This week on the Story Works Round Table, Alida, Kathryn, & Robert discuss the critical relationship of protagonist & antagonist. If you don’t keep them sticking to each other throughout your plot, the story falls apart. This is as true in character-driven stories as it is black hat villain stories as it is in save the world stories.
VIDEO
AUDIO
SHOW NOTES
What do we mean by velcro between your protagonist and antagonist? How can you make it sticky? And why is velcro a good metaphor? Keep your stakes personal, your why strong, and keep that inevitable conflict going all the way through the end.
What we talked about:
What do we mean by velcro? What problems do we have with attaching your protagonist and antagonist? (2:35)
How do you make your velcro sticky and early? (4:37)
What about character driven stories? Or non-personified antagonist? (6:28)
How can you craft both the pro and antagonists motivation to keep them both involved? (7:38)
Make it inescapable. (13:47)
Maybe your hero doesn’t want to leave the conflict? (16:38)
Make your velcro a physical burden. (20:12)
Why do we need to flesh out our velcro? (22:30)
Keep your stakes personal, give your protagonist a rock solid why! (24:55)
A tragic scenario alone is not enough. (28:15)
LINKS
Things we mentioned:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Seven
Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter
Greenland
Have thoughts, questions, other examples? Join the conversation at the Story Works Writers Facebook group.
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About Your Hosts
Alida Winternheimer is an award-winning author with an MFA in writing from Hamline University. She pursues her fervor for all things story as a writing coach, developmental editor, and teacher. Two of her short stories were nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She is the author of The Story Works Guide to Writing Fiction Series. Alida lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her Golden Retriever, Seva the Wonder Dog. She camps, bikes, and kayaks in her free time. Unless it’s winter, in which case she drinks chai by the fire. You can find more at www.alidawinternheimer.com.
Kathryn Arnold writes fantasy and anything else that sparks her creativity from her home in Kingston, Washington. She currently earns her living as an insurance underwriting assistant, where she also creates marketing and web copy. When not writing, she plays (and teaches) piano and keyboard in a band (or two), and is working on starting a ministry team with her husband. You can find Kathryn at www.skyfirewords.com.
Robert Scanlon was born in Australia, but whisked off to England when only a baby. After many years complaining about the weather, he did the sensible thing and moved back to Australia. Despite a career in the music industry, followed by decades teaching public speaking, Robert is an introvert who adores reading. Robert grew up on a diet of sci-fi masters, eventually discovering he had read the library’s entire science fiction section. Now he has to write his own. Robert is the author of Constellation, book one of the Blood Empire space opera series. Find out more at www.RobertScanlon.com