Writing Coach In A Box: Card Thirteen.

Thirteen. Card thirteen is the card that begins our discussion of the Antagonist. It’s funny. Because, you know. I am planning out a horror novel with these cards. Horror. Thirteen. Friday The Thirteenth? Anyone? Is it just me that sees the correlation? Really?

A convincing antagonist is a necessity in most stories. Whether it be a cartoonish billionaire curling his mustache while sending goons to combat our intrepid hero, or the grief-stricken mother who wants to avenge her drowned son by spilling the blood of those responsible. They drive forward your story just as much as your protagonist sometimes.

Now the card talks about how the most important antagonist is your protagonist, and you know… It’s like real life. It’s so easy for us to get in our own ways, with our flaws and weaknesses. I believe this was touched on in an earlier card but — unlike the concept of Charlie recovering from a break-up — I haven’t brought it up in almost every post since. So I am more than happy to talk about it again (or not again?) Your protagonist is going to have something inside them that creates issues for themselves. This may manifest as a big fatal flaw (like in the Percy Jackson franchise) or a mistaken belief.

Charlie could easily be the type of person who, despite knowing who he is, may not actually know himself as well as he is. He knows who he is in context to others, but what about to himself?

The card moves on to discuss four types of fundamental antagonists.

The Accidental Antagonist
The accidental antagonist is just a regular person. Nothing supernatural or super about them. Just a person with priorities/goals that clash with your main character’s. They may not even be the cut and dry “Good” or “Evil.” If you know my writing, Razor, Buck, and Manny from Phantom Janitor could be seen as decent examples of this. These type of characters are main characters in their own story-arcs and don’t exist inside the “protagonist bubble” so make sure you give them just as much care as you would your protag.

The Faceless Corporation
Money-hungry overlords, cults of billionaires, Secret government societies, mob families. All of these and more fit under this type of antagonist. A body of like-minded, shadowy individuals makes for a perfect villain because not everyone in an organization will share the same goal. Usually in a story, they’ll be viscous and ruthless and target those in a society that don’t fit the corporation’s views of right and normalcy. I am going to be honest. I have written three different versions of this where current events have gotten me so steamed. So I am just going to say, FUCK ICE. I can’t easily write about this type of villain without thinking about the reckless endangerment ICE wrecks on American citizens. About how certain members of our government would rather focus their energy on dooming the country.

That being said, this kind of antagonist doesn’t fare well in fiction. In a good story, the people defeat the over-reaching powers of the evil group that does nothing but harm. And in the best cases, that victory can be a reality. A non-fictional reality.

The Inexorable Force
Sometimes, your antagonist is something inhuman. Something with no character traits or personality. Disease. Catastrophe. Disaster. I’m talking your natural disasters, your outbreaks, your quarantine zones. There’s so much you can do with the environment that can make for a good antagonist. Maybe it’s a zombie outbreak in a desert wasteland. Maybe it a trip to an assisted-living facility for those on their last stretch of rope. The Inexorable Force can be good all on its own. But… You could really throw in any of the other three antagonists in to spice it all up. Take a show like “The Walking Dead.” A show where the dead walk, but a lot of the conflict is driven by the living. Affairs. Murders. Difference of opinion. Jeffrey Dean Morgan with a barbed wire bat. An environment can be just as devious a foe as any person could be.

The Classic Baddie.
I put this one last, because nothing really screams horror project like this type of antagonist. A true villain. Obviously, I will be using this character type in a purely horror-centric manner, but the card gives helpful advice for those who aren’t working on horror. Making a purely evil antagonist can put you in a trap of having it become a shallow caricature to make your characters look like heroes. Take any cheesy slasher movie where the killer has no back story. Your final girl/guy wins in the end and you’re left wondering “Okay… why did the guy with the surfboard start stabbing people with the surfboard?” Horror baddies can easily be given good depth by giving them motivation. Ask yourself “Why are they doing what they do?” “What beliefs drive them?” “What’s their goal here?” “What’s their history?” “Where are they heading?”

And of course, with horror, you need to figure out who your antagonist is going to be.

Now, for my story, I am thinking of mixing the classic baddie in with a few of our accidental baddies. Every slasher movie has them. The characters who have their own self-preservation. Maybe characters who would sacrifice others for their own benefit.

I haven’t figured out the baddie yet, but I am going to throw some ideas out and see how they land.

One thing I know for sure is that this killer needs to have a different weapon for every scene. Machetes, knife gloves, chainsaws, and drills are fun and all, but where is the variety. Nothing says comedy than someone genuinely running scared from a masked man holding a bike tire or something else that’s absurd.

I was originally wondering if the killer should be a were-creature of some kind? In like a colorful button-up shirt you’d see at the beach.

I need to make up some kind of legend or lore for the camp that could lead to someone coming to the camp with a vengeance to recreate that scary camp story. (And of course, to make it as campy as possible.)

While I figure out this killer/monster, I’d love to thank you all for reading. People seem to like these Writing Coach cards almost as much as I do. And they’ve been giving me a good deal of inspiration about this story (even though it’s happening slowly.)

Have a good night!