Scary Antagonists

Scary Antagonist. Picture from Pixabay/Pexels

In honour of what Americans call Spooky Season, and what New Zealanders call October, I’d like to write a few words about the Bad Guy. They are the opposite of our heroine. They are the antagonist, the devil who tries to tempt our heroine from her goal, and whom she must defeat in order to win the day. I always have an antagonist in my stories; they’re so fun to write! They come in all shapes and sizes, and can be external or internal.

External Scary Antagonists

Sometimes the Bad Guy is an actual bad guy hiding in the bushes with a butcher knife waiting for you to run past so he can chow down on your liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.

Or there is a Bad Guy masquerading as a Nice Guy. Such as the friend who sleeps with your boyfriend. The colleague who takes credit for your ideas. The boyfriend who chips away at your confidence and self-worth until you’re a shadow of your former self. Or the junior sergeant’s honourable police inspector boss who turns out to be the serial killer.

As a writer, the challenge is to make Nice Guy so kind and lovely that the reader falls for him too... until they discover the truth. A Bad Guy our heroine has to defeat is one thing. When our heroine faces a Nice Guy Turned Bad, one whom she has had a relationship with, someone she trusted and loved, she not only has to overcome them, she has to overcome overwhelming feelings of shame, regret and betrayal within herself to do so. Our antagonist has suddenly made our protagonist a lot more complicated and interesting.

Of course, feelings of shame and betrayal can often galvanise people into extraordinary feats of heroism. I think I’m one of them. I was told once that I’d never be a writer, and that made me so angry that I’ve forged an entire career out of it. Take that, Bad Guy!

Internal Scary Antagonists

Sometimes, especially in contemporary and literary fiction, there is no obvious Bad Guy. The Bad Guy is internal, residing deep within our character’s emotions and personality. Sometimes mental health issues or addiction are the Bad Guy. The scary antagonist here is our heroine’s own brain chemistry, preventing her from succeeding and winning the day. She will have to overcome these problems, not with a sword, but with determination, courage, and help. 

It might be the character’s own personality that is the problem. I really loved the 2022 film, ‘Not Okay’, where the protagonist has such an awful, entitled attitude that she basically ruins her own life. I don’t even think she learned from it either. She started off horribly, and she ended horribly. I think in this case, the antagonist won.

 Perhaps the antagonist isn’t the heroine’s own self, but the situation she’s in. Perhaps she’s an overworked mum, living from paycheck to paycheck, trying to manage a household and work a 9 to 5. That’s a hard Bad Guy to defeat when there’s no clear path out.

In romance-world, there’s a lot of talk about core wounds. These are the past traumas and events that have helped to shape a character and make them the person they are today. Core wounds reside at the subconscious level, and often a character isn’t even aware that they’re there.

In a romance novel, characters need to overcome their core wounds so that they can enjoy successful, loving relationships. For example, when Ben was nine, his lovely mother died, and a disinterested stepmother moved in, taking all Dad’s attention. Emotionally neglected, Ben has learned to keep his feelings private and in check, because he had no one to go to when he was small. This may be a big problem for our heroine, who is desperate to know what Ben is thinking and feeling, but he won’t or can’t tell her, and doesn’t even really know why himself!

I think of core wounds as an internal antagonist—a Bad Guy to defeat on the path to success. Ben must learn to trust that his emotional needs will be willingly met by this adorable, caring vixen, and that he doesn’t have to hide his feelings anymore. Go, Ben! You can do it, buddy.

My Favourite External Antagonists

Some of my favourite external antagonists include:

• Every single Bad Guy that Stephen King ever wrote, from ankle-tapping Annie Wilkes in Misery to that kid-killing clown who hides in drains with red balloons.

  
  

• ‘Get in the car, Elizabeth.’ Gangster Rio from the Netflix show ‘Good Girls’. I tell you what, I’d be changing my name and hopping in that car so damn fast.

  
  

• Negan from the TV show, The Walking Dead. Creepy as shit, smart as hell, and what great teeth!

  
  

• Alice Morgan from the TV show ‘Luther’. Creepy as shit, smart as hell, and what great teeth!

My Least Favourite Internal Antagonists

Some of my least favourite internal antagonists include:

• My Imposter Syndrome. I’m good at storytelling, and I’ve been doing it for a long time now, yet when I’m asked to mentor emerging writers, or speak at literary festivals, I always feel inadequate, and wonder why anyone would bother listening to me. I had a mental block about even writing this blog until I listened to Denise Duffield-Thomas' audiobook ‘Chill and Prosper’, which is a helpful guide for entrepreneurs and business owners. In it, she says something like, “You don’t have to know everything; you don’t have to be a guru. You can just be a contributor to the conversation.” This made me feel a lot better about sharing what I know! Thanks, Denise!

  
  

• My Workaholism: I work a lot. I have to remind myself to take breaks. I haven’t had a proper holiday in years. Someone asked me if I had any hobbies, and ... guess what? I don’t really have any! My hobby is writing. But I make a living from it, so does that make it a hobby? Unsure.

  
  

• My Hyper-Independence. I have a really hard time asking for help with anything. It means I have an exceptional range of skills because I do everything myself and I’m not afraid to tackle new things, but if I’m not careful, it might lead to burnout and isolation. Boo!

Most Recent Antagonists:

In my latest book, ‘Summoning Skies’, there are two external antagonists. Yup, that’s right, you get two for the price of one! And there are a few internal antagonists as well, including some deep core wounds.

‘Summoning Skies’ will be available this month on Amazon, and I’m so excited for it to join its brothers and sisters (yes, my books are my babies!) and continue the ‘Chronicles of Esha’.

I really enjoy writing these books. They’re entertaining and action-packed, with adventure, romance and magic, all wrapped up in an exotic fairytale setting.

‘Summoning Skies’ is the fourth book in the series, but it’s a standalone! That’s right, a complete full-length novel, with brand new characters, set in a fae city in the Kingdom of Skies. It’s a fun entry-point into the world of Esha, and you don’t need to have read the first trilogy to get to grips with the story. (Although if you have, you might notice a few crossover moments, which is always fun!) Summoning Skies is up for pre-order now on Amazon for just 99c.

If you haven’t yet joined my mailing list, click here! You’ll get a free novelette to download.

And if you’d like to support me and my work on Patreon, you’ll get a weekly update of insider Esha news, and early snippets of upcoming stories. This month I’m also giving my Dragons (that’s what I call my beautiful Patreon subscribers) an exclusive, spooky fae short story to read, in celebration of Spooky Season—or as we call it, October.

Until next time,

Love Tab xx