The Antagonist

Conflict to reach a goal.

The Antagonist

By Rosalinda Alcalá

Your teen novel needs an antagonist. Who is the antagonist? Well, someone strong enough to match your protagonist. In my previous post, I mentioned that secondary characters had their own agendas and goals. The antagonist not only has their own agenda but also motivation for achieving their desired result. Making life miserable for your protagonist because she’s in the way also makes for a great story.

Let’s look at a high school situation. Your protagonist wants to make the soccer team. So does another girl, but there’s only one spot left. Your protagonist joined the soccer camp and made friends with everyone. The other girl needs this spot, and she plans for college soccer. There are other reasons too. Both girls are great athletes. The antagonist decides she’s going to take that spot by any means necessary. Now we have the ball rolling.