Kiyomi watches a lot of anime and reads a lot of light novels. Even more than Akemi(light novels, that is). And because she does, she encounters so many clichés that irritate her it's almost amazing.
But the more vocal of the two (especially in writ...
I've asked myself this question so many times it almost hurts.
It's like I can't find a good antagonist anywhere! Like, why is that?
Easy. Barely anyone knows how to write a good one.
Antagonists should have a personality, objectives, reasons, a past, a family, a life. Just like a protagonist. But it seems that most people can't and won't recognise this. All the people you could possibly call evil in history possessed each and every one of these, like everyone else.
So write them like it!
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A great example of an antagonist is Yoshikage Kira from the Jojo's Bizzare Adventure series. He's a genuinely interesting guy who actually develops into someone different. I'd want to know more about him, because I know there's more to him than being an antagonist.
To him, he's not evil. He's just a hard working guy who wants to live a normal life. But, his habit (if you could even call it that), his desire for female hands (trust me, Jojo's pretty damn bizzare)- like a romantic partner or something, is what makes him 'evil'. Obviously, to aquire a hand, he'd kinda have to kill someone...
But, if you noticed, he's not actively trying to be evil. I'm most certainly not saying all antangonists are psycholaths or something, but this is an interesting take.
Just like everyone else, he had reason and motivations that made him a character more than a stepping stone. This is what I love about his character.
Bad guys should have as much personality as a good one. Their difference in ambition and desire for a life with or without change is what makes them the opposition. They should have their characters treated the same way as a protagonist. If not, they're just a hollow shell of a character.
To teach someone how to write an antagonist is simple: write a protagonist, and create changes that'll become rifts between them and so. You need to write them in a way that if you were to flip the story, you could write as if the antagonist was the protagonist with no issues. If you generally can't, there may be a problem.
