Love Your Antagonist

That's right, I said it - Love your antagonist!

Why?

In order to write the truth within the world we have created, as writers we must understand each and every one of our characters, and love them. We need to know what makes them tick and why they do the things they do. Not only will understanding all of your characters help you to love them, but it will also add a new depth to your story. And this includes those nasty villains.

Think of your favorite book. Now think of the antagonist. Was the antagonist entirely evil for no reason. Chances are he or she had a past that hurt them, creating this new direction in life that made him or her the antagonist of this story. The author probably understood this concept of loving and understanding all of the characters they wrote, adding that extra depth.

Think of it this way. No doubt you've been hurt at some point by someone else. I'm going to bet that the person who hurt you was not out to hurt you, or evil. On the same note, you have probably hurt someone else at another time, and you're not evil. Everyone has reasons for their actions. Most of all, no one thinks of themselves as bad or evil or wrong, or the antagonist of any story.

Therefore, we need to truly understand our characters. And in understanding them we learn to love them. We need to get inside them and figure out what it is that makes our antagonist the "bad guy." Give them pasts, weaknesses, and pains they must bear. Possibly it is through this pain that he or she has become that person who is antagonizing the heck out of your wonderful protagonist's journey.

Put yourself in the shoes of your antagonist and ask yourself these simple questions. If I were this antagonist what would I do? Why?

As Robert McKee says in his book, Story:

"If you can't love them, don't write them."

Your Character's Values

It is election time and these past few months have seen both parties’ candidates carve out their positions and create stories about themselves. Seems to me that both candidates get into trouble when their positions are hazy. So whether Democrat or Republican, each candidate has gone to great extents to give himself certain characteristics –whether it be the economy man, the change candidate or the anti-establishment candidate – and more importantly, values –Christian values, middle-class values or be it family values.

As a writer, you know you have to give your characters traits and values. The reader has to get your characters and remember them. But how? For some, all characters sound the same on the page. For others, such as me, it’s difficult to make the characters three dimensional. I try to make everyone perfect. A perfect MC. A perfect best friend. A perfect villain. Then, instead of picking a value or two I ply them all kinds of values. This results in readers not being able to distinguish or remember characters. Whether it is your heroine, your villain, your sidekick –all of them need one or two memorable traits even if it’s their name or that they could potentially have secret bank accounts in the Cayman Islands.

So during rewrites I tried ways to flesh out my characters in the following ways:

1.       Show AND tell: I’m a big fan of show and tell. Recently, in How to Write in the New York Times Colson Whitehead talks about showing and telling. Not just showing. I tried to work that into my story to make my characters sharper. I started to push my MC, Priscilla Mayfair, into situations and show how she was able to navigate them. At the end of scene, I’d add a thought or two from Priscilla’s POV to give the reader a little extra. The reader now knows that Priscilla is capable and can problem solve. With a little bit of telling, my readers also understood that Priscilla was scared but brave and had got lucky with her problem solving. My MC would have to prepare and learn more if she had to successfully reach the end and solve the mystery.

2.      Don’t make her perfect: Make your characters humans. Yes, just like I have, you’ve heard it a thousand times. But it so difficult! It takes me so much time to add a flaw, to get my characters make mistakes, to purposely lead them into a tight corner or have them lie. The bottom line is you have to stay true to your character. So if your character is truly 3D she is going to mistakes. She won’t be able to be all things to all people. You cannot re-draw her like on an Etch-A-Sketch. After all, the human element has the final say in an election.

3.      Your character’s motivations: Always ask why your MC is doing what she is doing. What are her motivations? Fears? Dreams? This one is tough for me. For a while, Priscilla was a too perfect sleuth. Her story arc wasn’t compelling enough for the reader to flip the page. So I stopped writing and instead journal-ed from her point of view for a few weeks. For fun, I also used the Myer-Briggs test to see whether she was introverted or not, how she would behave with other people and whether she would be methodical while solving problems. Finally, I asked debate like questions: What if… what if a nuclear power plant had a meltdown, how would my MC react? If Priscilla lost the race and wasn’t able to solve the mystery, how would she react? If Priscilla was President for a day, what would be the first things she’d work on?

In what other ways do you bring out your character’s values?