There is No Bad Guy: What to do When Your Antagonist Isn't a Villain

By Janice Hardy. @Janice_Hardy

This week's Refresher Friday takes an updated look at writing person vs. society conflicts. 

All stories need an antagonist, but not all stories have a villain. At least not in the literal sense of the word. We'll see an antagonist one from of the four basic conflict types, but that covers a variety of situations. We've discussed the person vs. self antagonists, and person vs. nature conflicts, so today, let's talk about the person vs. society conflicts.

A great example of a person vs. society conflict is the movie In Time . It's a world where people have been genetically altered to stop aging at 25, with a one year advance on their lives after that. To continue living, then need to get more time. They work and are paid in actual time (as in it gets added to their lives). The rich live for centuries, the poor struggle with just days (or less) left. The protagonist is a poor guy named Will who is living hour to hour so to speak.
Read more »Written by Janice Hardy. Fiction-University.com