- Level
- Mixed
- Basic and Premium Members Prices
- Premium Member $25 & Basic Member $35
Register by June 17th and save $5, use code BEATSMOHR2024 at checkout!
- Category
- Characters
- Structure
- Plotting
- $5 off Early Registration Coupon-expires 1 week before class starts
- BEATSMOHR2024
- Class Length
- 3 Weeks
When crafting a story, it’s only natural to focus on the protagonist and what makes them such an important character. But the antagonist is just as important to the story as the protagonist. Without the antagonist, there would be no conflict. Without conflict, there is no struggle. And without struggle, how can the protagonist have a character arc?
In this course, we’re going to dive into the role of the antagonist of the story and how their actions are just as important to the story structure (with beats that are dedicated to the antagonist).
But we’re not going to focus on just the antagonists that are embodied by another character. Oh no… We’re also going to dive into the antagonists that come in the form of nature, societal norms, and our own inner demons.
In this course, we’re going to dive into the role of the antagonist of the story and how their actions are just as important to the story structure (with beats that are dedicated to the antagonist).
But we’re not going to focus on just the antagonists that are embodied by another character. Oh no… We’re also going to dive into the antagonists that come in the form of nature, societal norms, and our own inner demons.
- Syllabus
- Session 1: The Antagonist and the Protagonist. It’s common to think of an antagonist as the bad guy in a story, but what if your protagonist is actually the bad guy? And what if your story doesn’t have an antagonist character? In this session, we’ll define the protagonist of a story, and we’ll start our examination of what makes an antagonist.
Session 2: The Nature of the Antagonist. In the previous session, we defined what makes an antagonist, but it’s time to start taking a dive into the different types of antagonists found in a story, ranging from good guy vs bad guy through to man vs nature and man vs self. We’ll look at examples of the various types of antagonists found in literature and film.
Session 3: Reminder of Story Structure. There are so many story structure models out there, but they are all essentially the same thing. In this session, we’ll take a brief look at the common models and develop terminology for the core beat points that we can all refer to in future sessions.
Session 4: The Antagonist Beats in Act 1: The Inciting Event. It’s time to dive deep into the beat points that are present in the first Act of a story, including examples. We’ll start by looking at the inciting incident, pointing out how the inciting incident has an antagonistic element to it too.
Session 5: The Antagonist Beats in Act 1: The Extra Push. To carry on with the first act, and our story setup, the antagonist needs to give the protagonist that extra push before the protagonist is willing to head off on their journey. In this session, we’ll be looking at how the antagonist plays a role in the full setup of the story. It’s time to dive deep into the beat points that are present in the first Act of a story, including examples.
Session 6: The Antagonist Beats in Act 2: The Pinch Points. We’re in the middle sections of the story, and the antagonist is making life difficult for the protagonist. But how do these antagonist beats pace out as compared to the protagonist beats?
Session 7: The Antagonist Beats in Act 3. It’s the final act of the story and everything is working its way towards that final climatic moment. Time to discuss how the beat points in the final act interplay between the antagonist and the protagonist.
Session 8: Working with Multiple Antagonists. When you have one antagonist to a story, it’s nice and simple to keep everything pacing along. However, the best stories often have multiple antagonists, with each antagonist being of a different nature. In this session, we’ll discuss how we can take advantage of multiple antagonists within the pacing of the overall story structure.
Session 9: Summary and wrap up. This session is a review of all the key points, but we will also bring this back to a manageable level, so we don’t find ourselves stressing out about beat points when writing and editing our stories.
- Class Format
- Savvy Authors' workshops are held on a forum: a bulletin board based system. You will receive a reminder notice one day prior to the start of the workshop that includes instructions on how to access the workshop forum. If you have not received instructions by the day the workshop begins, please check your spam filter.
The forum will be available the morning (EST) of the day the workshop starts and will remain accessible to all participants thereafter. You will also be given simple instructions on how to create a PDF of all your discussions along with our privacy and data retention policy.