Tying your Antagonists Together for Greater Impact

I'm not a fan of planning things out in minute detail. If I do that, by the time I get to the writing, I'm already bored of the story. It's never worked out well for me before.

But I was looking at the basic notes and the first few chapters of my story the other day, and I realised that I didn't really have much in the way of antagonising forces.

As someone once said - the cat sat on the mat is description. The cat sat on the dogs mat is a story.

So if conflict makes a story, then does it follow that there must be an overarching antagonistic force? I'm not necessarily talking a blood and bones individual antagonist here. For example, look at Harry Potter. The main antagonistic character is Voldermort - but he doesn't truly show up until the last chapters of the first two books, and doesn't even make an appearance in the third.

Instead, often what Harry is fighting for is to be accepted. That's all he wanted from his adoptive family, that's all he wants from school and friends. So anyone making him stand out, either by antagonising him, or making him out to be bigger than he is, or forcing him to be a hero, is a driver of that antagonistic force.

Voldermort is part of that. So is Draco, and Snape, and Ron's jealousy. Individual antagonistic events, but they're all connected by this. As the books go on, Harry's motivations change - revenge, anger, love. While there may be many antagonists, they all contribute to the antagonistic force that he is pushing against.

So without an overarching antagonistic force to push against and worry at my main character, I had antagonists, but they were all over the place, and thus, they didn't have much of an impact on my character. They may have been hard for him to defeat, but they didn't force him to change, or weigh him down mentally.

I finally figured out that it was because they had no connection to each other. These events were just the shit he had to get through on a weekly basis. Difficult, yes. Memorable, no.

So I had to think about what my character wanted - to become a doctor and serve his community. Great. But why did he want that?

He wanted that because his brother had bled to death in his arms and he was sick of the fate that was granted to those in his community. So what did he want? He wanted to cheat fate.

And then, suddenly, all my antagonistic forces tied themselves together. Still the same events and people, but if they reminded my MC of the fate he was trying to avoid. They hammered home the message that he would never get out, that his fate would follow him everywhere, stop him from getting his love interest, stop him from achieving his freedom from his fate. As such, these events had a much greater impact.

As individual events, they made things difficult for him. But unless one totally defeated him (in which case it'd be the end of the book), they weren't going to effect much. They were basically scenery. Interesting scenery, but scenery none-the-less.

Tied together, they not only made things hard for the MC, but they shaped the story and how it evolved.

So if you don't have one individual making things hard for your MC, figure out what your MC wants, not just on the surface, but really wants. Your overarching antagonistic force will be that which is in conflict with that foundational need. If you can then adjust all the forces that work against the MC so they reflect, in some small part, this overarching antagonistic force, your conflict will have a much greater impact on the reader. It'll be like he's being constantly hammered by something that doesn't want him to succeed, rather than just having hammers thrown at him.

There is a difference - one is personal, the other is just part of the landscape. And while both are interesting, the personal always has a better effect.

Happy Writing,

Sian

Sheer and Utter Terror of Failure

This happens to me quite a bit. I'll be writing, revising, whatever. Then I'll look at other people's work, read agents blogs - everything I should be doing to improve myself in my craft.

Then, out of the blue, I'll get this intense fear that I'll never be good enough. That no matter how hard I write, how hard I try to get something right, no one but me will ever like my work.

I reason with myself. I tell myself that I have a career planned out, a career I look forward to, wish to do, plan to revel in. Medicine is going to be my passion, writing my life. I can't live without stories - they visit me throughout the day, play themselves out in my head when I'm trying to sleep. If I write them down, they leave me alone. But I have more than one goal in life. If I'm not published, I can be a good surgeon (That isn't the least bit subjective. You can either do it, or you can't.)

The only problem is that after you've written something down, you have this intense need to show someone else. And it's then that you realise you first draft might not be as good as you first thought.

So you revise. You re-write. You edit. You pass your work onto good beta's, and they help you make it better. You find the right beginning for your story, the right middle, the right end.

And then you worry that it won't be the right beginning for anyone else. That they'll put it down thinking - this character is just reacting with grief at the moment - this is YA, there should be something exciting on the front page. Never mind if that something exciting confuses, it should be there.

Now, I know people don't think like this (Well, some people do, but I don't really want to know them when it comes to this book. Others - maybe. But they're not going to be the right person for this one.)

I consul myself. I tell myself that even if it never is published, it will be the best that I could make it at that time. That I will have achieved something extraordinary in my life.

It doesn't work. So often the bruising of the ego is so bad that I have to talk myself back into writing again, and then only so I don't go mad with lack of sleep.

So how to fix this? You can't. I can't, anyway. Maybe if I had the validation of being published, it would help, but I doubt it. The practical part of my mind talks of trying as hard as I can, failing, and then moving on to the next project, which may do better. This is why I set deadlines for myself, so I won't keep trying.

There is only one thing that ever helps. Creating something new.

So that's all the advice I can offer. If someone doesn't like what you've written, move on, create something else. Practise.

But above all, write.

A fitting start to Nanowrimo, I think :)

Sian

It was a Dark and Stormy Morning.

And I can't think of anything better to call this post. Because it is a dark and stormy morning. And this post is basically answering a bunch of questions that got passed onto me by a fellow writer at an AW messages board. (Btw, if you are interested, AW would have to be one of the most useful places for finding and discussing stuff about writing on the internet. I can't understand why I didn't find it earlier.) Anyway, this bloke was very mysterious about getting volunteers for this, so I stuck my hand up.

So, on a dark and stormy morning, in an empty house in the middle of spring (why is it a dark and stormy morning anyway? What happened to spring weather?) I give you eight slightly interesting questions:

1. If you could have any superpower, what would you have, and why?

I can't decide between the ability to read minds, purely because I would be able to tell what everyone was thinking and understand their motivations/worries/angst better, and immortality. Ever since I saw Groundhog Day, I thought it would be quite cool to have all the time in the world to learn everything that you ever wanted to learn.

2. Who is your style icon?

I wasn't even aware that style had an impact on your quality of life until about six months ago. That realisation was brought upon me by a Courtney Lovegrove, so I would have to say that she is about as close as it comes, style wise, to being an icon.

In writing and stories - it depends. If your talking stories and characters, then I would say Tamora Pierce. I devoured her books like nothing on earth when I was a kid. Also, as I started writing, and became aware of the mechanics of writing, I became aware that her earlier books weren't all that well written. (Comparatively speaking, when you hold them up to the rest of literature) Then I got to her later books, which were better written, and I felt as if she was evolving along with me as a writer. (Even though she wasn't - she'd written these books about three years ago - still, it felt nice.)

However, for a person who I am in awe of due to the sheer style of writing alone - you cannot beat Markus Zurak. He's Australian, he writes literary novels which are amazing, and his style is so hauntingly beautiful that it was almost like a character in itself. The Book Thief is something everyone must read.

3. What is your favourite quote?

Curiosity hurt the cat, and satisfaction brought it back. Pretty much a justification for my life, really.

4. What is the best compliment you’ve ever received?

This is a strange one. Living where I do, and working the job I do, I get to meet almost the whole town. So a lot of people only see the "nice polished" side of me (I work at a supermarket - I like to be nice to people in my job, it makes time go quicker.) So probably the best compliment I ever got was from a lady who I had served a couple of times, and the last time through she asked me if this was full-time work for me (i.e was I going to be doing it for the rest of my life). I told her that no, I was going off to study medicine next year. She sighed in relief and said : "I knew such a nice person couldn't be destined to work here their whole life."

It was quite odd. Because as friends and family will attest, I'm not always nice. And this lady was a complete stranger, that I'd only seen three or four times, and she genuinely cared. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

5.What playlist/CD is in your CD Player/iPod right now?

Celtic music, I'm not sure by who. I've resorted to listening to music in languages I don't understand when I'm writing, because otherwise the music detracts me. Even if I only know three words in the entire song (say if it's in Chinese) my brain will try and switch over to understand the rest of it.

6.Are you a night owl or a morning person?

I used to think I was a morning person, because I used to get up at 5am and write before school. Now that I don't have any school, and I never go to work (unless I'm called in) before 1pm, I tend to stay up late and write. It'll probably switch back when I head off to Uni.

7. Do you prefer dogs or cats?

I like dogs if I have the time. At the moment, I do, so I can't wait until our new puppy arrives. Cat's are good if you want companionship that can deal with your absence. When I was at school, and busy, I loved our dog, but I never had the time to do that love justice. Cats don't care - as long as you feed them, they'll put up with your hugs and leave you alone when you're busy.

8. What is the meaning behind your blog name?

I work better under antagonistic pressure. If someone says I can't do something, I will go out of my way to prove that I can at least try. So I was hoping that the title would remind me that not many people thought I would ever be published, so that was my antagonistic pressure, and I should go out and prove them wrong.

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That was interesting. I think the common courtesy is to pass this on, but I don't have anyone to pass it on to, so I'll leave that up to others that have come across it *sniff, sniff* all alone in the blogverse.

Nah. I'm pretty sure I'll survive. And I really should be writing. Bye,

Sian

Terrified of the Hunger Games

Now, I finally did get around to reading the hunger games - about a month ago. I was a very late uptaker (as I was with Harry Potter - what is it with me and popular books?). I enjoyed the book immensely. When I have time, I will read the other two.

But here's the thing. I started writing The Manda when I was about 13. It's been through five drafts since then, and is finally approaching something marketable.

Every Beta reader I have has told me that Kira (my MC) reminds them of Katniss. After reading the hunger games, I can see why. They're not the same person, but they definitely share similar characteristics.

Plot wise, the books couldn't be any more different. My MC end up creating a neutral hospital, not starting a rebellion. Plots have nothing similar (except a oppressive government, but even that isn't that marked. Definitely not as marked as it is in the Hunger Games series. Mine is also slightly more balanced - there's a repressive rebellion too. I mean, you've gotta keep it interesting :D )

I have this innate fear that I will be passed over for representation or publications because someone (agent/publisher/editor) believes I'm trying to rip off the hunger games. I feel as if some shred of my story has been ripped away from my ownership.

I just hope it doesn't come over as too pronounced.

Just random thoughts and worrying :)

Antagonist found - please get back to me :p

Okay, firstly, an explanation. I came to the realisation just before I started this blog, that my main motivation for doing anything comes when people say I can't.
I don't get angry. Not in the way I suspect most people do anyway - I get that when I get frustrated with a brick wall of a person.
But when someone says I can't do something , I say, "damn you, just watch".
That was how I survived Japan, that was why I learnt so much more Japanese in Japan then I did Chinese in china. In Japan, someone was telling me I would never adjust. In China, they smile, say I'll be fine, and then lock me in a classroom with no teachers. That's more frustrating than antagonistic.
I just found the perfect antagonist to motivate me to write better. This person, who shall remain anonymous, just shredded the story I have re-written five times, and that has been a part of most of my life since I was 12.
When I say shredded, there is nothing wrong with that. He just didn't suggest anything worthwhile after the shredding. Or what he did, other people already had.
Of course, this is his opinion. He's entitled to it, I'm not going to argue with him about it. But I desperately had the urge to punch someone after reading what he wrote. After calming down, I realised this particular person was gold. If I can convince him to suggest how he would make my story better, then I would happily have him shred my story into confetti. That doesn't mean I'll necessarily listen to everything his says - I'm liable to ignore most of it. But because he doesn't actually like what I've written, he will be perfectly and totally honest. And for some of the things he hates, he might hate for more reason then it "just didn't work for him"
I learnt, both in Japan and in China that you can laugh at everything. My meimei (younger host sister) keeps asking me about why I'm laughing, because frankly, the things I laugh at aren't all that funny.
There is more than one type of laughter. And laughing - even if it is an angry laugh, a frustrated laugh, a "wtf" laugh, a resigned laugh - feels a hell of a lot better than any other reaction.
This guy made me laugh. Weirdest laughter ever - there was no physical reaction to any emotion in my chest. Normally, you get a tightening, or a feeling of dread, or as I did the other day, a stomach ache.
Turns out for me, anger shows itself physically more in its absence than anything else.
But I desperately hope this person finds my kowtowing email ( well not quite, I started off with something that could possibly be labelled arguing, depend how he takes it) good enough to get back in contact. I want him, so badly, to critique my piece. I want him as my antagonist, and thus my motivation, just because he would do such a bloody good job at it. I might not even hate him so much by the end of it :P