The hero of the story – understanding antagonists
One of the problems with plotting…
Many beginner writers struggle with plotting. This is because they don’t have an antagonist. In Writers Write we teach that the antagonist is not necessarily a bad person. The antagonist is the character whose story goal is the opposite of the protagonist.
This diagram illustrates this perfectly. Each of these characters is the hero of his or her own story. Without an antagonist your hero will wallow in his or her thoughts for 80 00 words.
Source for Image
From Writers Write - How to write a novel by Amanda Patterson
Literary Birthday - 19 May
Happy Birthday, Nora Ephron, born 19 May 1941, died 26 June 2012
10 Quotes
- Insane people are always sure that they are fine. It is only the sane people who are willing to admit that they are crazy.
- The hardest thing about writing is writing.
- Reading is everything. Reading makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something, learned something, become a better person. Reading makes me smarter. Reading gives me something to talk about later on. Reading is the unbelievably healthy way my attention deficit disorder medicates itself. Reading is escape, and the opposite of escape; it’s a way to make contact with reality after a day of making things up, and it’s a way of making contact with someone else’s imagination after a day that’s all too real. Reading is grist. Reading is bliss.
- I try to write parts for women that are as complicated and interesting as women actually are.
- I don’t care who you are. When you sit down to write the first page of your screenplay, in your head, you’re also writing your Oscar acceptance speech.
- If pregnancy were a book they would cut the last two chapters.
- Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.
- I don’t have much of a routine. I go through periods where I work a great deal at all hours of the day whenever I am around a typewriter, and then I go through spells where I don’t do anything. I just sort of have lunch—all day. I never have been able to stick to a schedule. I work when there is something due or when I am really excited about a piece.
- First of all, whatever you do, work in a field that has something to do with writing or publishing. So you will be exposed to what people are writing about and how they are writing, and as important, so you will be exposed to people in the business who will get to know you and will call on you if they are looking for someone for a job.
- Secondly, you have to write. And if you don’t have a job doing it, then you have to sit at home doing it.
Ephron was an American journalist, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, novelist, producer, director, and blogger. She is best known for her romantic comedies and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay): for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally…, and Sleepless in Seattle.
by Amanda Patterson for Writers Write
Literary Birthday - 19 May
Happy Birthday, Jodi Picoult, born 19 May 1966
Jodi Picoult’s Top Three Writing Tips
- Read a ton. Reading will inspire you. It will also help you find out where you belong as a writer.
- Write every day. Treat writing as a job. There is no such thing as waiting for the muse. If you want to to be taken seriously as a writer, take writing seriously.
- Do not stop in the middle of your first book. Finish it. No matter what. All writers go through this. It’s more of a fear of not being good enough that makes you stop. You think, ‘What if I’m not as good as I thought I was?’ Do not allow it to stop you. If you don’t finish that first book you’re making life difficult for yourself.
To read more about Jodi Picoult’s writing routine, the best book she’s written, and her thoughts on Hollywood, follow this link
Picoult is the best-selling author of 18 novels, including My Sister’s Keeper and Sing Me Home. Her last five novels have debuted at number one on the New York Times best-seller list.
by Amanda Patterson for Writers Write
