5 Questions To Write Better Antagonists

Antagonists can make or break a story—both for the writer and the reader. 

Writers who don’t spend time developing their antagonists tend to write drafts that fall apart in the middle. Anyone who reads a story with a weak or unconvincing protagonist is unlikely to finish it. 

So, how do we go about making our antagonists just as compelling as our protagonists? How do we write an antagonist with impact?

In this post, I’ll share five questions that will help you create a compelling, genre-appropriate antagonist who will provide the central conflict in your novel. 

Before we dig into those five questions, let’s first make sure we’re on the same page about what, exactly, makes an antagonist.

What is an Antagonist?

An antagonist is someone who stands between your protagonist and their goal, creating conflict and making it difficult for your protagonist to succeed. 

They can be anyone from a competitor who simply wants the same thing as your protagonist to someone who’s more of an outright villain. It’s up to you!

If you haven’t already identified your antagonist, consider the following questions:

• What antagonist does my external genre call for?
• Which character creates the main plot problem?
• Which character can help me best express my story’s theme (whether positively or negatively)?

Usually, the answers to these questions will point to one person—and that’s probably your best candidate for your story’s antagonist!

Once you’ve identified your antagonist, use these five questions to flesh them out.

#1. What Does Your Antagonist Want?

Just like your protagonist, your antagonist will be defined by what they want. 

If your antagonist doesn’t want anything, they won’t have any reason to get in your protagonist’s way. If they don’t have any reason to get in your protagonist’s way, then your story will lack conflict (and readers will likely put it down). 

When developing your antagonist’s goals, consider the following:

• What does your antagonist want before the story starts on page one?
• What will become your antagonist's goal after the inciting incident (or after the protagonist engages with the central conflict)? 

Don’t be afraid to lean on your genre framework for clues here, too! 

For example, in a crime story, the antagonist’s goal is (usually) to avoid getting caught—especially once the protagonist starts tracking down clues.

In an action story, the antagonist usually has a specific goal that, if accomplished, will strip others of their agency and/or power. Whatever that specific goal looks like is up to each author, but the key thing is will limit or take away the agency of other people if the antagonist succeeds.

Once you know your antagonist’s overarching story goal, you can come up with smaller goals that they’ll need to accomplish in order to achieve that goal. 

This is what will help you create the plot of your story, specifically in Act Two (where most drafts go off the rails). It’ll also help you create meaningful conflict for your protagonist to face, too.

As an example, we can consider Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Voldemort wants to come back to full life and power—and to do that, he needs the Sorcerer’s Stone (which grants immortality). This is his page one goal that has nothing to do with Harry (yet).

Once Harry starts to get curious about the Sorcerer’s Stone (and once he starts to meddle), Voldemort uses Professor Quirrell to try to take Harry down. His initial goal remains the same—to get the Sorcerer’s Stone so he can come back to full power—but Harry (the protagonist) is unknowingly getting in his way.

Now, one last thing to keep in mind when coming up with your antagonist’s goal…

Your antagonist’s goal must be specific!

It’s really hard to write a story about an antagonist who wants “to be the most powerful dark lord” because it’s not something readers can track or manage. How will readers know if they’ve succeeded or failed? Same with an antagonist who wants “to be happy.” What does this mean? Happiness looks different for everyone, so be specific!

#2. Why Does Your Antagonist Want This?

Once you know what your protagonist wants, it’s time to think about WHY they want it. They need a compelling and watertight motivation for going after their goal. 

Even if your antagonist has a solid goal, your story will fall flat if their motivation for pursuing that goal is unconvincing, weak, or overcomplicated.

To uncover your antagonist’s motivation, consider things like:

• What's motivating them to take action?
• Why do they believe their actions are right?
• How do they justify their beliefs and choices?

You will likely need to dig into your antagonist’s backstory to uncover what’s motivating them. If you haven’t done so already, use the steps in this article to develop your antagonist’s backstory.

As an example, let’s look at Lord Voldemort. Why does he want to acquire (and use) the Sorcerer’s Stone? Voldemort does not want to die. He’s afraid of dying and wants to live on to be the most powerful Dark Lord ever. To do this, he needs to recover his physical body, and the Sorcerer’s Stone will help him do just that.

#3. What's At Stake For Your Antagonist?

Once you know what your antagonist wants and why, it’s time to think through what’s at stake. So, what does your antagonist stand to lose or gain if they succeed or fail?

In most cases, what’s at stake for your protagonist will also be what’s at stake for your antagonist. This is the nature of writing genre fiction! 

For example, in a typical crime story, either the bad guy gets brought to justice (the detective succeeds) or the bad guy escapes justice (the detective fails). In an action story, only one person can survive—the protagonist or the antagonist. In a romance, the protagonist and antagonist both stand to lose or gain an intimate connection or a relationship with the other person.

So, if you already know your story’s content genre, you can take these generic stakes and personalize them based on your story.

As an example, let’s take a look at Lord Voldemort. We know he wants the Sorcerer’s Stone to gain immortality so he can come back to full life and power. If he fails to get (and use) the Sorcerer’s Stone, he’ll remain in the same kind of half-life state he’s in on page one.

#4. What's Your Antagonist’s Plan For Getting What They Want?

Once you know your antagonist’s goal and motivation (and what’s at stake should they succeed or fail), it’s time to break their goal down into action steps. What’s their plan for getting what they want?

To flesh out your antagonist’s plan, consider the following questions:

• What steps would they take to get what they want?
• In what order would they take those steps? Why?
• What kind of roadblocks might naturally get in their way?
• How does your protagonist (specifically) get in their way?
• How do their goals interfere with each other?
• What consequences would your antagonist face for their actions?

Once you’re done brainstorming, consider how your antagonist’s goals and plans will interfere with your protagonist’s goals and plans. This will help you create organic conflict for your story. 

As an example, consider Lord Voldemort’s goal of acquiring (and using) the Sorcerer’s Stone. Voldemort’s plan is to use Professor Quirrell to steal the stone for him. To do that, he has to find the stone, figure out how to get past whatever’s guarding the stone, and then actually steal it. But when Harry starts getting curious about what’s hidden on the forbidden third floor (the stone), he’s getting in the way of Voldemort’s plans—and this causes problems for Voldemort and Quirrell, which results in action being taken against Harry to stop him. 

And in real life, this is how conflict works, right? 

The person who is in control of a conflict (in this case, your antagonist) does not plan their actions around the other person (your protagonist). Rather, the reactive person (who, at the beginning of a story, is almost always the protagonist) is bombarded with events outside of their control. From there, they struggle against the antagonistic force to bring their life back into balance.

If you’re someone who's used to planning your conflict by deciding what you want your protagonist to do and then deciding what your antagonist should do, you’re plotting things backward. Not only will this create a less-than-solid plot, but it will also make your job of plotting and outlining your novel way harder!

#5. What is Their Thematic Significance?

Now that you’ve fleshed out what your protagonist wants and why, plus how they’ll go about getting what they want (and what’s at stake should they succeed or fail), it’s time to consider the thematic significance of your antagonist.

Your antagonist can be a great vehicle for expressing your story’s theme because they drive the external conflict—and the external conflict is often a visual metaphor for your protagonist’s internal conflict.

This is why it’s important that the conflict your antagonist creates ties back to your theme—aka the expression of how your character grows and changes or what they learn over the course of the story.

As an example, consider Lord Voldemort. He’s happy to sacrifice others to get what he wants, but Harry isn’t. Harry is usually the one who sacrifices himself for others, and because of this, he survives the events in book one. In other words, Harry positively expresses the theme of book one, while Voldemort represents the negative side of it.

If you’re someone who plots your story right after developing your protagonist, then it’s likely the external conflict you’ve created will only be indirectly related to your theme (if at all). 

But if you start with an understanding of what your antagonist wants and how your protagonist gets in the way (whether knowingly or unknowingly), you can use the organic conflict this creates to force your character to grow and change on the inside.

This is the key to writing a cohesive story, and it’s why I like developing a story’s protagonist and antagonist alongside each other.

Now, you might be wondering…

Can A Story Have Multiple Antagonists?

The simple answer is: YES! Many stories have multiple sources of antagonism, and yours can, too! However, if you’re going this route, I recommend creating a “hierarchy of antagonists” so that you’re always crystal clear on who’s responsible for the central conflict (versus who provides the lesser, more day-to-day conflicts).

Also, it’s important to consider how your antagonists are connected somehow. This is what helps make your story feel cohesive. They could: 

• Be in a relationship together
• Have their fates bound together
• Face the same conflict (the protagonist)

For example, consider Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Voldemort/Quirrell is the main antagonist, but other characters like Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy create conflict for Harry to face on a day-to-day basis. Combined, all of this conflict forces Harry to grow and change and step into his role as The Boy Who Lived.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, antagonists are vitally important characters. Without them, our stories would crumble and fall apart. That’s why it’s so important to spend the time making them just as dynamic as your protagonist—if not more so! By working through the five questions above, you’ll be well on your way to creating an impactful and compelling antagonist that readers will love (or love to hate!).

Need help developing the foundational elements of your story? Click here to grab a FREE copy of my Story Starter Kit: 5 Questions to Ask Before You Start Writing A Novel. The questions in this workbook will help you drill down into the most important parts of your story, including your antagonist and the conflict they create!