In this recent installment of UC Berkeley’s Lunch Poems series, Sherwin Bitsui reads selected poems from his collections Flood Song (Copper Canyon Press, 2009) and Dissolve (Copper Canyon Press, 2018).
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Author: bphi
Is the antagonist always the bad guy? So often, we use the terms interchangeably. But this practice can lead to confusion about the true function of the antagonistic force within a story. Contrary to common parlance, the antagonist vs. villain dynamic isn’t a straightforward equation. Although the roles often overlap, a character can be an antagonist without being a villain—or be a villain without being an antagonist.
The same is true for protagonist vs. hero. Although many writers use the terms interchangeably, the truth is obvious: not all protagonists are heroic, just as not all antagonists are villainous. In fact, as I often point out, it is entirely possible for your protagonist to be the most morally objectionable person in your story, while your antagonist is the most morally upright. We see this in stories such as Catch Me if You Can, in which the protagonist is a con man and the antagonist is the FBI agent trying to stop him.
Catch Me if You Can (2002), DreamWorks Pictures.
This is an important distinction. For one thing, it allows writers to step out of the boxes they may sometimes feel they have to cram characters into. Allowing stories to explore morally gray areas not only deepens thematic opportunities but also brings in greater realism and a more accurate exploration of life.
More than that, making this distinction helps writers understand the true role of the functional antagonist (and protagonist) within a story. What is a “functional antagonist”? Here, we’re talking about not simply the character of antagonist, but stripping it back to understand its function within the equation that is story. Basic story theory doesn’t care about the specifics of your antagonist’s personality or motivations. Story theory only cares about the bottom line. Is this character fulfilling the role of antagonist in a way that creates story?
What’s the difference between the oh-so-technical antagonist and the oh-so-colorful villain?
First, let’s examine what plot, at its most basic, actually is: a protagonist whose forward momentum is met by opposition. Usually, this forward momentum is the result of the protagonist’s goal (or at least intention), and the opposition is what creates the conflict. (I’ve written elsewhere about the true definition and function of conflict in story.)
The antagonist is the opposition.
In technical discussions, I often prefer the term “antagonistic force,” since this emphasizes that this opposition does not necessarily have to be characterized as a person. It might be the weather, the “system”, mental illness, or any number of other options. Any number of stories can be pointed out as lacking human antagonists, but this does not mean they don’t still feature antagonistic forces.
The antagonistic force is something that creates obstacles to the protagonist’s forward momentum. These obstacles can be as simple as a flat tire, freezing rain, or a bounced check. Most of the time, such obstacles will be unified by a common cause, even if this is something as thematically vague as “bad luck.” The most direct approach is to personify the cause of the obstacles as a specific character. This character is the antagonist.
Often, when we think of the type of character who might cause obstacles for another character, we think of someone with malicious intentions. After all, if a person is the cause of that flat tire, the motives at play aren’t likely to be morally positive. Therefore, it only makes that such a character must be… a villain.
Particularly, when we create stories in which the protagonist is blatantly heroic or at least morally positive, we often want to create an opposing character who can provide the contrast of immorality. Not only does this contrast make the protagonist more sympathetic and admirable, it also creates the opportunity to explore both sides of whatever moral issue is at stake. Both characters can exist on a moral spectrum, ranging from angelic hero and demonic villain to characters who share more in common than not, such as with Leonardo DiCaprio’s and Matt Damon’s cop and mobster characters in The Departed.
The Departed (2006), Warner Bros.
However, because “villain” has no specific correlation to the antagonistic force, it’s equally possible to see a villainous character who is not the antagonist—functioning either as the protagonist (e.g., Alex DeLarge in Clockwork Orange) or as a supporting character who is not opposing the protagonist’s forward momentum (e.g., Mr. Wickham in Pride & Prejudice).
Pride & Prejudice (2005), Focus Features.
The antagonistic force exists to oppose the protagonist’s forward momentum toward a goal and to create conflict. From this recipe, we get plot. When these elements are all thematically harmonized, we get a tight, well-focused plot.
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Without the antagonistic force to create opposition, the protagonist would be able to immediately gain the plot goal—and the story would be over. The opportunity for the protagonist to transform as a result of overcoming this opposition would also be over, which means not only do we lose plot, we lose character arc as well.
In most stories, the antagonist’s motivation will pre-date the protagonist’s, creating the framework that forces the protagonist to learn more effective tactics for overcoming the existing obstacles. We see this obviously in stories in which the protagonist must take on a much larger system, such as Katniss Everdeen overthrowing the Hunger Games or John Dutton defending his ranch against developers.
Yellowstone (2018-), Paramount Network.
We also see it in stories in which the antagonistic force makes its first move before the protagonist is even aware of the antagonist as an opposing element, such as we see with Lt. Daniel Kaffee prosecuting a case for a crime that was committed prior to his knowledge of it, or Harry Potter joining a magical war that began before he was born.
A Few Good Men (1992), Columbia Pictures.
It also exists in conflicts that may seem, at first glance, to be initiated by the protagonist’s actions. For example, The Fugitive features a perfect example of an antagonist who is not a villain. Deputy Sam Gerard blatantly represents justice, law and order, and an adherence to duty. He has no knowledge of or interest in the protagonist—wrongly accused convict Dr. Richard Kimball—until Kimball escapes and comes under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Marshalls. At first glance, this might seem like Kimball initiated the conflict between himself and Gerard. However, when we zoom back, we can see that Gerard’s opposition always existed, via the U.S. Justice System, and was already engaged against Kimball, even before Gerard showed up as the personified antagonist.
The Fugitive (1993), Warner Bros.
The Fugitive pits Kimball and Gerard against each other in a tightly woven conflict, in which Gerard does everything in his power to create obstacles to Kimball’s goal of learning who murdered his wife so he can clear his name. In essence, Gerard and Kimball are morally aligned throughout this story, both working in the name of justice and using only tactics that are in accordance with that principle. All that differentiates Gerard as the antagonist is that he is the one creating opposition to the protagonist’s forward momentum toward a goal.
From this, we also see how necessary the role of a good antagonist is to a story. Without Gerard’s presence, this story would have lacked its intense throughline—something the story’s villain could not have provided since he was offscreen for 90% of the movie.
The Fugitive (1993), Warner Bros.
The villain is a morally reprehensible person, motivated to act maliciously and with cruelty. The degree of villainy can vary wildly, spanning the gamut from Regina George’s high school bully in Mean Girls to Amon Goeth’s concentration camp commandant in Schindler’s List. The essential quality is simply: this is a person who crosses the line into social immorality.
Mean Girls (2004), Paramount Pictures.
Writing Your Story’s Theme (Amazon affiliate link)
Not every story will feature a villain. However, most will, if only because a villain character provides the readers a more multi-faceted exploration of the story’s themes. The primary villain in a story will often represent what Robert McKee calls the “negation of the negation”—or the worst possible stance that can be taken to the story’s theme.
Because this negation of the negation offers the most blatant contrast to the story’s thematic Truth (as ultimately embraced by a morally positive protagonist), it is common enough for the antagonist to represent this most negative version of the story’s Lie and to, therefore, be presented as a villain. In this instance, the antagonist not only opposes the protagonist in the plot but does so in a way that is morally problematic. This provides writers with the opportunity to up the stakes, since not only will a villainous antagonist use any variety of horrifying means to defeat the protagonist, but in facing the antagonist, the protagonist will also be facing a representative of a greater evil to society.
There’s little wonder we so easily conflate antagonists and villains. Villainous antagonists are truly effective in many types of stories. The Lord of the Rings could not have been so memorable without Sauron as its representative of true evil. Batman would probably never have become a classic in his own right without the contrast of the mind-bending sadism of the Joker. The Hunchback of Notre Dame required its chilling rendition of the hypocritical and corrupt judge Frollo.
Dark Knight Rises (2012), Warner Bros.
However, it is equally possible to utilize all the drama of a good villain in your story without making that character the main antagonist. For starters, you may decide to cast the villain as the protagonist (as you might in stories with Negative Change Arcs such as The Godfather and Wuthering Heights).
The Godfather (1972), Paramount Pictures.
You may also realize that, like in The Fugitive, the best rendition of the story is served by opposing your protagonist with a morally neutral or upright antagonist, while the villain(s) are represented by supporting characters. In this film, we can know the antagonist is Gerard by examining the structural throughline, which shows Kimball consistently facing the larger antagonistic force of the U.S. Justice System, which, by the beginning of the Second Act, is personified by Gerard at all of the major structural beats.
The primary villain is kept hidden for most of the story, until his identity is revealed [SPOILER] as Kimball’s friend and fellow doctor Charles Nichols, whose hitman Frederick Sykes murdered Kimball’s wife. For most of the story, even Kimball doesn’t suspect his friend, while Sykes provides the element of immorality.[/SPOILER] The presence of a villain in what is otherwise a straightforward conflict between two morally positive men deepens the story’s palette. It raises the stakes and increases suspense by adding that element of “chaotic evil” to the mix.
Put simply, the antagonist represents the primary force that generates conflict and obstacles by opposing the protagonist’s goals, while the villain brings in the added element of objective immorality.
Every story with a forward-moving plot must include an antagonistic force. This isn’t optional. Even if your conflict is low-key, such as in cozy romances, the presence of opposition to your protagonist’s goals is what creates the story arc. In some stories this antagonistic force will be represented by a specific person who directly opposes the protagonist’s goals, sometimes not.
What is optional is whether or not your story features a villain—and whether or not this villain is the same person as your antagonist. Many stories are furthered by the inclusion of a comparatively villainous character, whether a mean neighbor or a serial killer. However, just as many stories do not require a villain, and, in some instances, might even be damaged by the inclusion of a sinister or overly dramatic element.
What’s important is for writers to understand the distinction of antagonist vs. villain and to examine their stories to determine what type of antagonist will create the most effective and entertaining plot. There are myriad ways storytellers can craft characters with depth, allowing antagonists to emerge as individuals driven by their own distinct motivations, moral quandaries, or even senses of duty. Departing from the stereotypical villain archetype allows for narratives in which the antagonist becomes a vehicle for exploring shades of gray, challenging preconceived notions, and ultimately contributing to the narrative’s richness through nuanced character development.
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The post Antagonist vs. Villain: What’s the Difference? appeared first on Helping Writers Become Authors.
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Author: K.M. Weiland | @KMWeiland
What is dark tourism and why are many of us interested in places associated with death and tragedy? How can you write and self-publish a premium print guidebook while managing complicated design elements, image permissions, and more? With Leon Mcanally.
In the intro, level up with author assistants [Written Word Media]; and Blood Vintage signing pics.
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Leon McAnally is the author of A Guide to Dark Attractions in the UK.
You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below.
Show Notes
You can find Leon on his Facebook page: Dark Attractions in the UK.
Joanna: Leon McAnally is the author of A Guide to Dark Attractions in the UK, which is brilliant. My quote is on the back, and I said, “A fascinating book for all the dark little souls out there.” So welcome to the show, Leon.
Leon: Thank you, Joanna, for having me.
Joanna: I’m excited to talk about this topic, and you and I are both dark little souls. First up—
Leon: Well, I studied travel and tourism in college. That’s where I first learned of this term called dark tourism, places associated with death, suffering and tragedy. I came away looking into these places and was really fascinated with the tourism aspect and the history aspect.
My university touched on this topic more, so I went and studied Travel and Tourism at the University of Northampton. I focused a lot around the motivations of dark tourism and the ethical issues around dark tourism.
After uni, I wasn’t sure what to do, but I wanted to travel to a lot of the places that I’d been writing about, like Auschwitz and the Catacombs of Paris. Then I got into writing because I came across yourself, actually. When I was researching dark tourism, I think you popped up on a website. I started reading your ARKANE thriller series and looked into yourself a bit more, and I was like, you’re just an inspiration.
Joanna: Thank you.
Leon: So it seemed from that, and then yourself. Then I was in Paris visiting the Catacombs at the time, and that evening I sat down and was like, what do I do with myself now? Then I thought to myself, there’s no book that covers like dark tourism across the whole of the UK. So, yes, it set me off on a journey, really.
Joanna: First of all, I’m really thrilled to inspire you. I’m glad I turned up on some website, that’s excellent.
You mentioned places associated with death, suffering and tragedy. You mentioned two places that are quite different, Auschwitz, which of course, is modern horror, really. Then the Paris Catacombs, which, if people don’t know, are full of plague dead, but it’s bones that are arranged in different ways. I find the Catacombs an awesome place. I’m sure you enjoyed it as well, right?
Leon: Yes, definitely. It was really eye opening.
Joanna: Exactly. I think those two places are disturbing in different ways. People are like, why are the pair of you interested in this stuff? So what do you think? You mentioned studying the motivations. Why do people visit these places?
Leon: I think there’s a number of factors at play. It depends on the place you’re visiting because dark tourism is an umbrella term for loads of places, and that’s what a lot of people don’t realize.
So it could be that you go to a memorial to remember people who have tragically died. It also could be a totally different place, and it makes you perceive life differently and how you wish to be known in life, as well as after life.
The Victorian cemeteries that are within my book, The Magnificent Seven cemeteries in London, I visited them. So one, they gave me a kind of inspiration and motivated me with my book.
Also, I look at the people who are buried there and how they are known after life. Like they were known back when they were alive, and they’re still being known, and their story and their life history is being retold.
Joanna: I mean, you’re still in your 20s, and I’m nearly 50, but—
By going to these places, it’s almost inspiring—you mentioned the word inspiration—inspiring you on how to live your life.
Leon: Yes, that’s one thing from each place I’ve visited, while they are different, it still drives that determination in getting my book out there and getting these places known.
There’s so many simple memorials to massive tragedies. There’s one in Barnsley, a memorial to a coal mine disaster, I believe it killed 361 people.
I look at that and think of the Aberfan in Wales, that is an awful disaster as well, and that’s a kind of well-known disaster. It tragically killed a number of children, and that’s really well known, but I feel like this other one in Barnsley should just be as well-known as that one.
Joanna: Yes, if people have seen The Crown, they show that Welsh tragedy on The Crown. I can’t remember which series.
I get what you mean, like some of these things are more famous than others. For example, Auschwitz, obviously that’s not in the UK, but many people will have heard of that and the deaths that went on there. There were so many other camps, that was not like the only camp, but that seems to be what people think of.
So as you say, it’s remembering the past, but also helping us live in the future. So I did also want to ask, what reactions have you had around this? So do your family think you’re weird? Do your friends think you’re weird?
Leon: When you’re going to these places, a lot of people don’t consider it dark tourism. You may just go to a castle and learn about executions and walk away, and you don’t consider that it is dark tourism, but it falls under this umbrella term. So I’m like, you’ve participated in dark tourism without knowing it.
They do find some of the places that I visited a bit odd and peculiar. There’s a place called Littledean Jail. A gentleman has this old jail, and he’s filled it with a number of artifacts and newspaper clippings. It’s got artifacts to the likes of Fred and Rose West, the infamous serial killers, and the Kray twins. They found that a bit strange. Like, why would you want to go there and see that? That was a very unusual experience.
Joanna: Did you find that it was glorifying the serial killers or it was more just exposing them?
Leon: Yes. The rooms within the jail, when I walked into Fred and Rose West’s cell, it had belongings, like his work boots and a tie and a cabinet, and it had newspaper clippings, obviously, when it all happened. I felt like it was a shrine to them.
It was a bit strange. I was like, why would you want to have all of this on display and stuff. In some aspects, yes, you can look at it as it’s glorifying these kind of infamous criminals at the end of the day.
Joanna: It’s interesting that some places, so again, we mentioned the catacombs, I find catacombs where there are bones that are obviously long dead, more, I don’t know, more peaceful in some way. Yet, I don’t want to visit serial killer things.
So I think there are also gradations. So if people listening are like, everything’s the same thing, it’s not, is it?
Leon: Yes, there’s definitely a lot of different emotions and feelings that come into these places. I definitely agree with you on that. If you go into the likes of Princess Diana’s grave, you’re going there to pay respects and remember her life.
You’re going to feel a number of different emotions to maybe what you’d feel if you were to visit the Tower of London. You may take a tour, and that’s going to be very energized by the tour guide. They’re totally on different spectrums, but that’s where it’s an umbrella term, dark tourism, for all of these different kind of places.
Joanna: Yes, so I was thinking too whether it taps into the same thing as the true crime podcast. True crime is the biggest podcast niche, and I feel like perhaps dark tourism is similar.
It comes from a similar place, a sort of fascination with death and the macabre. It’s having a separation from violence and death, like we’re still alive, we’re still fine, and sort of reflecting that way. What do you think? Do you think it relates to true crime?
Leon: Yes. In some aspects, yes, but it depends how recent the event is because there’s got to be some underlying historical factual elements, that dark tourism element. I think the dark tourism has been getting thrown around and been used for marketing of places on the wrong kind of aspects.
Places in America and stuff, places that are haunted are marketing themselves as dark tourism. I’m like, no, it’s not. It’s not that. There’s got to be the factual history element to be labeled under this term dark tourism.
Joanna: I like that because that annoys me as well. To me, I know what dark tourism is, but as you pointed out, a lot of people might get confused.
So let’s get into the book then because I have lots of dark tourism. I guess I call them death culture, so morbid anatomy and books around that kind of thing. Paul Koudounaris, I’m sure you’ve seen his books, lots of that kind of thing. I feel like you could have pitched this to traditional publishing, but you went indie.
Leon: I think that’s where you come into play a little bit because you inspire me because you’re self-published and everything. So that kind of came into play.
When I actually started looking into it with my designers, they said you could take it to a publishing company, but you wouldn’t have so much control over elements of it.
That was a big thing because I was covering the umbrella term of a number of sites. I didn’t want a publisher to be like, “No, I don’t feel that site should be in there. I don’t feel that site should be in it. Oh, this should be in there.” It gave me the control of giving a vast amount of attractions and showing what falls under this term.
Also about when I was styling my book as well, some publishers may have a particular kind of format and style that they would steer towards. I didn’t want to be constrained on the designing aspects of my book, really. So it gave me a bit of freeness, should we say.
Joanna: Yes, I love that. I mean, that’s why a lot of people go indie because of the control aspect of what goes in the book and the design. We’re going to come back to the design, but let’s talk about the research. You did mention a bit earlier that you went traveling, but this particular book in the UK, it is really comprehensive.
Leon: It took me three years in all. It was traveling to places and also working with a lot of places. I wanted to make sure the factual history element was there within each kind of place. So it was traveling to places, and working places, and also cross referencing information, really.
Joanna: How did you keep all that organized? If you visited a site, did you write notes in a journal? Did you write them on your phone?
Leon: I used notebooks, and I did use my phone to take bullet points of information. So I would read the exhibits, and if there was bits of information that would stick out with me, then I’d bullet point them.
Then I also would then go back to the attraction and say, obviously, “I’m writing this book, and I’ve got this information, so I just want to double check things.” That then started to build a relationship with attractions.
I just found that when I was researching, there’s just so much. I didn’t really want to use the internet so much because there’s just so much unreliable information and incorrect information. So I made sure that was up to date and things.
Joanna: I think that’s great.
Leon: Oh, my goodness. There’s just over 300 places.
Joanna: That’s just incredible. So you didn’t visit every single one of those?
Leon: No, I couldn’t visit every single one. I did visit quite a few of them. I did work with quite a few as well. Up to Scotland, all the way down to the south of England, I was working with places.
When I was writing about their history and things, and when I was saying I was writing about dark tourism, a lot of places would be like, “Oh, we’re not too sure.” Then showing them what I was writing about and giving them more of an in depth understanding of the dark tourism term, that helped in me gaining places. Also some places just still didn’t wish to fall under that term.
There was one place that I won’t say the name of, but I’d written about, and they was happy with the write, but they said they don’t wish to fall under this term dark tourism because they look at it more as a scientific kind of purposes. So I was like, okay, no, that’s fine. So obviously they didn’t make it into my book.
There was another aspect to it is I wanted to show how society reacts to dark sites. So if it was a more memorial, how had societies reacted in the process of the disaster and after the process in remembering people?
So that Barnsley Coal Mine Disaster Memorial, there was a community that helped that disaster, and there’s still a legacy of it. The community is wanting it to be known and remembered. So I felt that it was important that places like that went into my book, really.
Joanna: I agree with a lot of the places in the book, but you do have a lot more memorials and things than I would have I’ve. I’ve got the book right here next to me. I’ve got my copy next to me, and I just opened it. I just opened it to London.
So you’ve got the Hunterian Museum, which is awesome. I should say that it inspired my book Desecration. I love that museum. Then next to it is the Hungerford Footbridge Skateboard Graveyard. So I was like, okay, that’s really interesting because I do know that if you walk over that bridge, you can see it. Why choose something like that?
Leon: Yes, it’s the response of the skateboarding community of what took place on that foot bridge, at the end of the day. It’s kind of how they remember a local skater, that aspect of how they pull together and remember their fellow skater. They lay their skateboards and chuck them over the bridge.
Joanna: It’s interesting. In the book you say, “The skateboarding community has shown how the process of grief differs among communities, and there’s a need to personalize the way we honor someone’s life.” So I love that. I think it’s really interesting what you’ve done with the book.
One of the things I noticed immediately is that there are lots of pictures. I’ve discovered that image permissions are a nightmare. Even if they’re your photos, if they’re in a private place, then you need permission.
Leon: It stems back to building that relationship with places. So I’d write the piece and send it over, and they would be quite happy with it. Then I would say, I’ve got images from myself, or I’ve sourced images, are you happy for this to be featured alongside it?
There was like, yes. Other places would be like, oh, we prefer to give you an image for it to be credited. So I was happy to do that. It was literally building that relationship and saying, “I’m writing a book. I’m looking at featuring you in my book. Can I write a piece and see what you think?”
I was making sure that the kind of factual history element was correct, and then going from there, really. There was a couple of sites who were like, “No, you can write a piece, but we don’t wish for an image to be featured because we don’t allow photography within this space.”
So that’s why there’s a few places I name that have not got images because they were happy for the entry to be featured, but as they don’t allow permission of photography, they didn’t wish for an image to be featured within the book.
Leon: I did have to pay for a few of the permissions.
Joanna: What sort of price?
Leon: It varies a lot. One of them was 170 pounds to have it within my book to get the permission, but I was adamant that I wanted that image within my book.
Joanna: Yes, you have a lot of images. I like the book a lot because it has so many images. As I said, when I looked at it, I was like, oh my goodness, I know how much pain this is. You must be very organized then to keep track of everything. Like, if you’re emailing all these places, you’re sending them text, you’re asking for images.
Leon: I am a very organized person. I get told I’m too organized. Even in doing my day job, I get told I’m too over organized because I’m looking at kind of February now. People are like, Christmas is not even here yet.
So, yes, it was emailing places, and then I’d have kind of that written permission, and I’d put it to one kind of side to keep at the end of the day. I think my designer has a few as well.
We keep them to one side because if later down the road, they were to say they don’t wish for that image to be featured anymore, that’s fine. We can obviously remove it and things later, at a later day.
Joanna: You mentioned your job.
Leon: I am an activities coordinator in a care home. So that did actually come in. It did make me think a little bit when I was writing about my book, because working with the elderly generation, history is important to them.
I was speaking to the residents, and they would tell me aspects of the war and stuff. They were so passionate about telling their stories to make sure that future generations were known and they were told correctly. So that had a bit of an impact as well while I was writing my book.
Joanna: Oh, I love that. So you mentioned your designer. So tell us, how did you work with the designer? As you said, you’re quite controlling, so you must have known how you wanted it to look.
Leon: Three designers actually collaborated on this book together. I had one main designer, Marie-Louise, who owns the company Lovely Evolution. Then she was working with another two designers as well, and they gave me different proofs.
Then I picked aspects that I liked from different proofs, and then that was brought into one. I was a bit picky along the way of my process of designing it.
So even when I got the proofs—because there’s a background on the pages, like the illustrations behind the text and the images and stuff—we only had the one proof of that. I was like, oh, it’d be a really good idea to have the sections with a different background.
So it was little bits like that I picked out and made suggestions. All three designers were very good at working together. It was just a bit of a jigsaw puzzle, as you can probably see from looking at it, and fitting it all together.
Joanna: Yes. I mean, I think my brain is very different to your brain. It is, as you say, a jigsaw puzzle. Your brain must have figured out how you wanted it to go.
As you say, there’s so many little extra things. Like in the corner of each section, there’s like a little illustration as well. A dragon in Wales, and different things there. As you say, different background images as well as other images. I just think it’s incredible.
You mentioned there, three designers, it’s took you three years, you’ve got all these permissions.
Leon: It is a labor of love because I’m just very passionate about our British history at the end of the day. With dark tourism, people associate so many places abroad, like Auschwitz, the Catacombs of Paris, Ground Zero.
I was just like, there’s so much to England. So it was a very passionate project in showing there’s so much more in England that’s linked to dark tourism than people initially thought. There has been a budget and that has gone over a bit, I’m not going to lie.
Joanna: It does look like a pricey project, as far as I can see. I did want to ask, because at the moment the copy I have is a large scale, but it’s still paperback. So are you planning on doing an eBook? I think it would work on a tablet, on an iPad or something. I think you could also do an audiobook, or a short form podcast, or a hardback.
Leon: I can’t say too much because we are working on other little things, but the physicality of the book is an important part to myself. Like I feel like to appreciate it, you’ve got to be holding it.
I know a lot of people like tablets and things, and I do understand that, but I just feel like it’s so heavily designed. My designers like really hard on designing it and piecing it all together.
Like the maps on their own, Mark worked on the maps at Pixooma, and he took three months just working on the maps on their own. So I just feel like you have to be holding it to appreciate it. I’m a bit old school like that.
Joanna: I love this. You’re like, 20 years younger than me, and you’re so old school. I am actually holding it, and I am appreciating it as we’re talking.
Leon: I started working with an editor really early on. Before the design kind of process, it was important to get the editing aspect of it all done to hand over to my designers because of the length of the text, and obviously then putting it together like a puzzle piece.
So working with an editor started very early on, and she worked on Lonely kind of Planet guide books, and had a lot of experience on guide books and things. She made a number of really good suggestions, as well as the text. She also helped me on proofs of the designs. So she gave suggestions for the designs from her experience.
Joanna: I think that’s a great person to work with, someone who’s done like the Lonely Planet books. It is similar to that in the vibe, in that you don’t sit down and read this cover to cover. You’re going to dip in and out depending on different areas. I buy books like this for inspiration for my own travels, but also for my own writing. So I think that’s cool.
So we’ve got the book. You’ve invested your time and your money in making this beautiful book, but marketing this kind of book is difficult. So tell us—
Leon: I haven’t stopped marketing the book since its release. It’s been a real push. I’ve marketed the book from doing a few book signing events that stemmed from me building that relationship with places. So they’ve been happy enough to hold me for book signing events.
Then I’ve also done podcasts with people. I’m using social media. I’m speaking about the book wherever I can, really.
Joanna: I did see you doing signings at interesting venues, like some of your dark venues, on social media.
Many people, including myself, are scared of doing signings because often nobody shows up. So how did you do that? How were those?
Leon: Yes, they worked okay. It did depend on the day and the footfall. A lot of the attractions, because we’d organize this book signing, they would promote it on their social media or via their newsletter.
What really helped, some places have been better than other places, but there has been this rippling effect I have noticed afterwards. So I have had people contact me afterwards and said, “Oh, I saw that you were at Shrewsbury Prison. I’d actually be interested in a copy of your book.”
Then I’ve also had places that have been then willing to stock it in their gift shop as well.
Joanna: I was going to ask about the bookshops because it seems to me a lot of these bigger places have bookstores, and if you can get them to take some copies and do it like that. I do know the profit margin on that is very low, and they’ll want their own profit.
Leon: I think the agreements have worked quite well so far. The places that I’ve built that relationship with and worked with, they’ve been quite good, really, in compromising. Obviously they have wanted to take a profit and a percentage of that, but then obviously they understand the product as well.
Obviously, there’s the time that I’ve put into it and my designers working on it and everything. So they’ve been quite good at working together.
Joanna: Then on social media, obviously you’ve been posting photos of you in these different places and some of the research stuff.
Or are you just trying to do as much as possible and see what happens?
Leon: I think one thing I have noticed is getting it into the relevant groups that would be interested and showing how that is relevant to that group. If you’re going to use social media and just plow it across social media and use kind of one post, then it probably wouldn’t work.
I’ve been going to groups and speaking to people and stuff, and then seeing which aspects of my book links in, and then I’ve shared about. That has helped as well.
Joanna:
This is something that people buy and have on their shelf or their coffee table, whatever. This is difficult in one way to market, but in other ways, it’s evergreen.
So it’s going to keep selling over time, as opposed to make you tons of money right now and then stop selling. This is more like a long-term prospect, I think.
Leon: Yes, definitely. Me and the designers I work with wanted it as that guidebook that you can take with you, but also it’s a coffee table, bookshelf kind of book that is a talking point. It’s something that you can pick up, read one entry and put it back down, and then pick up and read a different entry another day.
So it’s not going to generate that massive one-time income. I do to see it is a trickle in, long-term thing. Hopefully, I’ll work on other ideas alongside that.
Joanna: Yes, well, that’s the other thing. Marketing one book is hard. So are you considering Dark Attractions of Europe?
Leon: There are other ideas. I’m working with my designers, and I’m also still working with the attractions closely. So, yes, there’s little ideas there, but it would be at a moment where I’m just not expecting it, and it will all just gel itself together.
Like I said going back, you inspired me. I’d learned of this term dark tourism, and it was when I was on a holiday of an evening. It literally will be that I’ll have a moment, and I’ll think, right, okay, that is it. So, yes, I’m kind of working on a few different ideas that I’m trying to just gel together at the moment.
Joanna: I love that. You said you’re super organized and quite controlling, but you’re also intuitive. So I think that sounds great.
Just looking back over the years you’ve been working on this project. So if people are thinking of doing something like this—
Leon: I think don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Along the whole process of my book, I was very harsh myself because it was a vast book, and I was doing a number of different places.
There’s so many aspects to this book. Designing, researching, writing, and then I was emailing, and I was calling, and I was sourcing images. If you’re going to take on a big project like this, don’t be too harsh on yourself.
Just give a good time management to each aspect that you’re working on. Have time to step back away from the whole desk to re-energize because it was a hefty project to take on. I was very determined, but I was very harsh on myself as well.
Joanna: I do remember when we had originally talked, you had a timeline in mind. Then you said, no, it’s going to take longer. As you said, this is a huge project.
Leon: Yes, definitely. I definitely underestimated. I was writing, and there were so many places that I wanted to get in and then research. Then when I got to just over 300 I was like, this is the cut and rope kind of moment.
There’s also a lot more to the design process because I know that I wanted a lot from my designers. I asked for a lot in the whole kind of designs, and I was picky. So, yes, there was that aspect. My main designer, Marie-Louise, she fell pregnant and didn’t expect to fall pregnant in the process.
Joanna: Well, I think you’ve done an incredible job. So how do you feel now?
Leon: Yes. I am really proud of it. I am happy with it. I just want to keep on pushing it and getting it out there and known. It’s not a financial element, it’s actually I want to get more of our history made aware.
Like I said, there is loads of little places in there that are simple memorials, or just little places that people are just not aware about. I’m very passionate about our British history, and I just want it to be known. I want to give people inspiration to just have a simple little day trip out.
People say, “Oh, there’s nothing to do, and we’ve got to go abroad to go on holiday.” There’s just so much that people don’t realize that there is to do.
Joanna: That is so true. The more I stay in our country, the more interesting I find things. There’s so much history here.
Leon: You can find my book on Amazon. I have a Facebook page at Dark Attractions in the UK. People can follow me through that and keep up to date.
Joanna: So thanks so much for your time today, Leon. That was great.
Leon: Thank you, Joanna, for having me. It was fantastic speaking to you. Thank you.
The post Dark Tourism And Self-Publishing Premium Print Books With Images With Leon Mcanally first appeared on The Creative Penn.
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Author: Joanna Penn
In this Poetry.LA interview, host Luivette Resto speaks with poet Amy Shimshon-Santo about her new collection, Random Experiments in Bioluminescence (FlowerSong Press, 2024), and the themes within the book which deal with how to live in a time of great suffering and disorientation, and “somehow have the experience of finding your own light.”
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Author: jkashiwabara
In this event at the Southbank Centre in London celebrating the launch of the Palestine Festival of Literature’s anthology of essays, Their Borders, Our World: Building New Solidarities With Palestine (Haymarket Books, 2024), editor Mahdi Sabbagh and writers Jehan Bseiso and Mirza Waheed discuss the question of solidarity in a conversation moderated by Zena Agha.
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Author: bphi
A situationship, as defined by the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, is “a romantic relationship in which the couple are not official partners.” The validity of situationships has become the center of discussions, from Reddit posts to the list of finalists for Oxford Languages 2023 word of the year. In a recent Electric Literature piece, author Christine Ma-Kellams argues that situationships make for great stories, including within novels by Elif Batuman, Rachel Cusk, and Jennifer Egan. Write a personal essay on your understanding of situationships. Have you ever found yourself in one? Was there a mutual agreement or were there unsaid uncertainties in the relationship? Consider how you would define a situationship and what that means to you.
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Author: Writing Prompter
In this 2016 New Yorker video, Robert Battle, former artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, reminds all artists, whether dancers, musicians, poets, or writers, that “it’s important for us to, at this time, see beyond our circumstances.” Battle continues: “I think we can do that through the arts.”
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Author: jkashiwabara
To do something at the eleventh hour is to accomplish a task at the last possible moment. The origins of the phrase are unknown, although there is some indication it may come from a Bible parable or simply from the idea of the eleventh hour being close to the twelve o’clock hour at midnight signaling the end of a day. This week write a short story in which your main character manages to pull off a miraculous feat at the eleventh hour. It might be something seemingly mundane—a household chore, a work project, a last-minute gift for a special occasion—that turns out to have wider implications or consequences. Is waiting until it’s almost too late typical of your character or wildly unexpected? What drama is drawn from your character flying by the seat of their pants?
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Author: Writing Prompter
The practice of cutting one’s hair can sometimes be an emotional process—the shedding of one’s layers much like the way a snake sheds its skin. For some, cutting hair might symbolize a spiritual rebirth, embracing new beginnings and letting go of the past. For others, it can be a traumatic experience. Haircuts can be well thought-out decisions, premediated and anticipated, or spur of the moment, an abrupt change to one’s appearance. This week write a poem about your last haircut or the experience of observing a haircut. Include details of where you were, who was cutting the hair, the sounds of the clippers or scissors, and the emotions you experienced. Read “Haircut” by Elizabeth Alexander and “Hair” by Orlando Ricardo Menes for further inspiration.
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Author: Writing Prompter
In this episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast hosted by Miwa Messer, author Abraham Chang talks about writing his debut novel, 888 Love and the Divine Burden of Numbers (Flatiron Books, 2024), after working for years in the publishing industry, as well as how Eastern traditions, pop culture, and growing up in the borough of Queens in New York influenced his book.
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Author: bphi
In this Books Are Magic event, Miller Oberman reads from his latest poetry collection, Impossible Things (Duke University Press, 2024), and is joined by poets Jason B. Crawford, Joan Kwon Glass, and I. S. Jones for a reading and Q&A. For more from Oberman, read his installation of our Ten Questions series.
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Author: bphi
Today, I want to talk about the three most important characters from a structural perspective within your story.
Very often, two of the most common questions writers will ask about characters in their story is, “How many characters do I need and or can I have and which characters do I need? What characters are important to my specific story?”
What I’m going to be sharing in this post is definitely the stripped-down answer to this question. We’re going to be getting under the hood and looking at some of the mechanics of how story works. What I’m going to share is not necessarily meant to be taken literally. Rather, it’s meant to show you the foundation upon which you can build your entire cast of characters.
So when I say your story’s structure only needs three characters, don’t freak out! This doesn’t mean you can only have three characters in your story.
From a structural perspective, what actually creates plot and makes your story move?
There are three specific types of character who are important in running a story’s engine.
The first and most obvious is of course your protagonist. When we hear the word “protagonist,” very often what we think of is the hero, the main character, the good guy, something along those lines. We think of a specific type of person; we have a visual idea of what a protagonist is. Maybe you even see your protagonist from your story. However, although who your protagonist is in your story is very specific, sometimes this can distract from the deeper understanding of what “protagonist” is and how it functions within the story.
Within story, all that defines the “protagonist” is that this is the person creating the forward momentum in the plot. They do that by wanting something. They have a desire, which will translate into the story goals that move them forward. In some stories, the desire may be that they want to move away from something else, but it could also be that they have something specifically in mind they’re moving toward.
You can think of this as the change you’re going to see within your story. Whether your characters know it or not, what they’re moving toward is the end of your story. They’re moving toward whatever state they’re going to be in—wherever the plot finds them—at the end of the story.
The protagonist is the one who creates that throughline and that momentum of moving through the story. Without a protagonist, we really don’t have a story. The protagonist is the person who is defining what this story is about. Theoretically, you could pick any number of specific characters within your story to be that protagonist. Each character would slightly change the nature of your plot because different characters will want different things, which drives and creates different plot. Regardless, the protagonist is the throughline.
Structuring Your Novel: Revised and Expanded 2nd Edition (Amazon affiliate link)
You want to make sure the protagonist lines up with all of your major structural beats throughout the story. Usually, that means the character will be present at these beats, but more specifically it means that what’s happening at those structural beats needs to be in alignment with the protagonist’s forward momentum toward the end state of the story. If you can identify any particular structural beat within the story where that really isn’t happening—where they’re not moving toward that end state—then it’s probably a good sign that structural beat is off in some way.
From this perspective, the protagonist is the single most important character for defining your story’s structural throughline. They create the throughline (and the throughline should be created for them by the author). It’s a vehicle for them.
The second most important character (although really this character is equally as important as the protagonist because you need both of them) is the antagonist.
Similarly to the protagonist, we often hear that word and we think “bad guy.” We think of a morally negative person—a villain. However, this has nothing to do with being an antagonist. We only think this because, generally speaking, the protagonist is someone who’s morally positive and with whom we sympathize with from a moral point of view—and therefore the antagonist stands in opposition to that and is often characterized as someone who’s morally negative or at least ambivalent in some way.
However, within storyform, functionally speaking, the antagonist is simply whatever or whoever is creating the obstacles between the protagonist and their momentum.
I often to use the term “antagonistic force” rather than “antagonist” because this also reminds us that the antagonist doesn’t have to be human. It doesn’t have to be a specific character within the story. Usually, the antagonist will be human and will be at the very least be represented at certain points throughout the story by proxy characters, which we’ll talk about in just a second. However, fundamentally, the antagonistic force is nothing more or less than whatever is creating the opposition through which the protagonist has to move.
Without the antagonistic force, without this opposition, the protagonist can move unhindered. They will move easily and smoothly toward whatever the end state is within the story. When they reach that end state, the story is over. The very fact that we have a lengthy tale to tell means that must be roadblocks—obstacles—difficulties. Conflict is encountered as the protagonist moves through the story. The antagonist is that necessary counterforce that creates that opposition for the protagonist to have to work through. This, in turn, is what creates the conflict and the interest in the plot.
The third character is a little more interesting in some ways and not as obvious. The third character is the relationship character. This character can actually take quite a few different forms within the story.
You might immediately think of love interest or something like that. This character could also be a sidekick. It could be any relationship within the story, but fundamentally what we’re talking about from perspective of story is a motivating force for the protagonist within the story.
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Again, this can take many forms. This could be an Impact Character representing the story’s thematic Truth and prompting or inspiring change. For instance, a love interest very often will act within a character arc as someone who “rewards” or “punishes” based on the protagonist’s effectiveness within the plot (based on the protagonist’s relationship to the Lie and the Truth and how that allows them to either move forward or not against the antagonistic force).
However, the relationship character doesn’t have to be a love interest. This character simply represents a relationship that is important to the protagonist and is creating motivation for what they’re doing. This relationship character shines a light on the “why” of the protagonist’s motivation. The antagonistic force shines a light on all of the things the protagonist hasn’t dealt with or hasn’t figured out yet as a way to be able to move forward toward the end goal, whereas the relationship character is shows the broader context of why the protagonist is doing this—what they’re trying to build, why they’re trying to expand.
Again, this isn’t necessarily something the protagonist is conscious of. You’ll see this dynamic in stories, in which there needs to be that relational level so that there’s a catalyst—there’s a why behind the protagonist’s motives.
Again, just as with the antagonistic force, this doesn’t necessarily have to be characterized. It’s entirely possible to create a story that’s about just one character. If you have just one character on stage, in that case these other two forces within the story will either be internalized within the protagonist as aspects of the protagonist ‘s own self, or they’ll be reflected somehow in the world around them, in the setting. We see this in stories such as the Tom Hanks movie Cast Away, in which he is all alone on an island.
Cast Away (2000), 20th Century Fox.
The whole story basically is him lost on an island. He’s stuck in the middle of nowhere and has to survive. The antagonistic force is mostly just the weather and the elements, with him trying to figure out how to make the island work in a way that he can survive off of it. Then later on in the story, we also see, within himself, his own difficulties, as his fear and anger and frustration also work against him. He has to work through that as a way to continue toward his end goal of getting off the island and surviving.
The relationship aspect—creating a context of meaning—is represented by his relationship with the volleyball Wilson, who he personifies—but who is, of course, really just him. Wilson gives him something to care about something, onto which he can project meaning and purpose out into the world, so he doesn’t feel so alone.
That’s a great example of how all these three of these elements work within a story without necessarily having to be represented by actual characters.
Obviously, most stories will feature many, many more characters than just these three. In these cases, what is happening is that every single character within your story—even if you have hundreds of them—are related to these three primal forces within the story. They are all representing, in some way, one of these forces within your story.
First, I want to talk about stories with multiple protagonists. This is an important question. From the foundational perspective of story structure, there is really only one protagonist. That is what creates the structural throughline. So if you have more than one protagonist, you necessarily have more than one structural through line—as happens in stories with multiple plotlines, which I talked about in a previous video this year.
Basically, you’re telling multiple stories, which means you have multiple different story forms with each of these three story characters/forces happening in each of those plotlines until the plotlines coincide at some point later in the story.
It’s important to recognize this because you need to have a solid throughline to your structure, you may in some instances have two characters operating within the same plotline together who seem to share equal weight (romances are an obvious examples where the weight is shared equally by two different characters points of view). What’s happening in these stories is the two characters are sharing the role of protagonist within a single shared structural throughline. They’re not pulling in opposite directions. Even if they have smaller goals that are separate, they’re working toward the same structural goal or desire (e.g., being together and making the relationship work)
The same would be true in a mystery where you feature two detective characters equally. They’re working toward the same goal, so they share the weight of the protagonist’s role throughout the story. In this case, you want to make sure this shared role is represented in a unified way at each of your structural beats.
The most common way to use these three structural character roles in a large cast is for each character to act as a proxy for one of the three main roles—protagonist, antagonist, main relationship character.
For example, your story may feature a unified antagonistic force that is not represented by just one character. You may have a Big Bad, and then he may have doing his bidding. These minions are not separate antagonists within the story; they are proxies for the main antagonist and therefore acting in his stead. The antagonistic force is still a unified force within the story.
Again, that’s harder to do with protagonists. You have to be careful because the protagonist is your throughline and your structural anchor throughout the story.
On the other hand, you may have many different relationship characters. Obviously, you’re always going to get the tightest effect in a story when you narrow these things down as much as possible, so you don’t have a lot of extraneous characters. But for instance, you may have a protagonist whose context and reason and why for what they’re doing—therefore representing that relationship aspect—could be a whole town. It could be you are perhaps interested in showing a broader setting, where there isn’t a specific relationship character within the story.
What comes to my mind right now is The Andy Griffith Show, in which protagonist Andy is involved with this entire town. He’s in a relationship with many different people throughout Mayberry. There are primary relationships, such as his son Opie, his deputy and best friend Barney, and his aunt Bea, but all of the characters within the entire show relate to him and interact with him as either an antagonistic force or a relationship character.
The Andy Griffith Show (1960-68), CBS.
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In very simplified terms, you could think of the relationship character as the one the protagonist is doing things for, while the antagonist force is the one they’re doing it against.
I hope that’s helpful. However, sometimes oversimplifying things can be the opposite of helpful, so if this doesn’t resonate or if it feels confusing, then just forget about it. The essence of what I’m trying to communicate here is that there are three engines kind of within your story. If you’re ever confused about whether or not a character is useful or is extraneous, or you have too many characters or not enough characters, this is a good place to come back to so you can examine your cast. You can go through each one and say, “Okay, this character is a protagonist. These characters are representing the antagonistic force. These characters are representing the relationship aspect within the story and reflecting back to the protagonist the required growth qualities.”
You can ask:
Thinking about putting each character in the little box where they belong can be helpful in organizing them and seeing where maybe some things are misplaced and not fulfilling their optimum job and or where they’re completely extraneous.
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The post The 3 (Structurally) Most Important Characters appeared first on Helping Writers Become Authors.
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Author: K.M. Weiland | @KMWeiland
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