How the Hero Can Doom a Story and the Protagonist Save It

This is the first post here at the Fantastic Site that will be part of the monthly series of posts connected with the network, The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG). These posts occur on the first Wednesday of the month.

When we were kids we often referred to the characters in the stories we were read as heroes and villains. Many of these stories--such as fairy tales, folk tales and super hero comics--were simplistic so they could be easily understood by us as children. They were made this way so they could communicate a moral. Because of this, the characters were also simplistic and often classified as “heroes” and “villains” or “good guys” and “bad guys”. As adults, however, we often read fiction that is more complex because we have grown to learn that life is more complicated than fairy tales and super hero comics. The characters don’t as clearly represent good or evil because each has both of these qualities. So, as a writer of fiction, I have a hard time writing my characters in such simplistic, formulaic terms as “hero/villain.” Reading fiction, however, is a different, uh, story for me. I often read stories keeping in mind certain characters as heroes and others as villains. But this is based on which characters I identify with and which ones I don’t and so subjective on my, the reader’s, part. Unless we are writing fiction for a very young audience or a simple minded one, thinking of our characters in terms of heroes and villains may endanger the believability of them. So it’s better to think of them in terms of protagonists and antagonists.

Credit: Pixabay.com

The terms “hero” and “villain” have been used for mythical purposes and so to describe the good and bad qualities of a culture or society. This has especially been at the simplistic level of storytelling such as in folk and fairy tales. Characters in these terms are representative of a society’s standards of what is morally acceptable and what isn’t. Character building based on these often result in type or stalk characters. These are characters that represent ideals rather than life-like human beings. There’s nothing wrong with these type of characters but they are more useful for an audience of young children who are still learning the basics of life’s moral and ethical expectations, or for a family audience which includes children. But to use them in fiction that we intend to be more sophisticated will probably make a story unconvincing to readers.

When I write my fiction, I prefer to think of my characters as the protagonist and antagonist instead of the hero and villain. This helps me to create my characters as life-like as possible. “Protagonist” and “antagonist” differ from “hero” and “villain” quite a bit. The protagonist and antagonist are not there to represent the good and bad values of a society like the hero and villain are. Instead, they are there to represent human beings in both their good qualities and bad. Technically, the protagonist is the primary character of the story who’s actions determine the outcome of the story. The point of view may or may not take place through this character. However, because he or she is the main character, the story’s emphasis is on that character. The main character has a goal that is worthy to her, to society or to both. Personally, I feel that the best protagonists are the ones whose goals are worthy to both the character’s self and society. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be so.

The antagonist is more secondary but still a main character. The antagonist is a main character, who for his own reasons, gets in the way of the protagonist’s goals and so is the figure that provides the primary conflict, the challenge that the protagonist must overcome. These two types of characters are not made to represent the moral ideals of society but the reality of human desires and motives. Thinking of characters in these terms help to write the story in a more convincing way regardless of the genre it may be within such as science fiction, horror, fantasy or romance.

An example of realistic human qualities in these characters is this: The protagonist, an intergalactic soldier, may have the goal of freeing her brother from aliens that take him hostage. The antagonist may be the alien captain who ordered the brother’s abduction. While the protagonist as a good soldier believes in upholding the law, she may break sanctions ordered by her own government to rescue the brother. The alien captain may have justification of taking the brother hostage because the brother out of fear and ignorance falsely accused the aliens of scheming to invade the earth. The brother’s sister is the protagonist because she and her goal to rescue him are the emphasis of the story, while the alien captain is the antagonist because he is the blocking force to that goal.

In realistic fiction, regardless of the genre--whether it be science fiction, fantasy, mystery, or whatever--a situation should be presented and how the characters handle it. This calls for life-like characters. Which ever character is given the most emphasis is the protagonist since that character’s goal is central to the story. The character who is the main blocking force to that goal is the antagonist. Writing characters in these terms helps us to know the characters’ roles as realistic people rather than as formulaic types like heroes and villains. Who the hero or villain is in a story is up to the reader based on her own beliefs and preferences.

Do you think of your main characters as the protagonist and antagonist or the hero and the villain? In what terms, “protagonist/antagonist” or “hero/villain”, is it easiest for you to develop your characters?

Until next time . . .