A Change of Plans

I’m learning a ton about planning a book from this post series. For example, I’d intended today’s post to be “Working on Plot A” but when I sat down to start brainstorming, I realized I couldn’t get very far at all without knowing my antagonist a little better.

Let’s spend some time with our villain and see what he’s hiding behind that bandit mask.

If your antagonist popped fully formed into your head – congratulations! A lot of your work is already done.

Sadly, my antagonist is being a bit more shy, so I need to roll up my sleeves and get busy.

Villains are Heroes

The important thing to know about every character in your book was actually brought up in the comments of one of my previous NaNo2010 posts.

Everyone is the hero of their own story.

Your protagonist is the hero of his story.

Your antagonist is the hero of his story.

The chambermaid who cleans out the chamberpots and tucks the linens ever-so-carefully around your protagonist’s mattress is the hero of her story.

Furthermore, all of them are perfectly correct in this belief.

Assuming that is true, your entire story can be told through the eyes of your antagonist. The events related to the primary plot would remain the same, but the tone and emotional content would be wildly different.

Example

If your hero prevents a bus stop from blowing up by defusing a bomb, you should know how he felt from the time he discovered the bomb to the moment it was disarmed.

You must also know how the VILLAIN felt, from the time he decided to place the bomb to the moment it was disarmed.

In some ways, you have to dig deeper for a villain than you do for a hero.

Why does the hero want to stop the bomb?

Because human lives are at stake. This motivation is a clear, understandable one.

Why does the villain want to blow up the bus stop?

He not only KNOWS that lives are at stake, he’s depending on it. He is intentionally causing mayhem. This motivation is neither clear nor understandable, so you (the writer) need to develop his back story so that he could be in a mental and emotional place where he is willing to kill other people to achieve his goals.

Was he laid off from his previous work as a bomb specialist after decades of grueling, low-paying work so that the company could save a few dollars and hire a new kid to do his job? Whatever his reason, you (the writer) need to know it.

Non-Character Antagonists

My examples, exercises, and theories are all based on a characterized antagonist. I am neither an expert nor really a fan of non-character antagonists. Examples of conflicts with a non-character antagonist would be things like “the war hero vs his drug addiction” or “the single mother vs societal expectations of marriage” or “shipwrecked businessman vs unforgiving desert island”.

Even so, in all of those cases, I can’t imagine a writer having to do LESS work researching and preparing the background for these antagonists. If anything, you’d have to do MORE work to ensure all the little details are correct. More research, more notes, more interviews with experts.

Whose Story is this, Anyway?

So, let’s examine this antagonist of yours. Ignoring for the moment that he’s the “bad guy” in your story, work on his history and backstory as carefully as you would if he were your main character or protagonist.

You know his motivation and why he’s pitted against your hero if you did the exercise in The Bad Guys and you’ve got a few plot points that you know need to happen in order for your plot to work, even as sketchy as your Preliminary Outline may have been.

Let’s dig deeper. At what point did your bad guy change from being “just a guy” to so twisted that he’s willing to do evil things to accomplish his goal? Whether he thinks he’s doing this for the greater good or he’s just looking out for himself, the events of his past shaped him into the person your story needs him to be.

The Exercise

Start writing down back story events leading up to your story.

When you reach a point where you have an unanswered question, write down the question and put a note out to the side so that you know to come back and find an answer later.

Work your way to your story for the antagonist. Build his back story so that by the time he reaches your story’s beginning, he is exactly the character your book needs. He is not only capable of doing but also willing to do the dastardly deed your hero will thwart.

Stained

Some questions that came up during my exercise were:

• What religion do the lowlanders practice and what ceremonies do they use? (Worldbuilding strikes again!)
• Is the bad guy out for revenge, or is he just completing his original goal? (Note how that last one may override a decision I made earlier in the process. Don’t be afraid to throw away an old assumption if it no longer fits – the beauty of brainstorming is that all ideas are equally valid until we say otherwise. And we’re allowed to change our mind.)
• Why is the king killing off entertainers? (And no, I’m not going to tell you why I need a king with a soft spot for beheading entertainers. That would ruin the fun.)

I also stumbled on a possible conversation between Shayla and my villain, and made a note referencing Brotherhood of the Wolf so I could decide if I wanted to introduce a particular element into my story. I now have TWO PAGES of hand-written notes on the villain’s back story, his abilities, and how his actions drive the story.

He is not yet complete, but I have a much better idea of WHAT he’s doing and WHY he’s doing it. With that in my writerly pocket, I can focus more on events in the story. I know what my villain is willing to do, what he’s capable of, and what motivation would drive his actions.

I should also note that I still don’t have a gender for this antagonist. I’m calling him “he” simply out of convenience. With the worldbuilding the way I have it (the Stained are gender-equal as far as their culture is concerned) the antagonist could be either male or female. That means either my plot or my characterization will drive the antagonist’s gender. Is it more interesting if the villain is a romantic interest for Shayla or for the prince? Maybe it would be useful to install her as a “trusted confidant”? I don’t know yet. For now, my antagonist is ambiguously gendered.