Writers in the Storm

by Colleen M. Story

How is your story going? Is it on fire with lots of excitement and drama?

Or is it limping along at a lackluster pace with little emotional impact?

If it’s the latter, consider this: You may not be paying enough attention to your antagonist.

I was guilty of this in my early writing. I focused so much on my hero that I neglected the poor bad guy (or girl).

When your antagonist isn't getting enough of your attention, your entire story suffers. I’d go so far as to say your story will fail if you haven’t given just as much of your heart and soul to your bad guy as your good one.

If you’re unsure whether that’s happening in your story, look for these five signs of antagonist neglect.

5 Signs of Antagonist Neglect

1. You’re in the middle of the story and you’re stuck.

It’s easy to get stuck in the middle of a novel, and there are several reasons this may happen. One of the most common is that your antagonist isn’t doing enough to get in your hero’s way.

Go back and review your story so far. From the beginning to the end, your antagonist should fight for what she wants, which should be in direct contrast to what your hero wants. Make sure you know what your antagonist wants, what it means to her, and what she is going to do to get it. Then make sure that with every move she makes, she’s making it harder for your hero.

If you do that and build both stories as you go, you’ll have so much going on that you’ll be much less likely to get stuck.

2. Your pacing is slow. (A.k.a., "This is boring.")

I've grown to love antagonists because they are the ones that make the story fun to read and write. If your story is boring, or if you feel you have to drag yourself through chapter after chapter when you’re writing it, sit down and have a chat with your antagonist.

Imagine pulling up a chair across from this person and asking them a few questions. The first, of course, should be, "What do you want?" The second should be, "What do you think of the hero?"

After you ask, listen. Write what your character "says." As long as you're learning, keep the conversation going. Find out why your antagonist feels misunderstood or why he or she should be the hero of your story instead.

Once you can connect with your antagonist, go back and make sure that person gets equal emphasis in your story. Then things should get more exciting.

3. Your main character is too happy.

I recently saw the new “Hunger Games” movie (The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes). I had read the book beforehand and appreciated how closely the movie followed it. And I enjoyed the show, enough that I’d see it again.

But if you think about it, it’s one misery after the next. Our hero, Coriolanus (who later becomes the villain in the original Hunger Games trilogy), goes through heartache after heartache in a series of difficult events with the amazing Viola Davis as the antagonist behind it all.

If you’ve seen the movie, think about it—Coriolanus is never “happy.” He moves from misery to misery, all the while trying to reach the goal he’s set for himself.

Compare that to your hero. If he is too happy in your story, it may be because you haven’t paid enough attention to your antagonist. This person should put your main character through hell chapter after chapter, with things only getting worse as you go.

Yes, it’s hard to see our heroes suffer, but that’s the hallmark of a good story. Be honest as you’re assessing yours to see if your antagonist needs to be a little harder on your main character.

4. Your synopsis reads like “blah blah blah.”

Writing a synopsis is something most authors dread. It’s so difficult to summarize an 85,000 novel in 1,000 words or so.

If you haven’t done it yet, try it now. It’s a great exercise, and it can show you where you may have holes in your story structure. If you’ve done it right, you’ll have a very clear plotline with your hero and antagonist butting heads all the way, and only one clear winner in the end.

On the other hand, if your synopsis reads, “this happened, then this happened, then this happened” with no increase in stakes, drama, and dread, it’s time to go back and see if you need to further develop your antagonist. Often, giving this person more character and more action can force your hero into a situation where he or she must lay it all on the line to win.

5. You don’t love your antagonist…yet.

I’m so grateful to all of my antagonists. They make my stories come to life. I don’t agree with what they do, but I feel for them as people. I understand them.

If your antagonist is only the “bad guy” or “bad girl” so far, you haven’t gotten to know them well enough. This should feel like a real person who you’re rooting for initially, but who chooses the wrong path.

It’s this person’s actions that force your main character to adapt, shift, take action, suffer, get up, and try again. Without the antagonist, your main character stays the same. And as we all know, character change is the key to an excellent novel.

I loved the movie “Unbreakable” with Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson. It’s a great study of how critical the antagonist is to the hero's growth and change.

Samuel L. Jackson plays Elijah Price, the antagonist to Bruce Willis’ David Dunn, the hero. This quote comes at the end of the movie when Price—who is speaking to Dunn—finally reveals who he really is.

“Now that we know who you are, I know who I am. I'm not a mistake! It all makes sense! In a comic, you know how you can tell who the arch-villain's going to be? He's the exact opposite of the hero. And most times they're friends, like you and me!” (emphasis mine)

Colleen M. Story is a novelist, freelance writer, writing coach, and speaker with over 20 years in the creative writing industry. In addition to writing several award-winning novels, Colleen's series of popular success guides, Your Writing Matters, Writer Get Noticed! and Overwhelmed Writer Rescue, have all been recognized for their distinction.

Colleen offers personalized coaching plans tailored to meet your needs, and frequently serves as a workshop leader and motivational speaker, where she helps attendees remove mental and emotional blocks and tap into their unique creative powers. Connect with Colleen at the links below.
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Note: Colleen offers affordable, individualized coaching plans. Prices are going up in the new year, so if you’d like some help on your story, sign up now. Find more information here!

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

To strengthen your story, look at each scene as a reader would.

We writers spend a lot of time looking at our work like, well, a writer. We study plot and structure, pace and tension, character and dialogue, but how often do we think about how the reader is going to react to our story?

One of my critique groups is a “critique as we write” group. Every week, we turn in two chapters of our first drafts or whatever draft we’re revising. It’s a great way to keep our writing momentum going since we have people waiting for pages, but it’s had a much better benefit than we realized when we started the group.

We get real-time feedback about what readers expect to happen next.

This has utterly changed the direction of two of my novels so far, and both for the better.

We don’t turn in our comments and line edits until after we’ve met, so our group discussion focuses on the big picture issues and what the author is trying to do with the story.

Which means, when I set up certain situations that really hook the reader, my critique partners tell me they’re excited about what’s going to happen next. If I didn’t plan for anything exciting, I know I need to figure out something and meet those expectations.

This pushes me to dig deeper and think outside the box, as well as take advantage of anything I might have accidentally done or inadvertently set up.

Example One: Make the World Building Matter

I have a magical storm in my middle grade WIP that was originally just colorful world building. It was approaching the town, and would hit and be scary and cool, but I’d never intended it to be more than just “magical weather” to show how the magic in this world works.

But my critique partners were excited about it, and one was convinced that the storm was going to cause something awful that would have a significant impact on the story.

Which, um, yeah, it wasn’t gonna do that.

I was in quite the quandary after that session, because I knew the next chapter would let my readers down. Clearly, I’d created a great hook and they were anticipating what might happen, which raised the tension and stakes in the story. Even though the storm wasn’t that big a deal, I saw how it could be.

Not following through on reader anticipation would have missed a huge opportunity to deepen my story and make the world richer. I brainstormed how that storm could play a larger role, and that changed the course of my entire novel.

It was still the same story, but the storm created a situation that brought the core conflict into play in a much more impactful way than I’d previously planned. It went from being a world building detail to the bridge between the inciting event and the second act of the novel.

Which was super cool.

How you can use this in your own novel:

If you don’t have access to critique partners or beta readers, look at your scene as if you’ve never seen it before and have no idea what is going to happen next. Ask:

• What events have you set up that could go somewhere more interesting than you originally planned?
• What are the moments that will pique reader curiosity?
• What currently doesn’t lead anywhere, but it interesting? Could you make it lead somewhere?

Pretend this is the first time you’ve seen these pages and put yourself in the reader’s shoes. If you do have access to a beta reader, give them the chapter and ask them what they expect will happen, and what parts they were excited or curious about. If they line up with what you did, awesome! If not, can you use that knowledge to improve the story?

Example Two: Move Things Around for the Strongest Impact

In the science fiction detective story I’m revising, one of my critique partners noted that she was ready for my protagonist to “go to the cabin.” It was something I’d been teasing for the first half of the book, but it was originally intended to be part of the epilogue. I never planned for my protagonist to go there before the plot was resolved, as it was something that was part of his backstory, and a subplot for the series.

Well, after her comments, I obviously needed to re-think that. I’d dangled too big a carrot and now I’d set reader expectations that I wasn’t going to deliver on. That would lead to unsatisfied readers.

I’d been trying to deepen the protagonist’s personal story, and I realized that if he did indeed “go to that cabin” in the midpoint, it combined the two main conflicts of the entire novel. It solved a problem I’d be struggling with, and did it in a way that cranked up the tension and mystery, as well as brought the personal story arc into the plot arc.

My critique partner was right—that character had to go there, and everything I’d done during the revision inadvertently set it up so readers were ready and anticipating that trip. If I didn’t do it, they’d get annoyed about all the focus I was putting on something that wasn’t going to play a big role in this book.

And just as my magical storm had changed my MG fantasy, this visit to the cabin changed my detective novel, and made it oh, so much richer.

How you can use this in your own novel:

First drafts are great dumping grounds for solid ideas and half-formed ideas. It’s the half-formed ones that often sneak in at odd times, totally out of order, but they bring something compelling to the tale. Move them around and you might wind up with an awesome twist you didn’t realize you had. Ask:

• Am I holding back the “good stuff?”
• Is there anything in the story that would have more impact if I revealed it sooner? What about later?
• What are the things readers are going to be most curious about?
• What have I been teasing readers with all book? Is there a payoff for all that teasing?

Don’t be afraid to cut and paste events and see how the story flows. Moving things around can tweak your pacing and tension, and add a more compelling layer to the story.

There’s a fine line between doing what readers expect and satisfying reader expectation, and the trick is to skirt that line.

When we do it well, readers anticipate what’s to come and eagerly look forward to seeing it happen. When we do it poorly, they know what’s coming and the story feels stale and predictable. If you can get a sense of what readers expect as you write (or in an early draft), you can play with those expectations so they’re satisfied by what happens, and surprised because it’s not the way they thought it would be.

Do you have beta readers who share thoughts on works in progress?

About Janice

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author and founder of the popular writing site Fiction University, where she helps writers improve their craft and navigate the crazy world of publishing. Not only does she write about writing, she teaches workshops across the country, and her blog has been recognized as a Top Writing Blog by Writer’s Digest. She also spins tales of adventure for both teens and adults, and firmly believes that doing terrible things to her characters makes them more interesting (in a good way). She loves talking with writers and readers, and encourages questions of all types—even the weird ones.

Find out more about writing at www.Fiction-University.com, or visit her author’s site at www.JaniceHardy.com. Subscribe to her newsletter to stay updated on future books, workshops, and events and receive her ebook, 25 Ways to Strengthen Your Writing Right Now, free.

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By Piper Bayard of Bayard & Holmes

I’ll say it straight up. Marketing is the bane of my writing existence. I can draft a book, withstand ruthless editing, rewrite the book half a dozen times or more, format it, create a cover for it, etc., but, dear God, don’t ask me to sell it!

I did all of the things I was supposed to do. I posted blogs and articles. I built respectable platforms on Twitter (now X) and Facebook. I networked with everyone from readers to mega-authors. I started a newsletter. I taught at conferences. I ran ad campaigns. What I learned from all of it is that I need professional help. Today, I’m sharing some mistakes and challenges I’ve encountered in the ruthless marketing arena.

1. Platforms Can Disappear in a Blink

Tech platforms that we build for years can get torpedoed into oblivion overnight through no fault of our own. I’ll give you my own cautionary tale as an illustration.

For years, my espionage fiction and nonfiction partner Jay Holmes and I supplied articles twice a week for a company called Social In, in addition to posting three times a week at our own site. Social In had over 60 websites with corresponding Twitter accounts.

The Twitter accounts consisted of ads to provide people with information on articles at the sites and on social events in their city, and each website was tailored to a different city. The ads were programmed to tweet out at various times throughout the day, and the followers signed up specifically for those event ads and contributed articles. Through Social In, Holmes and I reached over six million people. . . You read that right. Six million.

In 2018, a mere two weeks before our first nonfiction release, Spycraft: Essentials, Twitter changed its rules--no more identical tweets. With over 60 sites, it would have been too labor-intensive to keep Social In alive by hand. The business crashed, and our six-million-reach platform disappeared. Seven years of investment gone overnight, and us left high and dry.

We learned the hard way that six thousand loyal readers in a newsletter we control would have been better than six million followers at the mercy of Big Tech.

2. The Spawn of Satan -- Social Media Algorithms

Believe it or not, there was a time when all of our “friends” on our platforms saw our posts in their feed. With the rise of that Spawn of Satan known as Social Media Algorithms, we have all been squeezed into little echo chambers online. This means that only a handful of people see our posts, and unless those posts garnish great admiration through likes and replies, they remain in obscurity.

Compound that with Big Tech curating what gets seen and what does not, and it makes for precarious marketing platforms. As a result, it is now possible to have thousands of followers with a reach of only a few dozen. It doesn’t mean social media is a complete waste of time for building an audience, but it does mean our audience is severely limited.

3. The Propaganda Cold War

Increasingly, “social media” has become a battleground for foreign and domestic powers to control what the Romans referred to as “the mob.” The Chinese, the Russians, the Iranians, domestic political parties, etc., closely monitor social media feeds and use the platforms to incite violence, chaos, and confusion in the world. They do this with trolling, and as anyone who is on social media can attest, there is always a swarm of poorly informed people with strong opinions who are happy to pile on.

As a result, the consequences of one wrong word, one misinterpretation, one unpopular opinion, etc., have become catastrophic to careers. While it is intellectually fascinating for me to watch, as I have been a student of propaganda for decades, this deluge of social media incitement has put a damper on civil discourse and driven many readers from the arena, making them harder for authors to reach.

4. Ideological Dominance

One more marketing challenge that we face as writers is the elimination of diversity of thought in the traditional publishing world. At this point in time in the publishing world, the current dominant social ideology has pre-empted all else in New York publishing. This is not the first time this has happened. When any single ideology, regardless of what it is, so completely dominates the publishing world, it poses a challenge to the substantial number of authors who have diverse voices. Those authors cannot get contracts with the Big Five, and, therefore, cannot benefit from the Big Five ready-made route to market through established media support, social platforms, and audiences.

Those who do not fit into the narrow conscripts of the prevailing ideology must go with smaller publishing houses, which have fewer marketing resources, or enter the world of indie publishing and depend on their own marketing efforts or the efforts of those they hire. Their customers don’t exist in a convenient block in one place, waiting for material. Those alternative voices must find their own ways to seek out readers and corral them together into the virtual store fronts of their websites and newsletters to build marketing blocks of their own.

I’m not saying there are no advantages to publishing with smaller houses or indie publishing. There are excellent small publishing houses which offer benefits that can outweigh the Big Five, and certainly the independence and flexibility of indie publishing cannot be overvalued. I’m only pointing out that marketing is much more of a challenge for those publishers and  indie authors.

5. Satan’s Other Spawn -- Amazon Algorithms

When a book is loaded into Amazon, key words and categories instruct the program where to place the book so that it appears in searches of similar books. Sounds simple, right? Sure it is, when it works. However, it often doesn’t work, and books get buried in unlikely places.

Again, I will offer my own example. We released The Leopard of Cairo in April of 2022. Key words and categories all involved such fun things as espionage, thrillers, adventure, etc. Somehow, the book quickly disappeared from visibility to be pigeonholed with travel books to Egypt and Africa, and it sits there to this day. The Panther of Baracoa came out one week later with similar key words and categories, and as of this article, it is listed with The Pink Panther videos.

I suppose this is an upgrade, because for over a year The Panther of Baracoa was categorized with panther plushie toys. I kid thee not. When I contacted Amazon for help, they told me to update my key words and categories, but other than that, they could do nothing.

Similar things have happened with the books of a few other authors I know, and none of us knows why. Speculation ranges from computer glitches, to advertisements gone awry, to straight up shadow banning. Regardless of the reason why, misbehaving Amazon algorithms can take a book down faster than fire took down the Hindenburg.

6. Shifting Sands of Success

Successful book marketing is a chaotic target. It is not a math problem which, once solved, will always have the same answer. That means that what works today will at least need tweaking or will not work at all in a few months. For those of us who are not marketing marksmen, constantly having to re-focus on the target is a huge time suck that can torch the joy of writing, stoke depression, and prove prohibitive to actually getting words on the page.

7. Shifting Sands of Technology

Which brings us to the other huge marketing time suck, technology. My husband is a computer hardware architect, and I’m always asking him why he and his peers can’t just make something that works and leave it alone. He blames the software guys, but the blaming does nothing to solve the problem.

Using the technology of word processors, book formatting programs, websites, all of the various social platforms, etc., isn’t something we only learn once. It’s something we have to continually figure out and keep up with as Big Tech does what it does best--make largely arbitrary changes to keep themselves in business. And then there are all of the glitches, outages, hackers, and computer failures that add to that equation. As a result, the infrastructure that our book marketing efforts rest upon is at best an occasional drain of time and energy and at worst entire days spent down technological rabbit holes just to keep things running.

So for all these reasons and more, I’m done with leading my own marketing department. Life is just too short. I’m going with the pros, and, as I’ve told them, I will be putty in their hands--as biddable as a duckling looking to imprint on its mother. May I never fight these obstacles on my own again.

Do you do your own book marketing? What pitfalls have you found? What works well for you this week? Do you hire professionals to help you?

About Piper

Piper Bayard and Jay Holmes of Bayard & Holmes are the authors of espionage tomes and international spy thrillers. Their fiction and nonfiction books are available at their site, BayardandHolmes.com. You can contact Bayard & Holmes at their Contact page, on Twitter (now X) at @piperbayard, on Facebook at Piper Bayard, or at their email, BayardandHolmes@protonmail.com.

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