are evil and will stop at nothing , including murder , to reach their goal . They ’ re often over the top characters who enjoy blowing things up , tearing things down , destroying human lives , and maybe even taking out the entire planet if they can devise a workable plan to do so .
So , here ’ s the deal . Villains are also antagonists ( they definitely oppose the protagonists , but also want to kill , maim , mutilate , and disfigure … well , they ’ re just plain evil ), but antagonists are not villains ( antagonists are adversaries — roadblocks the hero must overcome or go around ). Antagon-ists are not evil . Instead , they may simply have an opposing view , opposite of the protagonist ’ s ideas . Make sense ?
A great example of an antagonist is Ernest T . Bass , the rock-throwing mountain man on the Andy Griffith Show . He was definitely a hurdle for Andy and Barney , especially Barney .
LEE LOFLAND AUTHOR AND
LAW ENFORCEMENT PROFESSIONAL
HERE ARE FIVE THINGS AN ANTAGONIST SHOULD NOT DO .
1 . The antagonist has stocked up on a variety of weapons and tons of ammunition , yet when he confronts the hero in the final showdown , he runs out of bullets first , and then tosses the empty weapon at the hero . NO ! Bad guys who ’ ve risen to the rank of antagonist are basically equal to the hero in the intelligence department . They ’ ll think their plans through before acting out . Besides , cops carry backup weapons and extra bullets , why not have the antagonist do the same ?
2 . Villains who are bound and determined to destroy the world clearly haven ’ t thought this through . If the world goes up in smoke where will he live , the moon ?
What will he do ? And with whom will he do it ? Everything will be gone ! The earth would be a ghost town .
Of course , we know the world won ’ t end on page 367 , but the villain doesn ’ t know he ’ s merely a character in a book . Therefore , the end result must be believable to the reader … and to your characters .
WRITERS ’ TRICKS OF THE TRADE
PAGE 5
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2016