October Novel Prep Challenge

As you know by now, your "protagonist" is the main character in your story. Their story, actually. Unless it's autobiographical, this story you're writing is your protagonist's story.

So who is the story's "antagonist"?

I jokingly posted on my WDC Newsfeed about a week ago:

         Dear Oxford Dictionary,

         Please add "protagonize" to your dictionary.
         Why should we let bad guys verb themselves,
         but not good guys?? Obviously.

As my post highlights, "antagonist" seems easier to define and understand than "protagonist" because we use its verb form, "antagonize," in everyday conversation (especially if we are ever around children: "Sally, please don't antagonize your brother." )

And yet... antagonists can be hard to pin down in our stories.

Merriam Webster, dictionary.com, and the Oxford English Dictionary all have formal-sounding definitions like "one that contends with or opposes another," but I personally like the way thesaurus.com defines it in the tab at the top: "noun person causing problem."

So who is the person causing the protagonist's problem?

Thesaurus.com also lists synonyms such as adversary, enemy, foe, opponent, and rival; and antonyms ally, assistant, friend, helper, and... protagonist.

{By the way, if you haven't used thesaurus.com in your writing, you should.)

If your story has an obvious bad guy, here's an interesting experiment. Since "protagonist" and "antagonist" are clearly opposites, yin & yang, could your story be written backwards, with the antagonist as the main character, where your protagonist is the enemy? Is it possible for readers to empathize with the antagonist, to connect with them as a main character instead of your protagonist? Because it should be. If it's not, then both your protagonist and antagonist are probably unrealistic. Your protagonist should be flawed like us readers, and your antagonist should have redeeming qualities or at least clear motivation, even if we can't fully understand that motivation.



But if your story has no obvious bad guy, try using the "antagonist" synonyms to pin down what's causing the conflict in your main character's story: What (if not who) is your character's adversary, enemy, foe, opponent or rival? This ReedsyBlog article   articulated it well by explaining that the antagonist is "the biggest obstacle standing between the main character and their goal."

Aha!! So THAT'S why we made you define your character's goal on Day 2.

If you still need help figuring out who or what your antagonist is, please post in the forum. We'd love to help.

Peace,
Michelle