The most basic element of any story is the conflict. And this conflict generally arises between the protagonist and the antagonist. Two characters (at least, they're usually two separate characters) whose goals are at odds and who tend to butt heads. The antagonist tends to be harder to create than the protagonist, and if you do it wrong, you'll lose readers faster than my son loses his Legos.
What is an Antagonist?
Before you can create a good antagonist, you have to understand what exactly an antagonist is. On a basic level, the antagonist is the bad guy. This is the person who gets in the way of the protagonist (the good guy). The antagonist is the reason (or one of them) the protagonist doesn't get what he or she wants. Sometimes the bad guy is a direct threat to the good guy, but sometimes not.
Your antagonist can take many different forms. Usually the antagonist is a separate and distinct character intent on doing the protagonist harm. Other times, he or she will simply get in the way, foiling the plans of the good guy (either intentionally or by accident). Occasionally, the antagonist is not its own character, but a part of the psyche of the protagonist. This is rare and not all that easy to do, so unless you've been practicing, don't do this.
Creating a Believable Antagonist
One of my biggest problems with most novel is the haphazard way in which the bad guy is treated. The good guy (and all his buddies) get to be fully-formed characters, but the bad guy exists as a two-dimensional chunk of mud. If you want me (or anyone) to read your work, you need to put just as much effort into creating your antagonist as you do any other character.
Start by understanding exactly what the role of the bad guy is. Most bad guys don't have to carry the weight of the story (unless your antagonist is also your main character). The protagonist lurks in the background, waiting to get in the way. This doesn't mean he (or she, but I'm going to stick with he) doesn't have to be as real as anyone else in your story, but it does make your job easier if you don't have to worry about him on every single page.
The key to creating a realistic antagonist is to give him a story. Why is he the way he is? In my first novel, Arianna's Tale, the bad guy (who happened to be a girl) was the way she was because she was horribly jealous of her brother. This jealously drove her to destroy everything he had. She wasn't born evil, but her father was so focused on her brother, and her brother was so focused on anything but her, that she slowly slid down a very slippery slope. And ended up dead because of it (but that was at the end of the novel, of course).
In my second novel, the bad guy had originally been a good guy. But he was hopelessly corrupted by an even worse guy. That antagonist also died. Antagonist three was a man whose biggest failing was his attitude toward women. His father had raised him to believe they were nothing, not worth the ground they walked on. This attitude eventually led to his abusing the wrong woman. Women, actually.
And in my fourth (and current) novel? The antagonist is a woman, an enchantress. Except that she'd not exactly real. Instead, she's a construct, a creation whose sole purpose is to carry out the bidding of her master (who we won't meet until book five). But she's innately curious, and this actually helps the protagonist get out of a rather nasty situation.
The point is this: your bad guy (or girl, as the case may be) must have a story. There must be a reason for your antagonist to act the way he does. Most antagonists weren't born bad. Most of mine certainly aren't. Maybe the exception is the construct, but only because she was created by a bad guy. So when you're creating an antagonist, make sure they have a history and make sure you at least allude to that history. A good antagonist (ignore the oxymoron) will be more than just a bad guy. He will have a unique history that has made him who he is.
You might think there are no rules in creative writing, especially when it comes to writing a novel, but you'd be wrong. Of course there are rules, but these rules are more like conventions that help the reader understand and connect to your work. You can break these conventions, but doing so requires a firm understanding of them.
Beware of Stereotypes
We all know the stereotypes of both literature and film. The damsel who never contributes anything but needs constant saving. The evil dude wearing black. The ditsy blond. The idiot sidekick who is absolutely hilarious in his stupidity. These and many others are the stereotypes of storytelling.
Stereotypes have their place, but it's not in most literature. The exception is humor. If you're writing comedy, you might want to make use of exaggerated stereotypes. It can be funny to read about the ditsy blond or the sidekick who can't get anything right. If your hope is to induce laughter, literary stereotypes might be the way to do it.
If you're writing anything other than comedy, avoid stereotypes at all costs. There are a few instances where you might be able to make use of the black hat stereotype, but most of the others are out. Stereotypes are like cliches. Used right and sparingly, they can enhance your story. Overuse them and you're certain to turn off even the most determined of readers.
If you want to use a stereotype, try changing things up a bit. Perhaps your good guy wears black and walks around with a scowl on his face. Or maybe you have a guy who needs to be rescued by the beautiful damsel. By playing with the stereotypes you'll create greater depth in your characters and enhance your story.
Bring Out the Flaws in Your Characters
Everyone has flaws. You, me, the mailman, all of us. So one of the rules of creating fictional characters is that no one can be perfect. The exact flaws are many and varied, but every characters must have at least one flaw. Maybe the character in question has a fiery temper, maybe he never looks before he leaps, or maybe he's afraid of commitment. Whatever. But he needs flaws.
Once you have these flaws worked out, show them to the reader. Let your readers see these flaws, and consider exaggerating them when necessary. Not to the point of silliness (unless you're writing comedy), but enough that your readers don't for a minute think the character is perfect. Avoid the stereotypical traits (redhead with fiery tempers as their only flaw are really quite annoying), but flaws are what will make your characters come to life.
It's All in the Name
Naming your characters is an important thing, but there aren't a lot of rules regarding the names you choose. You can name your characters anything you'd like, but there are some conventions you might want to stay away from. Don't use anything obvious, such as naming the guy who's going to betray everyone Judas. Don't use the name Jezebel for a woman who is a false prophet or for someone who will eventually become a prostitute. Too obvious.
Play with names until you find something that fits. And don't let anyone tell you that you shouldn't use a name because it might offend someone. If you do that, you'll never be able to name any of your characters. Someone somewhere in the world will have that name, and that someone may possibly be offended. Choose a name based on your character, and don't worry about what people might think.
If you're worried that a close friend or family member may be offended by the use of their name, change the spelling. Vicki can become Vicky, David can become Daivid, Jamison can become Jamyson. This works especially well for speculative fiction (such as fantasy or science fiction), but odd names work in just about any genre.
Think carefully about your fictional characters and consider everything from names to personality traits. Your job as an author is to bring your characters to life. To do this, follow the most basic of rules and fill your characters with believability.
I write mostly fiction. Yes, I sometimes branch into non-fiction (under a pseudonym), but most of my work is fiction. And fiction involves characters, sometimes a great many characters. If you want to draw the readers into your story, these characters will have to be as real as your neighbor, as real as your best friend, as real as you are yourself. If you can't do this, your readers will abandon you well before they finish your novel.
So how to do create realistic characters that will jump off the page and have tea with you? You watch the world around you.
Creating Characters Out of the People You Know
Great fictional characters stay with the reader long after the book has closed. Think of the best books you've ever read. Who were the characters? Can you remember the details of the main characters? I'm betting you can. There are great books of every genre that are just full of wonderful characters. And these characters stay with you.
But here's the secret: Most of these characters are, at least in part, real people the author knew. The crotchety old man? Possibly a neighbor or grandfather. The sweet and innocent woman? Maybe a daughter, niece, or another young woman. The powerful and invincible man? Perhaps modeled a father figure.
So look around your own world and find inspiration. I don't just mean friends and family. Go to your local coffee shop or park and take a notebook with you. Observe the wide variety of people who frequent these places. Write down bits of conversation and physical descriptions that you can use later. Do this quickly and quietly though or you risk irritating everyone in the area. Once you get home, you can exaggerate or tone down your notes until they match the story you're writing.
Be careful not to model characters directly after people you know. Your sister probably doesn't want to be in your novel, so if you're basing characters on family (as I am wont to do) you'll have to change details. I tend to mix traits until the characters aren't recognizable as immediate family. If people can recognize themselves, you're opening a can of worms. Some authors have even been sued for this very reason.
Creating the Emotions for Your Characters
The characters in your book have to have physical traits, yes, but they also have to have substance. Characters have feelings, and these feelings determine how they react in any given situation. So you have to come up with a way to convey these feelings to your readers.
Do this through characterization. Action, conversation, and body language are all powerful tools for revealing how a character feels about something. Instead of writing, "he was angry," think of a way to convey this without referring to anger at all. Perhaps the following passage would be more effective:
He clenched his fists at his sides. His body began to vibrate with barely suppressed rage. Closing his eyes, he took several deep breaths and tried to think soothing thoughts.
This passage tells us the character is angry, but it also does more than that. It gives us some insight into his character. Read the passage and see what you can infer about the character. He has certain physical responses to anger, notably the clenched fists and the trembling. But we can see that he doesn't just let his anger fly. He tries to control it. Not everyone would, but this character does.
You must use prose to create the substance of your characters. It is only through the power of the written word that we can begin to know and understand your characters. Spend some times observing the world, make sure you use your knowledge of the written word to help the reader understand your characters, and your halfway toward creating characters who will leave an impression.
Novels need action. The type of action varies, but they certainly need some kind of action or your readers will fall asleep reading your book. Action is the core of your plot. Without action, there's no story. But just as important to the action is the pacing of your novel. These two elements make up the very basis of your general plot.
A Novel Needs Action
Your novel must have action at various points, but defining action can be a little problematic. Is action a car chase? Yes. Is action a standoff between your protagonist and your antagonist? Yes. Is action the thoughts running through the protagonist's head? Yes.
Action can be a lot of things, usually depending on genre and context. So let's define the action in a novel as anything that is important to the overall plot of the story. This could mean that the "action" in your novel includes your main character sitting at a bar thinking to himself. He might not be involved in a gunfight, but that doesn't mean something important isn't going on in his mind.
So, now that we've defined action, perhaps you can see how novels are built up of these little bits of plot. You don't need a gunfight or car chase on every page. But something needs to happens to further the plot.
Constantly throwing action at your audience, however, creates its own set of problems. You need to break the tension once in a while, but without letting the action stop completely. This is where pacing becomes important.
The Pacing of Your Novel
The pacing of your novel can be defined as the rate at which the action happens. This rate will be primarily determined by the type of book you're writing. A laid-back romance will have a slower pacing than an action-adventure novel, for example. But how do you convey this pace?
Start by classifying your scenes into two groups: tense and relaxed. If you're having trouble categorizing some of the scenes, create a third category: semi-tense. Once you've done this, space them out a bit. You probably don't want eight tense scenes back to back (unless you're writing a thriller or a horror). I write a lot of fantasy-adventure novels, but I'm careful not to pack too much tension into one section (except for the end). I vary the intensity of the scenes to keep the story moving.
Now that you've ordered your scenes, look at each tense scene and sharpen it up. You can add action, of course, or you could use the power of the written word. Short paragraphs. Sharp words. Tiny sentences. These help increase the tension in your story. Heighten the tension until its wound tight.
Then release it. Use longer sentences and larger words while increasing the size of the paragraphs. You'll be surprised at how this technique can increase or decrease the tension of a given scene. The words you use and their structure on the page should reflect the pace you're trying to convey.
Your novel should be like a roller coaster ride. Take the tension up and down as your story requires, giving your readers a break from the tension when required. Think about the feel you want to convey and work hard to make sure your take your readers on the journey with you.
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