Characters & Target Audiences

“Writing is a little bit like prostitution. First you do it for love. Then you do it for a few friends. Then you do it for money.”

Molière 

All those pure souls who insist they exclusively write for self-expression and art’s sake, please leave this post now. It isn’t going to get any prettier. I started with a quote comparing writers to whores, so don’t act so surprised.

Those who have stayed aren’t expecting writing fiction to make them overnight millionaires. Instead, they yearn for the day readers pay a fair price to receive a piece of fiction the reader already wants to read. Charging for your product and your service doesn’t cheapen it. 

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Antagonist and Character Traits

An antagonist is a character in a story who opposes the protagonist. They often have traits that directly differ from the protagonists and can be used to create tension and conflict in a story.

In tackling character development, the process is similar in all characters, positive or negative.

Antagonists

Antagonists can be human or non-human, such as animals, forces of nature, or even ideas. They are often portrayed as being selfish, power-hungry, or otherwise villainous. Writers need to create well-rounded antagonists with motivations and goals that readers can understand and relate to, as this helps make stories more interesting and engaging. The antagonist can start out seeming harmless, then revert to a truer nature, as can the protagonist. Take some risks, and mix it up. Readers like to be kept on their toes.

Some great questions for developing your protagonist/antagonist are:

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