Who Hates Ya Baby? Creating Bad Guys Who Aren't the Antagonist

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Enemies. We all have them. Not necessarily the, "You killed my father, prepare to die," type, but the, "Gal at work who always tries to make you look bad," type. They’re not going to destroy your life, but they make you dread or regret every interaction you have with them.

Our characters are no different. They have enemies too, only most of the time we focus on the Big Bad Antagonist and forget that even nice people have folks who want to see them fail. They just flat out don't like them, but aren't doing anything to actively ruin their lives. They're like, minitagonists.

These minitagonists truly don’t care if the protagonist wins or not, and most of the time they have no skin in the game. Their lives will be the same no matter how the story turns out, but if they can cause the protagonist a little trouble and get away with it, they will.

A Useful Plotting Tool

Minitagonists are wonderful tools to add conflict and obstacles to a story in a realistic way. They don’t need a grand plan you have to track and incorporate into the plot, they just need to be in the right place at the worst time to cause your protagonist trouble. They might be:

The thorn in the protagonist's side that adds just the right amount of distraction so she messes up big: We’ve all been in situations where someone we didn’t care for was driving us crazy. Some of us were able to ignore it, but I’d bet most of us found it distracting and hindered our ability to do whatever it was we were trying to do. It put us in a bad mood, made us forget something important, maybe caused us to react badly to something we normally wouldn’t have. A minitagonist could be the perfect distraction when the protagonist can’t afford it.

The person who sees what the protagonist was hoping no one noticed: Odds are your protagonist is going to need to do some things she’d rather not be seen doing over the course of a novel. They might be illegal, immoral, or just embarrassing, and having a witness puts her in a terrible dilemma. How terrible depends on how bad this minitagonist might be.

The person the protagonist needs to get what she wants: At some point in your novel, your protagonist will probably need something from someone, and getting it won’t be hard at all (and thus have no conflict for the scene). Manufacturing an obstacle will most likely feel manufactured, but solving this problem without effort will be even less satisfying for readers. A minitagonist is the perfect person to have or control whatever the protagonist needs at this stage, adding conflict that fits the plot, advances the character, and feels natural to the story.

(Here’s more on why anyone should help your protagonist)

A Way to Show Character Flaws

People we don’t like tend to bring out our ugly sides and cause us to act badly, so minitagonists are also a great way to show the ugly side of your protagonist (and keep her from being a Mary Sue). They might be the one person who always pushes her buttons and makes her say or do things she'd never say or do under normal circumstances. They might illustrate a belief or behavior the protagonist is trying to change (or must change but not realize it yet). The could also represent the worst of the protagonist or where the path she’s currently on will lead to. Minitagonists can even push her to a revelation she might not have gotten to without an outside perspective, forcing her to look someplace deep within herself she didn’t want to look.

(Here’s more on five ways to fix too-perfect characters)

Be Wary of Creating Jerks

When creating a minitagonist, be careful not to make them total jerks for no reason, or keep them as jerks long after the reason for it has passed. Tastes will vary here, but personally, I find annoying people for the sake of being annoying, well…annoying. For example, there’s a series I enjoy that has a character who is always on the protagonist’s back—insulting him, causing him trouble, and hindering him even when he knows what the protagonist is doing is right. I had no issue with this in book one, because it established the protagonist’s place in this world and how others felt about him. But by book three, I was tired of it. I understand this minitagonist’s perspective, and even if I think he has several good points, but the fact that he’s always so antagonistic has worn on me as a reader. At this point in the story he ought to be cutting the protagonist some slack.

(Here’s more on bad guys who aren't antagonists)

Not everyone in the story has to like your protagonist and want to help her. Making it harder to resolve the conflict makes for a better book, so scatter a few enemies and indifferent-to-the-cause characters about to keep things interesting. Because not every bad guy has to be really bad—sometimes he can just be a pain the butt.

Who dislikes your protagonist? Is there anyone who could make her life tougher just when she least needs it?

Find out more about conflict, stakes, and tension in my book, Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means).

With in-depth analysis and easy-to-understand examples, Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means) teaches you what conflict really is, discusses the various aspects of conflict, and reveals why common advice on creating conflict doesn't always work. It shows you how to develop and create conflict in your novel and explores aspects that affect conflict, as well as clarifying the misconceptions that confuse and frustrate so many writers.

This book will help you:

• Understand what conflict means and how to use it
• Tell the difference between external and internal conflicts
• See why conflict isn't a "one size fits all" solution
• Determine the type of conflict your story needs
• Fix lackluster scenes holding your writing back

Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means) is more than just advice on what to do and what not to do—it’s a down and dirty examination and analysis of how conflict works, so you can develop it in whatever style or genre you’re writing. By the end of this book, you’ll have a solid understanding of what conflict means and the ability to use it without fear or frustration.

Available in paperback and ebook formats.

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The Shifter, was chosen for the 2014 list of "Ten Books All Young Georgians Should Read" from the Georgia Center for the Book.

She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy.

When she's not writing novels, she's teaching other writers how to improve their craft. She's the founder of Fiction University and has written multiple books on writing.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Indie Bound