How to create an antagonist readers can’t resist
Villains. You know who we’re talking about: the antagonists. The ones who create the obstacles, barriers and pain for your main characters.
Readers love to hate villains, whether they are Mean Girls or Dark Lords. Readers also love to love villains, especially the dark, brooding ones with a sardonic sense of humour.
How do you create a memorable, believable antagonist readers can’t resist?
This online seminar delves deep into what makes an antagonist work in a story. How much space should you give them? Do they need their own point of view? Are their actions and motives believable? How do you guide the readers’ emotions towards them? Do different genres need different kinds of villains?
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John Martin Lewis
It’s easy to stereotype a villain, but great books show us not just how a character is against the main characters, but why. The more believable the antagonist is, the greater the threat to the main characters, and the higher the narrative tension.
Keeping the balance between protagonists and antagonists can be tricky, though—too often, the villain becomes more interesting than the hero! (Note: we’re using hero to include all genders.)
In this seminar, award-winning author Pamela Freeman guides you in how to create a villain who will be memorable, threatening, and believable. A character who will propel your story forwards and whose actions will reveal the depths of your main characters—because that’s what villains are meant to do.
“I now have a very clear picture of my villain in my mind. Before this session I just couldn’t get my head around him. So the session exceeded my expectations.”
Christine Jeziorowski
This seminar explores the following:
- What’s a villain: the function of the antagonist
- Pitfalls in creating your antagonist
- Tips and techniques for creating the right kind of villain for your sub-genre
- How relationships between protagonist and antagonist can fuel the story
- Presenting the villain to readers: when to use their POV, how much page space to give them
- Villains in stand-alones: the comeuppance
- Villains in series: the slow build.
In this FOCUS ON seminar
Pamela focuses on how to write a villain to create an antagonist reads can't resist. Each FOCUS ON seminar explores an important aspect of the art of writing – in an accessible and efficient way. The session consists of a 1 hour expert presentation plus an additional 30 minute Q&A – designed to entertain, educate and inspire you to improve your craft.
“Pamela explains each of her topics well, succinctly and with humour, and I always find I get ideas for my story when I listen to her. She is a born teacher and a font of knowledge.”
Bev Goldfarb
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