Cenonn's How to Holofic and Writing in General

When there's a protagonist, there's an antagonist.

You've come across the quote "When there's light, there's always darkness" many times. It shows that it's totally impossible for light to exist if there's no darkness. The same can be said for stories in general.

You have a protagonist. They are the ones who will push the plot forward. Of course, you will also have an antagonist, the people who will go against them.

Now then. What's an antagonist? It is the person who will go against your protagonist. If your protagonist is the one destined to save the world, then your antagonist is someone who will destroy it.

I've said that good stories have good conflicts. In most stories, antagonists are the ones who will keep on creating conflicts for your characters especially in Character vs Character conflicts. It won't be too far off if I said your antagonist is as important as your protagonist.

After all, you would want to see an interesting antagonist, right? You would want to see how the protagonist would defeat the amazingly-written antagonist.

Before you say anything, an antagonist doesn't mean a bad guy. It's just a person who will go against your protagonist. I mean... If your protagonist is a criminal, then your antagonists would be the law enforcement.

Anyways... There are four types of antagonists present in stories. You have to decide what kind of antagonist will fight against your characters. I'll explain how each of them works in the next few minutes.

First, the Classic Villain. This type of antagonist is just evil. They don't have any morals and any sad story they have is only for the sake of justifying their evil personality. They have almost omnipotent powers, many resources, and a lack of empathy.

The Classic Villain is mostly found in fantasy, sci-fi , and action novels. By showing how horrible the antagonist is, the protagonist's good morals will shine brighter. They are evil just because they are evil.

Second is the Everyday Antagonist. If being evil is too much, this kind of antagonist is not intentionally evil. They can just be flawed characters who just happen to be an obstacle in your protagonist's journey. Everyday Antagonists might be annoying, rude, or even cruel but most of the time, they are humans. They have hopes, dreams, fears, and history.

The Everyday Antagonist is commonly found in stories where the character is the focus like romance and stuff. They create conflict in your protagonist's life by sharing a goal that only one of them can achieve or by having a goal that creates obstacles to your protagonist.

To create an effective Everyday Antagonist, you have to make sure to develop their humanity. Make sure to figure out who they are, what they want, and why they want it. You have to give them fears, flaws, and history. In other words, make them the protagonists of their own story.

The third type of antagonist is the Corrupt Organization. Sometimes, we just can't pin the blame to one person. I mean... The destruction of the world is too much for one person to accomplish, right? That's why the antagonist is a group of people like a gang, corporation, government, or militant groups.

This kind of antagonist often has immoral goals. They are more or less the same as a Classic Villain, lacking empathy and acting mercilessly. Heck, a Classic Villain may even be the boss of the Corrupt Organization.

The Corrupt Organization is commonly found in fantasy, science-fiction, and action novels. They are a group of people who will go against your protagonist's goals.

The last type of antagonist is the Internal Antagonist. There's a quote that goes "You are your worst enemy" and it's applicable in storytelling. This antagonist is not a person but instead, it's a concept like doubts, fears, flaws, or false beliefs.

This type of antagonist is found in stories that have a Character vs Self conflict and it works pretty well in stories where the characters are focused on. However, it is recommended to have this kind of antagonist in your Holofic no matter what genre it is. After all, your characters aren't perfect and should have moments when they would doubt themselves.

I'll now start giving you tips on how to create a good antagonist. If your antagonist is a character, then go back and read my guide on how to create characters for the basic stuff. If your antagonist is a concept, then research it properly.

If your antagonist is a character, make sure their backstories are believable. Don't make them evil just because they are born evil. I mean... Some readers believe that "No one is born evil."

The next tip is that whatever conflict your antagonist would create, make sure your characters would be forced to act on it. I mean... That's the purpose of an antagonist. They have to create conflicts that will push the plot along. If they just create conflicts that can be ignored, they are ineffective as an antagonist.

Of course, the antagonist should start off as more powerful than your character. No no. I don't mean more powerful in terms of strength since there are OP characters designed to always win. I'm talking about a different kind of strength. Just make sure that in the beginning, the protagonist would have a hard time dealing with the antagonist.

The last thing you should remember in making an antagonist is that the protagonist shouldn't be able to overcome them easily. Antagonists are more interesting if they give persistent opposition. By having persistent opposition, there will be a steady supply of conflict and tension. It creates anticipation for the greater showdown between the two characters. Don't make forgettable antagonists that your protagonist can easily defeat.

Antagonists, if executed properly, can create powerful conflict. Introducing multiple sources of conflict doesn't necessarily make your story interesting. I mean... Like I said, unique is not equal to interesting.

Using antagonists correctly will give depth and realistic complexity to your character's experiences.

Now that I'm done with antagonists, I'll talk about what would happen if you have a weak conflict. That's right. I'll talk about the sorry excuse of a story called "wish fulfillment."