Woot-woot! (gif) I’ve moved into position 95 on the IWSG blog-hop list. That means I’ve been at this for a while. It’s always a delight to visit the Insecure Writers Support Group where I can commiserate and celebrate with my fellow writers. Great articles and resources available on the main website, too. Join us for our blog hop on the first Wednesday of each month: http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html
The awesome co-hosts for the March 6 posting of the IWSG are Fundy Blue, Beverly Stowe McClure, Erika Beebe, and Lisa Buie-Collard!
This month’s question: Whose perspective do you like to write from best, the hero (protagonist) or the villain (antagonist)? And why?
Well, I write romance, y’all. In some flavors of romance fiction, such as romantic suspense and paranormal romance, the lovers may combine forces to defeat a clear-cut baddie. But in my sub-genre, spicy contemporary romance, there’s seldom an obvious bad guy. Rather, the two (or more?) protagonists each struggle against an inner conflict that serves as an obstacle to falling in love. Each must also have an external conflict. Typically, she wants this and he wants that, and it seems there’s no way for both to prevail. My job, of course, is to torture them realistically before finally delivering the all-important HEA (happy ever after).
If you’re interested in reading more on this subject, author and writing teacher Jami Gold has an excellent article on antagonists in romance fiction here: https://jamigold.com/2018/07/the-antagonist-role-in-romance/
In Through the Red Door, book one in the Book Nirvana series, the landlord threatens to raise the rent beyond what our heroine can afford to keep her indie bookshop afloat. But the main conflict is internal: the widowed heroine’s guilt over her attraction to the hero, the scandal in his past that destroys her trust, and her affection for another suitor.
In Runaway Love Story, second book in the series (coming soon from The Wild Rose Press), the external obstacles to the couple’s love are adorable: her 90-year-old great aunt and his ailing mother. Both these characters suffer from dementia, which brings the hero & heroine together but also impedes their courtship. But the main conflict has to do with her dreams of big-city fame and his inability to leave his home town.
So yeah—a romance story doesn’t always come with a clear-cut antagonist. That’s just as well, because I struggle with rounding out my bad guys. In first drafts, they’re moustache-twirling Snidley Whiplash types, or stiletto-heeled Cruella de Vils. It’s such fun writing an over-the-top villain. But, as they say, every character is the hero in his own story.
What about you? Do you prefer peering through the bloodshot eyes of your antagonist, or the dewy gaze of your heroine?
By the way, check out yesterday’s post, an interview with romance author Leslie Scott. Her Arkadia Fast series centers around the sexy, thrilling world of drag racing. Hot Lap, the second title in that series, releases today!
I like your thoughts on characters in romance and how the torture is keeping the love birds a part for whatever conflict is going on between them. Maybe one day I will try the genre out. Happy IWSG Day 🙂
You’ve written a great description of a romance novel, and your description of book two in your series has me drooling a little. (Well, I AM old…)
I definitely agree on your take there, for romance especially. One exception I once read was a Georgette Heyer book, The Black Moth! The antagonist is dastardly, but GH wrote a whole other story about him and he is redeemed! Her stories are so fun to read…
I’ve always thought an antagonist can be a rival, potential lover, villain, or a shipwreck. Anything that gets between the protag and their goals. 🙂
Anna from elements of emaginette
Yeah, romance like that doesn’t necessarily call for villains! But I sympathize with your tendency to make them cartoons. I’ve done that (not in my mysteries, but I had fun letting it happen in the Ninja Librarian books—since they are tall tales anyway, it was okay). Flash fiction would be a good place to play with villains!
I write romance as well, and completely agree. I tend to have some suspense in the story so there is an antagonist, but the real challenge is facing their own personal issues.
Woot woot! I’m right behind you at 99 – broke into double digits this month!
Romance is a great vehicle for internal conflict,with aspects of protag and antag within the character. I write from both POVs, as I do like to delve into the twisted psyche in my dark/horror stories.
I love to write flawed characters in general, so no one’s a stereotypical “good” or “bad” guy. Not all readers like this. When I gave the creatures in “Monsters in Our Wake” a sentient POV and showed how they were more honourable than the humans in a lot of ways, I faced the ire of many dude bros.
Irate dude bros! Good for you–gotta stir up their smug assumptions from time to time. Keeps them from calcifying.