For your antagonist, do you need to have a person? I'm thinking about a story now and I was wondering if it would work to have a thing like school work as the antagonist... The protagonist is a girl who struggles in school... ~~ walkinthewoods.
Your antagonist definitely does not have to be a person. There's this literary device called the 4 Types of Narrative Conflict. *
1. Man vs. Man
2. Man vs. Nature
3. Man vs. Self
4. Man vs. Society
Also I found two others that I thought were cool--
5. Man vs. Supernatural
6. Man vs. Technology.
*Mark Nichol, Daily Writing Tips, 7 Types of Narrative Conflict, http://www.dailywritingtips.com/7-types-of-narrative-conflict/
*Katherine Docimo, StoryboardThat, Types of Conflict Found in Literature, http://www.storyboardthat.com/articles/education/types-of-literary-conflict
I recently read a story for a contest where the antagonist was the desert. I don't see something like that often, so the story was a big hit for me. Also if your character struggles with homework, I think using that as the antagonist is a perfect idea.
Though I must say, no antagonist will come close to a villain like Loki for me, but I think you have really great story forming. Good luck with it!
Thanks for the question!
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