How to write a story that doesn't suck

Antagonists

As promised, I'll be talking about antagonists next. Your antagonist is the opposite of the protagonist. To put it black and white, they're polar opposites, good and evil. The antagonist is the bad guy, the villain, the evil character who could be the main threat or conflict of your story. They're going to cause problems intentionally.

Now just like last time, just because they're an antagonist doesn't mean they can't be your main character. Your antagonist can easily be the main focus on the story, so long you make it clear they are NOT the hero.

Let's assume you already have your story in mind (and maybe you don't, that's perfectly ok):

-Your antagonist/s must have a strong desire, just like the protagonist. It can even be the same desire that they approach differently. This desire or goal can and should affect your plot, even being the cause of conflict.

-They may be evil, but try and make the reasoning for their goals understandable, even if it's completely twisted and utterly wrong. (Ex: They want to make the world a happy place where everyone is treated equally but their way of achieving that is through a dystopian government where they slaughter anyone who is different and kill off babies born with imperfections) (Ex 2: they're deeply in love with someone who doesn't want anything to do with them so they start stalking them)

-Your antagonist needs a purpose. If they're simply a villain for your hero to defeat, they're meaningless and forgettable.

-They need just as much thought put into them as you put into your protagonist and/or main character.

-They're a bad guy but they may not seem that way. Maybe they want to be good, and think that whatever they're doing is write. No one really ever sees themselves as the villain, even if they're one of the worst people on the planet and have done one of the most terrifying and unforgettable thing to harm someone or something. (Do you think Hitler thought he was a bad guy? No. He thought what he was doing was good and for the better of the people. It very obviously wasn't, and what he did was absolutely terrible. But the point is, people in real life most always think they're the good guy.)

-Why are they bad? We're they raised and taught to be that way? Do they have a strong belief and desire to achieve something but their means in doing so are what makes them villainous? Were they raised to be good and act rebellious to counter it? Or perhaps they don't know right from wrong.

-Some antagonists start as a good guy, but slowly go through an anti character development where they end up nothing like who they used to be. (Don't over use this though.)

-Give them flaws. Just like your protagonist or main character or really any character in your story, the antagonist has flaws too.

What about their motivation? While I did previously say that most people consider themselves to be good, that doesn't mean everyone does. Some people are evil on purpose, and strive to make themselves the most feared. Here are some ideas for their motivation as an antagonist:

-They want to be remembered/leave a mark on history.

-They want to prove someone or something wrong.

-They actually have no goal other than whatever they're doing is amusing to them and they do it for fun.

-To no longer be afraid (either by destroying something or making themselves the biggest thing one could fear above all other fears).

-To become a better person... in their mind...

-They want something that was stolen from them.

-They're protecting something that means a lot to them (family, friends, a civilization, their own life, a structure, an heirloom, a relationship, etc).

-They want to gain control (doesn't mean they become a dictator though).

-They think they're saving the world.

-To gain respect.

-To fight something that's persecuting them (good to use if they have the same goal as your protagonist).

I'm going to use one of my owner (minor) antagonists from one of my own stories, Greydon Newberry (The Lunch Wall Heroes), as an example:

In the universe Greydon lives in, there's are normal people, and there are novums. Novums are humans that have irregular or supernatural capabilities. The normal people make up a majority of the population, and of course, they deemed novums as a bad thing.

Greydon shares this mindset with society. He believes that Satan empowered these people to defy or overthrow God, this they must be evil and should not be welcomed in society. Most people, including him, see the novums as a threat to the world and humanity itself.

Unfortunately, Greydon feels more hate towards these people than most. After a troublesome past where his parent/s were brutally killed in front of him by a novum when he was a child, he developed this sickening hate for them so intense that it eventually drives him to go insane. If he finds out someone is a novum, he will usually get violent immediately, not thinking about where this will lead him.

He doesn't have a goal, but that's ok because he is only a minor antagonist in the story. He does pose as a threat to the main characters, most of which are in fact novums. Rather than a goal, he has a strong belief in something that affects his decisions, actions, and words. His violence towards novums is no secret, but no one really cares except for the novums themselves who know they can't slip up and reveal their secret to him or anyone EVER. His violence and aggression gets worse over time, going from bullying novums he found in middle school, to attacking and nearly murdering an athlete he was playing against in soccer by stomping their head with his cleats.

While he does have a trauma relating to this belief which affects his actions, it doesn't give it any justification. You can see why he would be angry, but because of what he does to deal or maybe even cope with it, he's an antagonist. He's threatening. And he slides down a steep slope of anti character development which could lead to his own failure and downfall.

Here are some examples of antagonists in media that are great (in my opinion):
-Thanos (MCU) (he is my favorite villain) (his means are good and you can see why he believes he's the good guy, if the story were told by him you may feel differently about the results of Avengers Endgame, he's got just enough power physically to be threatening but it's his words and beliefs that make him someone the universe should fear)

-The Vulture (MCU) (what can I say, Marvel is pretty good at writing villains) (again, his motivation and goals are good but his actions are what make him the villain, he did it all out of love for his wife and daughter even thought he kept it a secret from them, he was a good plot twist villain without really being a plot twist villain ((you already knew he was the bad guy when watching the movie, but who he was in his personal life was the twist)), he didn't want to hurt anyone but his desperation lead him to eventually bring harm to Peter)

-Reiner (Attack on Titan) (SPOILERS) (It takes a while to understand him but it's evident that his reasoning has to be for a purpose he believes to be good so you know it'll get explained later in the show ((which it does)), his childhood was a bit odd an he was led to believe the things he does, he is following orders, from his point of view the people of the walls are the bad guys) (He has too much plot armor though and has nearly died way too many times)

-President Snow (The Hunger Games) (he's very hard to understand but his motives are what create the whole story, he's twisted and extremely easy to hate, he's got a certain mystery about him which makes him perfectly creepy)

And to balance it out, here are some examples of poorly written antagonists:
-Hawkmoth (Miraculous Ladybug) (his goal is unrealistic in the terms of how he approaches achieving it, in fact his goals are super weak for the amount of damage he's done to achieve it, he's got a horrible design)

-Ego (MCU) (his goals also don't make much sense ((why does he wanna be the universe?? What is the point??)), he had too many plot twists, his character personality was sort of inconsistent and he didn't seem that threatening for being as powerful as he was)

-Toga (My Hero Academia) (I don't think she's yet to explain why she became a villain so there's no goal, they romanticize her being psychotic and sexually harassing both boys and girls, I get it, she's insane, but she has no reason to be like trauma or something else)

Any questions or something you'd like to add? Please leave a comment!