The 25-Day Novel Challenge: Day Fifteen

WORD COUNT: 60,044/75,000

Today I hit the 60k mark, so that means that I am now 80% through the book, according to the progress bar on my site here. And it definitely feels like the ending is near. The protagonist is about to fight the antagonist and I have a feeling it’s going to be a great fight scene. Really looking forward to writing it tomorrow.

Speaking of antagonists, they can sometimes be some of the funnest characters to write in a story. The antagonist for this book, Master Chaos, is especially fun to write. I won’t go into any detail about him, because I want to keep his personality a surprise for readers, but if you like comic book villains of any sort, I can guarantee that you will like Master Chaos.

Making a good antagonist, while fun, can also be hard. You don’t want an antagonist who is a pushover and poses no threat whatsoever to your protagonist (unless it’s a comedy or maybe a minor antagonist whose sole purpose is to be easily beaten by the heroes for laughs or something like that), but neither do you want an antagonist who is so powerful that you need a Deus ex Machina to defeat him.

A good antagonist will be strong enough to give your protagonist a run for his money, but can still beatable within the rules of the universe. You can make the method to defeat the antagonist unknown at first, but if you’re going to do that, you should throw in subtle clues at various points throughout the story foreshadowing it so that when you do reveal it, it comes across less as a Deus ex Machina and more like an organic and logical part of your story or your story’s universe.

Anyway, that’s my thoughts for today. On to Day Sixteen!