I found this cool blog post over at Write-or-Die that talks about the antagonist of the story and how important they are because they're what's really driving the story by giving the protagonist something to do. And she had a cool idea.
Somehow it had never really occurred to me to really get into what my antagonist is doing while the story goes on centered on the protagonist. I mean, I have vague ideas on what my villain is doing behind the scenes, but most of the time it's really blurry. The stories not centered on the villain so why bother, right?
I'm starting to rethink this. Outlining what the villain is doing throughout the story could bring up some good stuff that I hadn't realized before, and could add more depth to the story when I know precisely what's going on with both sides. Not to mention it could be downright interesting. And fun.
I wouldn't let this take over into a book of it's own (try not to, anyway) cause it would only be for reference on what's going on over there.
So what do you guys think of this? Writing about what's going on on the other side, what they're doing to get at the protagonist, how they're planning they're stuff and just general stuff like that? Only to know what they're doing throughout the book while your protagonist is doing his/her thing?
4 comments:
I do this when I write a mystery. It helps me keep track of where the clues can come in and makes for some interesting scenes I might not have realised I needed.
The antagonist is extremely important for a story and sometimes defines the whole thing much more than anything about your protagonist. Much of the time, the protagonist is only interesting because of the contrast that exists solely because of the antagonist.
That sounds like a good idea, for sure :) My antagonist is sort of...well, she's not the main problem my character has, I'll say that. But she does act as a major pain in the butt. ;)
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