Her Goal, Her Name

• Engage your reader on your Antagonist’s journey with a humongous goal.
• Almost always, the Antagonist’s ambitions will be greater than the Protagonist’s.
• Whoever the Antagonist is she is guiding the Protagonist.
• Therefore her goal is crucial to guide the story as a whole.

• Choose a clear, clean name, easy to remember.
• If your antagonist is the Head of an Organization give her a Presidential/Royal/Imperial name.
• Don’t hesitate to go for tyrannical or awful connotations.
• Picking an Adjective or a common noun is a safe choice, it will be understood easily by your readers.
• This is also the occasion to insert an Historical/Mythological reference.

• Go for ear catching names, easy to remember.
• A double syllable at the beginning of both the 1st name & surname helps.
  • ex: Oblivious Olivia.

How to define the Antagonist’s goal?

1. Does she want to reach a certain status/position/rank?
2. Is this status only a mean to control a portion of territory?
   • The whole world is only a portion of territory.
3. Why does she want to control this territory?
4. What will she do once she control this territory?
5. For who? With who? Until when?

• And all these goals are potentially valid.
• All you have to do is find an idea you want to defend.
• And then Refine it.

• If you have an idea and find it difficult to refine it, write us & we’ll assist you in the refining process.
• Your Ideas are Important.
• Your Ideas are Enough.

Her obvious Strength

• This character traits appears at the moment she’s introduced.
• The public needs to be compelled by your character.
• Unless your goal is to disgust your public, you’ll want then to root for your Antagonist, somehow.

• Make the reader enjoy your antagonist’s presence.
• However, contrary to the Protagonist, your reader should not want to become this Antagonist.
• Unless it is the story’s point.
• There are models & archetypes to create lovable, infatuating Antagonists, which will be developed in further articles.
• Your antagonist may display incredible skills & wit over the Protagonist, and some of these traits will appear as desirable for the reader.

• Some good examples of early strengths are Curious, Jovial or Affable.
• Any of these traits will allow the Public to get comfortable with the character.
• Since those are Desirable & Easy to acquire personality traits.
• The types of personality traits sought after in Friends & Allies.

If you want to know more about likeable Antagonists.

Her Strength to Hone – Create relatability

• Your Antagonist will progress.
• Even if her progress is less significant than the Protagonist’s.
• This Strength she must develop will unfold from chapters 3 to 10.
  
• This Strength will define the antagonist’s evolution path.
  It is bounded to your’s Antagonist’s Goal.
• Allow your public to share your Antagonist’s journey.
• It will be hard for your character & the reader to go through this evolution.
• Your public will see your character stumble & fail.
• Think about this progression curve if you wish to write a sequel: You are allowed to create periods of stagnation & regression.

• The Strength to Hone’s evolution will require multiple crisis to happen.
• In the case of the Protagonist, these crisis are endured.
• The Antagonist will cause them.
• This too may attract the public to your Antagonist for she seems to have more control over the story.

• Some good examples of strength to hone are Persistent, Dedicated or Self-Aware.
• These personality traits are Desirable, Rare & Hard to acquire.
• They will build a bond between the public & your character.

Her obvious Weakness

• As for the obvious Strength, the obvious weakness will be displayed immediately.

• Your Antagonist is a human being.
  • Or at least human-like in her behaviors.
• Humans have shortcomings.
• At moments, she will be in an undesirable position.
• These undesirable position will translate into comical/dramatic/horrible scenes, according to the story’s unfolding.

• This weakness will allow the public to Relate to your Antagonist.
• Early weakness are tolerable faults, faults we can see in ourselves.
• They are also faults that are easy to forgive.

• The rule can be bent by using this weakness as a transit to the heavier Hidden Weakness.
  • In this case showcase the transition between a Belligerent and later a Sadistic character clearly.
• The rule can be broken by attributing to your antagonist an inexcusable character trait early in the story.

• Some good examples of early weaknesses are Belligerent, Moody or Superficial.
• These personality traits are Undesirable & Easy to acquire.

If you want to know more about creating annoying Antagonists.

Her Hidden Weakness – Enhance or Strangle relatability

• This weakness is undesirable.
• Prepare your public, your Antagonist & yourself.
• It will mess up everyone.

• This weakness is insidious.
• It works well if brought out progressively.
• Regarding the type of weakness to chose no amount of time may do.
• Discovering that a character, that we believed to be only single-minded & determined, was preparing a mass extermination will often be a surprise.

• This hidden Weakness will emerge after the 2 main crisis of the story, Chapters 3 & 6.
• Chapter 3 presents the weakness & chapter 6 catalyses it all the way to the last chapter.

• You could make the reader emphasize with your Antagonist.
• Or you could make them despise her.
• Maintain a link.
• Whatever weakness you chose to give your character, do not let them alone.
  
• Let the reader see the character’s pain, even if they cannot forgive her.
• However odious your Antagonist becomes, do not let the reader abandon her.

• Some good examples of hidden weaknesses are Sadistic, Denying, Unreliable.
• These personality traits are Undesirable & Hard to acquire or to live with.

• The public will not emphasize with a Coward.
• Create a coward if you wish to know more about your public’s Inclinations.

Don’t leave her alone.

• Characters need support.
• Creating a lone character is a topical choice that will fail.
• Even if your protagonist is alone for your whole story & there are no visible antagonist, they will have interactions.

• Let your antagonist benefit from a team.
• People to whom she can display her acts, were they be grandiose or heinous.
• She will need support.
• She will need to act when these supporters turn against her because she has not taken the right decision for the team.
• That’s interpersonal development.
• That’s the only kind of clear development.

• Let your antagonist have a comfort zone, a shrine, a bedroom, a favorite cafe.
• Design this place as a character which will react to the antagonist decisions.

If you want to know more about creating gorgeous Antagonists.

Create Antagonists for your Antagonists

• If you’ve written a few stories already, you may have the sense that all your adversarial characters would adversarialize each other.
• And you’re right.

• As a follow up to don’t let them be alone, create them ennemies or adversaries.
• As they helped the protagonist to change faster, these foes will help them.

• Put your antagonists side by side.
• Would they like each other?
• Would they help each other?
• Would they try to harm each other gratuitously?

• Here’s a list of 10 Examples for you to start comparing Antagonistic Identities.

If you want to know more about creating hideous Antagonists.