Authors Electric

One of the things I am asked most often on writing panels and workshops is how to create intriguing bad guys. What they are really asking me, I've come to understand, is how to create antagonists as interesting to the reader as the hero. An effective protagonist needs to have a worthy antagonist. The antagonist needs to present our hero with a seemingly insurmountable obstacle such that the audience can reasonably expect failure and be impressed with the virtues of the hero once he or she overcomes them. This antagonist can come in all shapes and sizes depending on the plot of your story. According to current narrative theory, there are  only six basic conflicts in Western literature : Man v. Man  Man v. Self  Man v. Society Man v. Nature  Man v. God  Man v. Monster* If your antagonist is Society, Nature, or God, your antagonist is pretty much set for you. You need only tweak the characteristics that are germane to your plot. If your antagonist is ...

Characters are the soul of fiction. They are the first movers of story. Imagine any story you've ever read, then take out the characters. What you have left is essentially a lunatic's National Geographic article: a description of a fantastic landscape or a discussion of a particular group or species daily habits. Without characters, The Hobbit , for instance, would read something like this: Chapter 1: Hobbits live relatively peaceful lives, reside in modestly decorated holes in hills, and like to eat. Like a lot. They have seven meals a day, and do not like to be surpised by unexpected visitors. Chapter 2: Trolls will eat anything and turn to stone in the sunlight. Chapter 3: Elves are wise, and kind of pompous assholes. Chapter 4: Goblins are just assholes. Chapter 5: Caves are dark and scary, and sometimes people lose jewelry there. Chapter 6: Wolves and Goblins are friends and often team up to terrorize villages, but giant eagles will sometimes put a sto...