by Jamie Campbell

Perfect characters are boring. Nobody likes to see a perfect person succeed, we much prefer to cut them down and throw them in a pile with the other tall poppies. There is no satisfaction with an unflawed person getting what they want. Where is the struggle? Where is the triumph? They  are just getting what they expect. Yawn.

What is far more interesting is a character that makes us think, makes us question ourselves and our own morals. A person that blurs the line between what society generally regards as right and wrong. That is a character that will grip us to the end of the story and even beyond.

What is far more interesting is a character that makes us think.

Your character may have a completely skewed view of the world. They might think it’s okay to kill (e.g. Dexter), they might think it is perfectly fine to steal (Ocean’s Eleven), they may think it’s just neat to mess with people (Sue Sylvester from Glee). So why do we still like these people if their morals don’t align to our own?

One word: Backstory. Given the right set of circumstances, we can justify actions and remove the evil tag. We can see the humanity in the character and understand why they do what they do. And we can agree with them. We can shift our perspective of what they are doing and align their actions with our own moral code. Not an easy feat.

A perfect example of this is the television series Revenge. The main character Emily is obsessed with ruining the lives of the rich and fabulous in the Hamptons. She is perfectly fine with setting houses on fire, breaking up marriages, manipulating a guy to fall in love with her, and ruining businesses. For all intents and purposes, she’s a calculating sociopath. Yet we cheer for her.

Without the backstory, this show would not work. While curious beings, we’re still aligned with our morals. Emily has a reason for doing what she does – all those people ruined her family and killed her father. She isn’t just doing it for fun, she’s seeking justice against those that created her sob story. We feel for her, we see her pain, and we understand her desire. We see the humanity in her actions and that is why we cheer for her.

We can see the humanity in the character and
understand why they do what they do.

Morals can also help us to take up a cause along with our character. How many fictional people can you name that had an overwhelming need to fight an injustice? Probably thousands. Morals can tear us apart, but they can also unite us.

The best example I have seen recently is The Hunger Games. The main character Katniss is prepared to kill twenty-three other teenagers. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sit too well with me. Yet throughout the entire movie/book, I was cheering for her. When it came
down to it, I wanted her to kill rather than be killed. I aligned my morals to support her quest to fight for her sister, to fight the injustice of the Capitol, and to fight to survive. I was with her throughout the entire journey, compelled to see what happens next. And she definitely wasn’t perfect.

No-one is perfect and no-one wants to be reminded of that fact. If we watch a morally questionable character go through the journey of changing and developing, then it makes us feel good. We get a sense that we aren’t alone, we too could rise up to a challenge. I don’t know about  killing twenty-three teenagers, but I would like to think I would stand up for my sister. Once we can relate, we can understand.

Making your character morally murky raises the stakes. It pushes them to a place where the reward has to be worth the risk. It’s a place not visited by the average person, it has to be worth their while. You wouldn’t fight your inner demons for a bar of chocolate, but you might to save the chocolate maker – your father. In Revenge, her reward is an avenged death, in the Hunger Games it is her survival. Both primal desires.

One exercise you can try is to give your character two choices. Both have to be against his moral code. For example, his child has been kidnapped, his only option is to kill the president or blow up the houses of parliament. Which one will he choose? Why? Does the end justify the means? Pushing your characters into a decision tests their limitations and helps you understand them better.

Creating a morally dubious character can be difficult and the execution has to be done right. But when it is, your story comes alive with thought provoking characters that will stay with the audience for long after the credits.

-Jamie Campbell

Jamie Campbell is an author, screenwriter, and television addict.

Jamie is proud to be an Editor for The Story Department.

Her latest spine-tingling thriller Gifted is out now.

Photo Credits: Stock XChng, People.Com

Jamie Campbell

Jamie Campbell is an author, screenwriter, and television addict.

Jamie is proud to be an Editor for The Story Department.

Her latest series Project Integrate is out now.

jamiecampbell.com.au

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_______________________________

With thanks to Jamie Campbell and Brooke Trezise.

Enjoy!

Karel

Jamie Campbell

Jamie Campbell is an author, screenwriter, and television addict.

Jamie is proud to be an Editor for The Story Department.

Her latest series Project Integrate is out now.

jamiecampbell.com.au

by K.M. Weiland

The antagonist doesn’t have to be a person. It could be weather, circumstances, or the protagonist’s inner self. But, more often than not, the antagonist takes the form of a person. And crafting that person into a memorable and compelling character in his own right is vital to the success of your story.

Your antagonist needs to summon up reader emotions that are just as strong as those felt for the protagonist. Hateable bad guys will deepen reader sympathy for your protagonist. But, beyond even that, bad guys with whom the reader can identify to at least some degree are bad guys who will make him squirm even more.

Let’s a take a look at several categories into which your antagonist may fall, so you can choose the best one for your story.

Your antagonist needs to summon up reader emotions.

The Immoral Antagonist

This is easily the most popular form of antagonist. The bad guy is one readers will have no trouble hating. He is usually set in clear contrast against the good-guy hero. The lines are drawn in varying shades of black and white, and readers have no problem choosing whom to root for.

Hypocrite:

The hypocrite is an antagonist who feigns goodness. He may be guilty of all sorts of treachery and evil, but on the surface he’s all honey and sunshine.

He puts a righteous face on his misdeeds (perhaps even accusing the protagonist of hypocrisy to disguise his own), but the reader knows the truth: this guy is not just bad, he’s a fake. And we hate him all the more for it.

Psycho:

A mainstay of horror stories, this guy is just evil all the way through. He has no excuses, no thread ofgoodness leading him back to redemption. He’s just bad. And crazy on top of it.

Serial killers, genocidal world leaders, and sadists fit the bill to a T. Not only do readers hate psycho bad guys—they’re scared to death of them.

Regular Person Forced to Do Bad Things for an Illegitimate Reason:

Most antagonists—in life as well as fiction—aren’t mustache-twirling, maniacally laughing whackos.

Most of them are just regular Joes who have let their weaknesses get the better of them. Lust, greed, and hatred can drive even ordinary people to do extraordinary evil.

The bad guy is one readers will have no trouble hating.

The Moral Antagonist

In the moral antagonist we find a more complicated—and often more compelling—character, since he presents more parallels than contrasts with the protagonist.

This is a person who is doing the right thing—as he sees it—and usually for the right reasons, but who has nonetheless been forced to do battle with your hero, thanks to the requirements of your story’s overall conflict.

Good Guy on the Opposing Side:

Not all stories are going to offer an epic battle between good and evil. Sometimes the conflict will allow good people with opposing views to appear on both sides of the battle lines.

Lawyers fighting each other for causes in which they each believe passionately, football teams competing for a championship, two love interests trying to win the same girl—none of them have to be inherently bad. Stories of this nature can provide all kinds of interesting possibilities for exploring the gray areas of life, relationships, and morality.

Crusader:

The crusader can be an insanely scary bad guy in his own right. This is someone who fiercely believes he is doing the right thing, and indeed he may well be fighting for a good cause.

He may be someone who believes he has to choose between the lesser of two evils in his decisions. Or he may be someone driven to fanaticism—and thus dangerous decisions—by his passion for his cause. In fact, he may be just plain out right, while the protagonist is the one who’s wrong.

Regular Person Forced to Do Bad Things for a Legitimate Reason:

Sometimes even essentially good people end up doing bad things because they feel they have no choice.

A character who robs a bank to pay for his wife’s operation or to save himself from the Mafia’s threats may be a hero in his own right—or he may be a compelling and relatable antagonist to the detective protagonist who has to go after him.

The possibilities for your antagonist are every bit as vast as they are for your protagonist. The more time you spend creating a character who can properly oppose your hero, the stronger and more compelling your story will be.

Antagonists should be just as well-rounded and believable as your heroes. Don’t settle for anything less than brilliant!

 He may be just plain out right, while the protagonist is the one who’s wrong.

-K.M. Weiland

K.M. Weiland is the author of the historical western A Man Called Outlaw and the medieval epic Behold the Dawn.

She enjoys mentoring other authors through her writing tips, her book Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success, and her instructional CD Conquering Writer’s Block and Summoning Inspiration.

Photo Credits: Stock XChng, K.M. weiland