In a post on Writers in the Storm, Lynette Burrows discusses the forces of antagonism and how to use them in your novel. In an earlier post, Burrows examined the difference between an antagonistic character and the general forces of antagonism. She expands on that discussion here.
In his book, Story, Robert McKee divides these forces into four elements: positive, contradictory, contrary, and the negation of the negation.
- Positive: concepts like justice or honesty. Substitute in the value your protagonist seeks.
- Contradictory: concepts that are opposite the positive, such as injustice or deceit. These elements are in direct conflict with the positive. If one is true, the other cannot be.
Many stories rely on the struggle between positive and contradictory, but additional forces of antagonism can make your story richer and more textured, Burrows says. This is where the next two elements come in handy.
- Contrary: the compromise between positive and contradictory. If your positive element is justice, your contrary element could be unfairness. It’s not as bad as injustice, but it doesn’t sit well. Similarly, a half-truth or exaggeration are neither truth nor lie, but something in between.
- The Negation of the Negation: a negative disguised as a good thing. Tyranny is not justice or freedom, but is often framed as being for the good of the people. Someone might lie to you “for your own good.”
Burrows suggests another way to frame the four corners concept:
- Positive
- Compromise (between positive and negative)
- Delusion (that a negative is a positive)
- Negative
Burrows walks through an exercise in which she creates a protagonist based on Spider-Man and shows how his character arc moves through Compromise (unfairness in life) to Negative (facing injustice) to Delusion (that might makes right) and finally to Positive (a sense of justice and responsibility).
