Hi, everyone! I just want to let you know that my third Suzette Bishop novel, Sun, Sand and Murder will be available on Kindle later on this month. I’m hoping for February 20^th, but that depends on my graphic artist getting my cover finished.

What is an Antagonist?

Like I said last week, the Antagonist is the person who is trying to stop your Protagonist or your good guy from reaching his goals. This can be the murderer in a mystery, the girl next door who is after your heroine’s boyfriend in the romance novel you are planning, or the monster that is keeping your hero from getting the Amber Stone of Protection for the Kingdom of Nuff in your latest fantasy novel. Your antagonist MUST BE more ruthless than your Protagonist, but there should also be a fragment of good in him also or he won’t seem human. For example, Wormtail, in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series, is a slimy, manipulative creep who causes the death of Harry’s parents, but at the end of the series, he has one moment of good, where he hesitates to kill Harry. It makes him more real.

You will need to write a backstory for your Antagonist. What causes the Antagonist to become what he or she is in the story? Did he grow up in an abusive family or is it just his personality that makes him what he is? Remember that in real life, bad people grow up in good families and give their parents all kinds of problems. You need to know about his or her personality because it will come out throughout the novel and make your characters more real.

For more information on Antagonist check this link: http://literarydevices.net/antagonist/

Other Major Characters:

These are characters that have a major role in your novel. For example, in the novel I’m writing currently, Braden Spencer is my Protagonist’s nephew. He appears throughout the novel. Also, in this novel, Michael Slatter does the dirty work for my Antagonist, Nathan Breckridge. He, too, appears throughout the novel. I wrote backstories for both Braden and Michael. Michael even has a blind sister who appears in different parts of the novel. She would be considered a minor character.

Minor Characters

Minor Characters are those characters that support either your hero or your villain. These could be family members, colleagues, friends or enemies. They only appear occasionally.

Walk-on Characters

These are characters that appear only once. Generally there won’t be much on them. They tend to be two dimensional where your other characters need to appear three dimensional.

You should keep a list of all your walk-on characters, their names and what happens to them because it will save time later when one of your main characters mentions them. On my list, I have their name, whatever characteristics I give them in the story and the page number or numbers where they appear. It saves a lot of time later even though you will probably grind your teeth each time you have to write them down. In my first novel, The Murderous Puzzle, I had two children who were minor characters. In one scene I gave their ages and 10 and 12, in another scene they were 4 and 6 and in another scene they were 6 and 8. I had to take the time to go back and make the corrections when one of my beta readers caught the age discrepancy. Since then I’ve found that making a list is a real time saver.

Be aware that you will pick up more Major Characters, Minor Characters, and Walk-on Characters as your write your novel.

Next week we’ll finally begin talking about plotting which is my favorite part of writing a novel.

Thought for the Week:

I love this poem by that famous author Anonymous:

FACE THE SUN

Don’t hunt for trouble, but look for success:

You’ll find what you look for—don’t pray for distress.

If you see but your shadow, remember I pray

That the sun is still shining, but you’re in the way.

Don’t grumble, don’t bluster, don’t dream and don’t shirt;

Don’t think of your worries, but think of your work.

The worries will vanish, the work will be done,

No man sees his shadow, who faces the sun.