On Monday, I posted a quote on Instagram:
It can be tempting, easy even, to simply see the world through our protagonist’s eyes.
It’s actually a necessity, especially as many books written these days are in close third or first person. We need to know our protagonist’s intimately as well as how they see the world and all the characters they encounter in it.
BUT…
Our villains (or antagonists) have their own set of motivations. Their own backstories. Their own decision making criteria.
While the reader may never be inside the villain’s head, we most certainly can deduce a lot by their actions and decisions.
Chances are, the villain/antagonist’s goals are in direct conflict with the protagonists, whether it’s intentional (Voldemort) or not (the whale in Moby Dick). So having an understanding of what those motivations, goals, and stakes are for our villains is just as important as for our protagonists.
Otherwise, we end up with two-dimensional characters and a conflict that falls a little flat with an outcome that is (gasp) predictable.
How can you get to know your villains/antagonists? Here are a few tricks I’ve used in the past:
- Write something in your antagonists’ POV. This could be a scene or a journal entry or a letter or anything really.
I had trouble unlocking a nasty character in one of my manuscripts. He didn’t take up a lot of page space, but his actions were horrid and left a lasting mark on my protagonist, making it important to get him right. He needed to be awful, but not just predictable awful.
The scene took place far away so I had each of my main characters write a letter to someone back home. The information that came out in his letter home was fascinating. From the choice of recipient to what he told her, I was taken aback by what he had to say. His appearance on the page became more nuanced as a result of the knowledge I had. None of the actual content of that letter ever made it into the book, but it colored his actions, his body language, his speech, and more. He became a lot more interesting than just the guy who did that awful thing to my protagonist.
- Explore your antagonists’ arc. Every character should have their own arc of change, so dig into your antagonists.
I had great success doing this in a Donald Maas(LINK) workshop for the cheating husband character in the project I’m currently querying. Mr. Maas asked us to pick a virtue for one of our characters. We then had to outline three instances where they were faced with a choice and failed to live up to that virtue before they learned their lesson.
The bones of this exercise allowed me to create scenes where he was faced with choices and choose the wrong thing each time, despite wanting to chose the right thing. When he finally did make the right choice, it because of his hard-earned lessons not making the right choices thus far.
Again, his perspective wasn’t on the page, the reader only saw those incidents through the protagonists’ biased lens, but it made his final change so much more believable and earned because his mess-ups were always coming from a place I, the writer, understood. That background consistency makes a big difference in how your character behaves on the page.
- Interview your antagonist. Ask them some questions. Get to know them.
What are they most proud of? What do they want most in the world? What would they change about themselves? What is their happiest childhood memory, favorite food, best birthday gift ever? Listen to what they say–or don’t–and get to know them. What would they want you to know? What do they not want you to know?
Dig, prod, tease, cajole, whatever you need to do to get to the heart of them. Don’t just have them serve the purpose of barrier to your protagonist’s goal. Give them their own journey. Chances are they have a lot to say and just want to be heard.
While the reader won’t see the story (unless it’s a multi-POV) through the villain’s eyes, they will see their actions, decisions, and dialogue. Yes, the protagonist will intake that information through their own filter, but the reader will understand that there might be a second side to the story. And even if they don’t explicitly see that side because they are so invested in the protagonist, they will inherently understand it later whenever there is a big reveal or change in the villain.
Villain’s aren’t just acting on their own. They are also responding to what the protagonist does. Their actions taken together is what propels that story forward into a crescendo of conflict.
Don’t settle for two-dimensional villains or antagonists. Take the time to fully flesh them out.
We don’t always get to see both sides of the story in our novels, but the writer should know them. That knowledge will inevitably bleed into your characters and their actions on the page deepening them and making for a more satisfying read.
Featured photo above by Brian McGowan on Unsplash