For my Asian-fantasy story set in a created country and magical university and city, I believe I have a lot of scope for conflicts but I'm not sure what I want to do, especially since I can't create a need and want for my main character and an antagonist(s) to oppose them. The one I created to fill the role of an antagonist feels more like a 'good' supporting character. How do you begin developing the main character AND antagonists so that there are conflicts in their beliefs but also some similarities between them? Also, what sort of conflicts could there be at a university that are different/developed further from secondary/high school? Thank you.
Well, you could start with asking yourself what kinds of challenges these characters logically would face in this setting/society. Rival classmates? Vindictive teachers? Maybe an outside organization doesn't like what the university is doing, or is in conflict with their ideals? Not all antagonists have to be larger than life. Take a look at the movie "How to Train Your Dragon": The most prominent "antagonist" of that story is Hiccup's father, and the other kids. The main conflict is Hiccup acting against the ideals and beliefs of his society, and not everyone takes well to that. Finding out his relationship with Toothless gets him in trouble. Then of course there's the big ol' dragon, which is more of a secondary "villain". It's the reason why dragons are stealing the village's livestock. I like to use this movie as an example of non-traditional "villains". Sadly, the sequel introduced your run-of-the-mill "I want to rule the world by force" bad guy, and that's just boring!
The best way to make an antagonist in the way you described is give them similar dissatisfactions and motivations (eg. they both want safety and security). Then figure out their story goals (which will probably be different), and action plans they'd take to get there in an ideal world. Compare the plans, figure out where they'll clash, how they'll readjust their plans, where they'll clash again and so on. Protagonists and antagonists need just as much work, development and character arc detail as each other.
1. If you can't create want & antagonist, then your progagonist might be too perfect, too strong or too secured. Antagonist is very good to use protagonists weaknesses agaist protagonist. He is stronger partly because of that. If protagonist does not have big weaknesses there is no room for antagonist. If protagonist is able to correct his wounds and weaknesses antagonist can't keep his grip. Then there is no conflict, no story, no tension. 2. You start developing antagonist by developing wounded and weak protagonist that becomes stronger thorough difficulties. Harry Potter is orphan and lives in a closet under stairs with bullying family. Don Quiote is mad. Jason Bourne has amnesia & moral conflict. Charlie Brown & Donald Duck are loosers. Capt. John Yossarian has burn out. Mma Ramotswe has problems to stand her ground against bully -types... Conflicts, antagonists and stories rise from protagonists wounds and their dissability to correct those deep wounds. Theme is around these wounds. Plot is around happenings & conflicts between protagonist and antagonist. So... Maybe you must hurt your protagonist before story can start.
I don't think you necessarily need an antagonist who's a character - your character needs something to struggle against, but that something doesn't need to be a person. There's the old man vs man, man vs nature, man vs self set-up that might help you figure out what's getting in the way of your character getting what s/he wants?
Whenever I develop a character, the single most important piece is desire or yearning. Once you have that nailed, there is always conflict. What can stand in the way of the character’s desire? Desire begets conflict, so when I approach a character from this angle, the conflict is, in most cases, built into the character. Then it’s just a matter of sharpening all of it until it says what I want it to say, but that’s usually a revision concern.
If your main character has no needs or wants, about all you can do is describe trees. I'd rework the character somehow.
I agree, but I'm not sure the needs/wants have to be there before the story starts. Like, if you have a character who's completely content, and then when the story starts you mess up that contentment and the character needs/wants to get back to the way things were before, I think that's totally workable.
I agree that you don't need a specific antagonist. Sometimes you are your own worst enemy. Say your character wants to diet and be slim by prom -- though you might have people ragging on her about her weight nobody is going to be sabotaging her any worse than herself. If I have an antagonist I first give my mc a goal and a need and then I think what is the most obvious opposition. For my WIP my mc is a fourteen old child star whose dad walked out on him; he wants a dad more than anything. The 'antagonist', who really isn't, is the director he latches onto a forty-six year old man who has abandoned several children already and doesn't want to be a father. Don't think in terms of hero villain - just conflict and choices. In the above scenario where the girl is trying to lose weight before the prom -- her 'antagonist' might not be someone who calls her names maybe it's a friend who is trying to dissuade her by saying don't bend for preconceived notions of beauty and she must battle against that to fulfill her own desire.
That is actually my favorite theme to use in my own stories, where life for the MC is going perfectly fine until one day, and everything gets turned upside-down and they have to try to deal with the big changes going on in their life. That then creates lots of fun internal conflict.
