antagonists

What are their inner conflicts? Why were these two people separated to begin with? Do they each know the other is looking for them? Do they have mixed feelings about the reunion? Are they afraid the other person may not feel the same way?

Are we talking lovers? A child going to meet the mother who put her up for adoption? What was going on prior to their decision to seek the other person out? Where are they emotionally in their life right now? What do they ultimately hope to gain by finding the other person? What is the best that they hope for? What is the worst they fear?

What circumstances (serious and/or humorous) could occur on the way?

edit: just reread your post again. sounds like lovers. Who is pursuing the girl? Is he dangerous? Why are the police looking for the boy? I would introduce these elements near the beginning of the novel, rather than waiting mid-book. Just a suggestion...

I think somewhere along the line you need to have some conflict or your writing could seem bland. And conflict means antagonism which equals antagonist.

Of course the antagonist doesn't have to be a person - it can be emotion, and as you've already mentioned time - inner conflict. Whatever you choose the reader has to feel that the protagonists are on some kind of journey - that there is a struggle of some type.

Without knowing the genre of your novel it is difficult to be more specific.

Antagonists can absolutely be the environment--weather, terrain, distance, time, etc. I can't say it would be easy to write, but it can work. You do need some conflict and tension, but nothing says it has to be in living form.

You don't need an antagonist -- you need a force that your protagonist should overcome (preferably against all odds)

What were the basic conflicts again? The ones we learned in elementary school. I think:

Man Vs. Man
Man Vs. Self
Man Vs. Nature
Man Vs. Environment
Man Vs. Machine
Man Vs. The Supernatural
Man Vs. God

Yours could probably work for Nature and Environment maybe. Not sure.

Yeah, so long as people are actively doing things to get what they want, there's no need for an antagonist.

Cybernaught said:

Man Vs. Man
Man Vs. Self
Man Vs. Nature
Man Vs. Environment
Man Vs. Machine
Man Vs. The Supernatural
Man Vs. God

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Exactly. I actually enjoy reading stories that have no obvious antagonists.

That said -- do you have conflicts other than the time/distance? People have conflicting interests. Maybe not antagonistic or villainous, but at least some kind of disagreement on what they want. How about the two MCs? Do they want the same thing? Or do they have to navigate through their own differences as well?

For example, in Sleepless in Seattle, there really is no antagonist. Just distance. But the characters also have their own doubts and hangups and confusion, etc. -- or else they would have met 15 minutes into the movie. So that would be an antagonistic force: something holding them back.

Maestro nailed it.

Check out some of Anne Tyler's books, like Breathing Lessons. A book with no real antagonists, just sublime and sometimes humorous family conflict, lots of internal doubt, but in general, it's pretty sedate.

There is always an antogonist of some sort otherwise there is no story.

You've got a lot of conflicts there, and one way to give yourself some antagonists for your characters to actively work against is to have these conflicts presented by a character. Here are some examples, taking the conflicts you've mentioned here, and imagining a character who could represent them:

Boy's guilt over leaving mother: A doctor who diagnoses her with an illness that requires long-term care at home. A social worker who will visit regularly to check they are okay. Pressure from other family members to do his duty.

The girl's conflicting dreams: A family member who is worried enough to have her see a psychiatrist. Psychiatrist recommends drugs that repress or change the dreams. Or she is watched for signs that she's not in touch with reality, and she is admitted to a psychiatric ward.

Suspicions that boy is a murderer: A police investigation is ongoing, and the boy is a suspect. Evidence is building up against him, and there are detectives watching him, taking him in. Social pressure from friends or neighbours, stirred up by local press.

The ex-boyfriend and the person framing the boy (if they are not the same person) will be acting to pursue their own interests, which should interfere with the plans of the girl and boy constantly.

Do you know why it is so important for the two to meet? What happens if they don't meet? Why do they trust their dreams? You could have another character who suggests to one of them that the dreams are a result of medication, recreational drugs or stage hypnosis, something they once did. Will the boy lose his job, because he's always daydreaming? You could give him a boss who tells him to shape up or he's fired - and that would stop him being able to afford to travel, or support his mother. Have some repercussions looming if they don't meet, so it's not just a case of living with wistful dreams of "the one that got away" type. If there is a specific threat they're acting to avoid by looking for each other, that might also suggest characters who could stand in as antagonists.

It sounds like your ex-boyfriend and framer characters are good candidates for the antagonist. You could build their parts up, perhaps combine them if they're different people, and you could end up with someone complex enough to be the one antagonist.

Sounds like you have the makings for a nice supernatural romantic mystery.

Good luck with it!

One of the most powerful (and most difficult to write) types of stories is one where there are no "antagonists", only protagonists working against each other.

In other words, the reader sympathizes with and roots for both (or all) of them.

In ’naught’s list the elements can be anthropomorphized, if even on the brain’s back burner, whereas time and distance are merely dry, linear concepts. Though to be fair God and supernature are just abstractions, they, along with the preceding five, have metaphorical teeth. Time and distance are issues of math: poor antagonists. Give your characters a visual challenge in common.

OremLK said:

One of the most powerful (and most difficult to write) types of stories is one where there are no "antagonists", only protagonists working against each other.

In other words, the reader sympathizes with and roots for both (or all) of them.

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In that case the protagonist plays the dual role of antagonist. A reader can see both points of view but rarely stands in the middle.

Re

Well, sounds like you have a pretty open-ended path here. With such a broad story so far, there's room to make the antagonist whoever you want.

But, you DO already have an antagonist. For one, the girl has a stalker. Secondly, the boy is being chased by the po-po for a crime he didn't even commit. Perhaps the person causing both the boy and girl could be the same person? Thus, one antagonist. Or, perhaps, there are two or more antagonists working together to prevent the boy and girl from meeting for whatever reason. Maybe the police are causing all the trouble. Why? Its your story

Plus, just throwing in an idea, perhaps the boy and girl are their own antagonists. Maybe their actions keep them from meeting at pivotal and/or coincidental moments. Maybe at some points they have a decision to make. The right decision would lead them to meet, and the wrong decision leads them astray. Because they both have to make the right decisions at the same time, if even just one makes the wrong decision, they cannot meet coincidentally.

Hope I didnt confuse. Some clarity, if possible, would help for more specific aid.

ElaraSophia said:

You've got a lot of conflicts there, and one way to give yourself some antagonists for your characters to actively work against is to have these conflicts presented by a character. Boy's guilt over leaving mother: A doctor who diagnoses her with an illness that requires long-term care at home. A social worker who will visit regularly to check they are okay. Pressure from other family members to do his duty.

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This was actually the same idea had. If the boy has even a little struggle over leaving his mother behind, make the consaquences bigger. I was thinking along the lines of her getting attacked by someone while he wasn't there to protect her, robbed, etc. Something he is going to take full blame for. Even better if the threat is continuing - say she gets attacked by a man who is part of a police investigation, and the cops want her help finding him. That could put her in real and continuous danger. See what I'm saying?

ElaraSophia said:

Do you know why it is so important for the two to meet? What happens if they don't meet?

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This is another one I was going to ask. So what if they don't meet? Ignoring the fact that they *want* to meet, what would happen if one or both of them gave up? What happens if the boy goes back to his mother? What happens if the girl decides it's too risky? This is an important one that you may want to seriously think about.

One of the most powerful (and most difficult to write) types of stories is one where there are no "antagonists", only protagonists working against each other.

In other words, the reader sympathizes with and roots for both (or all) of them.

Click to expand...

I think this simply means that you have two protagonists, two main characters, who happen to be at odds with each other. Say for example, a vigilante and a cop. Both are enacting justice. Both are good guys. The reader wants both of these guys to win, or succeed, or whatever. So as the main characters struggle, the reader struggles as well. Who does he want to succeed the most? This adds another layer of tension to a story, but it's obviously harder to accomplish.

-Feathers