The Boy In The Black Hat Wants You To Make Your Bed

Obstacles

Stories are about a main character overcoming obstacles to reach a goal. The obstacles should be related to the goals, traits, and personality of the main character. When I’m writing, my goal is to write a screenplay. The biggest obstacle I face is the practice of actually writing. It’s hard to make myself sit down and write. Some of the obstacles I face come from my own habits. I want to play a video game. I want to watch a movie. I want to check Facebook one more time. Hey, that video on youtube might be funny. When I squish my belly button it makes a smiley face. These are internal obstacles. Internal since they essentially come from my own desire to procrastinate. Then there are external obstacles. This morning I discovered the kitchen floor was a huge puddle of dirty water. My son won’t take a nap. The dog needs to go out. These are mundane obstacles but they still prevent me from sitting down to write. Internal obstacles are bad. External obstacles are good. Film is a visual medium. The story is told through images. Internal obstacles aren’t very visual. Internal struggles need to be described by external obstacles in a screenplay. The most important factor in creating obstacles that do double duty as both external and internal obstacles is with an antagonist. My antagonist is my son.

Bad Dad!

Hold your horses. Before you start thinking I’m calling my son a bad guy. Or thinking that I have some adversarial relationship with a 1 year old let me explain. What is an antagonist? New screenwriters often get hung up on the idea of an antagonist. “My story doesn’t have a bad guy. It’s not that kind of story.” “Real life doesn’t have moustache twirling villains.” These things may be true but real life certainly has antagonists. An antagonist, in their most simple (and oddly complex) form, is a character that forces the main character to make choices. Antagonists are the external representation of the main character’s internal struggle. An antagonist doesn’t have to be a villain. Instead they can be someone trying very hard to help the main character change. They just do it by creating roadblocks for the main character. The example I use for kids is this: You’re the main character and you have a cold but hate the medicine. The antagonist is your mom who is forcing you to take the medicine. She loves you and is taking care of you by creating an obstacle you must overcome to get better. It’s a very simple description of how an antagonist can exist in the real world without being a villain. My son is my antagonist because he forces me to prioritize my time more than I would otherwise. He creates obstacles that I must overcome in order to write.

In a room

A good antagonist is the embodiment of the ultimate obstacle the main character must overcome to complete their story. The story is at it’s strongest when the protagonist and antagonist are face to face challenging one another. If putting your protagonist and antagonist alone in a room would result in a lot of stares and sullen looks then find a new antagonist. There should be fireworks. These two people should be pushing at one another in every way.

No mirrors please

An antagonist shouldn’t just be the opposite of the main character. That gets boring. The antagonist should have goals and desires that have nothing to do with the protagonist. A good antagonist would be a good protagonist if the story were told from their perspective.

Where the evil meets the road

With all that in mind it’s time to consider who would be the perfect antagonist for Harlan. Let’s start by looking at the theme. Harlan’s story is about the journey from immaturity to maturity. He’s going to struggle with finding out what it means to be a man (at least for him). Is the antagonist mature already? Or are they permanently immature? Is the antagonist a woman? Is it a man who has it all “figured out”? A lot of this story will be told in Harlan’s imagination. Is the antagonist only in his imagination? If we’re following Maslow’s Hierarchy is the antagonist already at the top of the hierarchy? Are they permanently at the bottom? In the middle?

Ticking the boxes

As I ask these questions an image of the antagonist takes shape. No, the antagonist isn’t a woman. This isn’t a battle of the sexes story. I’m going back and forth on the antagonist’s maturity level. An immature antagonist would be a comedic element constantly pulling Harlan toward stasis. While a mature antagonist would be pulling Harlan toward becoming more mature but in a fashion that doesn’t suit Harlan’s character. It’s a more dramatic angle that would force Harlan to consider what kind of man he wants to become. I’m leaning toward the more mature angle but I’m not positive yet. I think having the antagonist exist entirely in Harlan’s imaginary world would undermine the stakes of the story. This antagonist should absolutely exist in that imaginary world but must exist outside as well. If the antagonist existed purely in Harlan’s imaginary world the story would essentially be an internal struggle.

Keys

Now that we’ve figured out that the antagonist is a man, probably more mature (or behaves as such) than Harlan, who exists in both the real world and Harlan’s imaginary world it’s time to get some serious work done on this character. The two most important questions I want to answer next are: What is his name? and What is the central point of conflict between him and Harlan? Once those are in place we’ll work on the character the same way we did with Harlan.

Your Turn

With this information in mind let’s see what you guys have to say. What should be our antagonist’s name? What are some points of conflict you would find interesting between Harlan and this as yet unnamed menace? Should the antagonist be helping Harlan or in opposition to him? Does he want Harlan to change or is his agenda something Harlan needs to oppose? Is there something I haven’t thought of?

Next time: We meet the antagonist and talk about the things he adds to this particular story.