Developing Antagonism in Your Story
Conflict is the key to a successful story. Without it, all you have is a collection of things that are happening to your protagonist, none of which carry the power to force your character to undergo change and bring your story to a satisfying resolution.
And yet lack of conflict, or lack of clarity on conflict, is one of the most common problems I see as a developmental editor and book coach. Writers aren’t sure what’s getting in their character’s way, or why it matters. They may have a vague idea of who the antagonist is, but they haven’t stepped into their shoes to understand what drives them. Or built friction into their scenes.
A successful story needs layers of antagonism to create and sustain conflict on the page, whether you’re writing epic fantasy or realistic fiction. By giving your protagonist challenges to overcome, choices to make, and setbacks to bounce back from, you give your readers a reason to keep turning pages.
More than the main antagonist
When writers hear “antagonism,” their minds often go to characters. And, yes, characters can be antagonists—these are your Saurons and Emperor Palpatines, your bullies and queen bees, your serial killers and long-time bitter rivals. The guy who got stole your promotion … or your girlfriend.
But antagonism is much more than that. It’s anything that gets your protagonist’s way as they try to achieve their story goal. Enemies, forces of nature, the ticking bomb that will explode in two minutes if your protagonist can’t defuse it in time—it all brings tension and conflict to the page.
The good news is, because there are different types of antagonism operating at both the story and scene level, there are many opportunities to layer conflict into your story that you might not even be considering.
So where do you start?
It can be useful to picture antagonism as a hierarchy, starting at the top with the main source of story-level antagonism and then stepping down the ladder to scene-level antagonism. This can help you differentiate, and develop, layers of antagonism in your story.
The Mastermind Antagonist
At the top of the antagonism hierarchy sits the Mastermind Antagonist. Masterminds are the ones with the capital-P Plan to gain or maintain power. The protagonist is crashing into this Plan and, from the Mastermind’s perspective, gumming it up.
The Mastermind has the most to gain—and therefore the most to lose—if their Plan goes awry and will do anything to achieve their goal, no matter the cost. The protagonist is fighting to maintain their agency in the face of the Mastermind’s drive for control. This power struggle—what the Mastermind wants versus what the protagonist wants—is the main source of story-level conflict. One well-known Mastermind is President Snow of The Hunger Games, whose goal of maintaining his iron grip on the Districts is in direct conflict with Katniss’s desire to break free of his control.
Masterminds aren’t only for speculative fiction. Contemporary stories need them, too. They can be the bully at school, thwarting the protagonist’s goal of belonging. Or a bad boss, blocking the protagonist’s climb up the corporate ladder. They can be a well-meaning family member perpetuating a family expectation, like pressuring your protagonist to go to medical school instead of art school.
Masterminds don’t have to be characters. They can be social or cultural expectations and stereotypes. In Piecing Me Together, by Renée Watson, Jade has grown up in a poor, black neighborhood and is tired of those things defining her as someone to fix. She uses art to find her own voice and push back against this limiting stereotype.
Whether they are characters or external social and cultural expectations, Masterminds and the power struggle they bring to the page provide the energy that powers your story.
But they’re often off-stage, which means they need helpers.
Henchmen Antagonists
A step down in the hierarchy, Henchmen Antagonists are characters who have bought into the Mastermind’s Plan and are helping to execute it—and to stop the protagonist from messing with it.
Henchmen are the antagonists your protagonist will most often encounter. Depending on their role, they can operate at a story level or at a scene-to-scene level as they interact with the protagonist. In the original Star Wars movies, Darth Vader is the ultimate Henchman, executing Emperor Palpatine’s Plan for universal domination.
But henchmen don’t have to be evil. In Watson’s Piecing Me Together, the well-meaning teachers and mentors trying to help Jade are unwitting Henchmen, unintentionally reinforcing the cultural stereotype defining Jade as someone to fix.
Henchmen play an important role in getting conflict on the page. They have their own set of motivations and stakes that you can mine to build antagonism into your story.
Allies with a Challenge
Sometimes your protagonist’s allies and mentors will step into the role of antagonist at a crucial moment in the story. Another rung down on the hierarchy, these Allies with a Challenge push back on the protagonist when they don’t agree with them, or they don’t think they’re ready for something, or they don’t think they’ve thought things through.
This is an important type of antagonism, as the protagonist is more likely to listen to allies and mentors, and the challenge they are posing to the protagonist at this moment is likely to push the protagonist to rethink things, to grow and to change, and to gain what they need to succeed.
Think Obi Wan Kenobi challenging Luke’s desire for revenge. His warnings that that will put him on the same path as Darth Vader. His moments of antagonism push Luke along his internal arc of change.
In The Sun Is Also A Star, by Nicola Yoon, main characters Daniel and Natasha challenge each other to see things from the other person’s point of view, challenging their assumptions about themselves and their worldview—even as they are falling in love with each other on the streets of New York City.
By challenging the protagonist to be a better version of themselves, these Allies help to push the protagonist to their moment of change.
Antagonistic forces
At the bottom of the hierarchy, these are the problems the protagonist may run into on the adventure of the story. It’s the heavy traffic they hit on their way to the big game. Or the thunderstorm that knocks out the power, preventing the protagonist from charging their dead smartphone. Or the tree that falls on their car, forcing the protagonist to stay at that creepy cabin in the woods.
These scene-to-scene antagonistic forces create friction, giving your protagonist problems to solve, choices to make, barriers to overcome.
Getting antagonism on the page
Just as you would dive into your protagonist, sussing out their goals and motivations and backstories, you need dive deep into your story’s sources of antagonism.
Start at the top of the hierarchy. Who is your Mastermind? What do they want, and why? What are they willing to sacrifice? What’s at stake for them? What is their Plan, and how is the protagonist messing it up? Or what existing stereotypes and barriers is your protagonist crashing into? This is your story-level power struggle.
Work your way down through the hierarchy. Get clear on who your Henchmen are, and what is at stake for them. Look at your protagonist’s allies and ask if they are challenging the protagonist to be a better version of themselves at key moments in the story.
Look at your scenes. Are there antagonistic forces providing scene-to-scene friction, making the journey harder for your protagonist?
The more clearly you develop and articulate antagonism in your story, the more your protagonist will shine. Readers will know exactly what they’re up against, what the stakes are, and why it all matters.
This article first appeared on JaneFriedman.com.
Photo credit: Curated Lifestyle for Unsplash
