Questions tagged [protagonist]
The character in a work of fiction whom the reader wishes to win. The opposite of the antagonist, and usually pitted against them. If your question is more about any character, use the 'characters' tag instead.
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How do you write a convincing extrovert as the POV character?
One of the main characters in my story is an extrovert: people-loving (and pleasing), gung-ho cheerful attitude, and socially intelligent. She's a foil to the other main character, an introvert who ...
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Can a stream of consciousness be successfully maintained in the first person in a long novel?
I think there are stream of consciousness writings in the third person, but was wondering about the first person. No other dialogue with other characters, just the thoughts of the protagonist as he/...
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How do I write dual POV (probably in first person)?
Thinking about certain scenes in my book and the messages/themes I want to convey, it seems best to write from two different POVs: the young adult female protagonist and the older male protagonist.
In ...
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Using the stages of grief to fall in love
I would love to utilize the stages of grief in a way to show the progression of a character's resistance to fall in love. I have some ideas for each. What are some other ideas?
I have a vigilante ...
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Is it inadvisable to use a racial slur in my story?
I’m currently writing a story which is an erotic thriller/romance set in the music/TV industry. The protagonist is a Taylor Swift-type confessional songwriter who is the biggest popstar in the world, ...
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How to go about describing an anthro protagonist?
I'm working on a rewrite of a story of mine. One of the improvements I'm trying to make is avoiding the block of physical description text, and trying to use more show-don't-tell. So far, all I've ...
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"Normal world" as a flashback
I'm toying with the idea of starting off with the MC freshly landed in his new world. But I reveal the a) Normal World and b) Inciting incident using through two methods. 1. The Normal world is ...
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I need some help polishing my protagonist's motivations
I'm writing a survival horror story that's a mixture between Bloodborne and The Last of Us. The story follows an emotionally distant woman and a physically disabled child as they trek through a world ...
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How to write an insulting experience for my protagonist?
My protagonist finds out that his friends have completely forgotten him. I want to write an insulting scene for my protagonist and want the readers to connect with him fully. Need some tips on how to ...
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Not revealing my MC's gender [duplicate]
I couldn't decide on whether the protagonist should be a girl or a boy. The MC's gender would just never be revealed and nobody would care about it, like in Undertale. Readers would barely question it ...
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Would it be too controversial to have the antagonist "get the (protagonist's) girl"?
I'm considering the idea of the antagonist of getting the protagonist's girl (either temporarily or permanently). Various ideas I'm playing with:
the antagonist uses non-consensual manipulation to ...
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Who is the protagonist in the Hobbit movies?
You might think it is Bilbo (because it's his POV), but doesn't he play a rather minor role in the task to reclaim the mountain?
Isn't Thorin the one who is the causer of effects, who makes decisions, ...
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Making a character not too hateable
In my story, the protagonist is made as a destined chosen one to defeat the dark lord. He is not this "good" angel, but rather a murderous anti-hero. While he undergoes character development ...
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How do I write a screenplay with three protagonists?
I'm an aspiring screenwriter. I'm in the process of writing my third script. But I'm stuck in a quandary. I don't know how to effectively write a screenplay with three protagonists!
The story revolves ...
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If a protagonist is smart enough to escape a trap, how could they have allowed themselves to become trapped in the first place?
My protagonist is crafty, resourceful, cunning, and principled. She finds herself trapped both physically (due to seclusion in a remote area of wilderness) and psychologically (by a controlling ...
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Confused about motive and goal of protagonist
I'm outlining a story and am all confused about motive and goal of my protagonist. She has been brought up to believe that she is weak and easily controlled. She yearns to teach her children to be ...
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Are there separate character development rules for plural protagonists?
If a story has a plural protagonist such as The Hardy Boys or The Goonies, you may choose to put equal weight on your characters to portray a team, and as a consequence do a lot of head hopping.
My ...
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Introducing suspense devices when protagonist is nearly omnipotent
Perhaps the most formulaic plot framework has the protagonist as an underdog where he/she must overcome incredible odds. Simply to illustrate, consider: LotR (they are but mere hobbits). While the ...
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Disappearing Protagonist
If the main character in a novel disappears at the climax of the book, never to be heard from again, would that be a frustrating experience for the reader?
Details: classic three-act structure where ...
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Can I write a protagonist that speaks broken English without annoying the reader? [duplicate]
I’m wanting to write a protagonist that is from a fictional land with fictional languages and isn’t incredibly fluid in English. I’m thinking that when she narrates in her own head, she sounds pretty ...
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How can I compensate for lack of decision-making due to a non-sentient protagonist?
I intend to write an adventure novel where the protagonist is a (divine) plant. Though it cannot move or speak, it's necessary for the plant to be the main protagonist (there will not be any subplots)....
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How can I raise the stakes for my villain protagonist?
I'm currently writing a story about a psychopathic serial killer that meets a detective (the murderer owns a restaurant and the detective and his wife meet him there) that is investigating the victims ...
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Can you write a story without a protagonist?
Is it possible for there to be a story of a villain on a rampage only told in his perspective and his victims? Near the beginning, he defeats the only characters brave enough to stand up against him. ...
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Can one character be both an antagonist and a protagonist?
If the protagonist seeks to stop themselves and creates conflict for themselves are they a protagonist, an antagonist, or both?
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Is this sort of character arc too confusing?
In my story, I wanted to play with the idea of the protagonist taking a hero-to-villain arc, and the antagonist taking a villain-to-hero arc, with the POV's switching to make the previous antagonist ...
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Can there only be a protagonist if there is an antagonist?
Wikipedia defines the protagonist of a story as follows:
A protagonist (from Ancient Greek πρωταγωνιστής, prōtagōnistḗs 'one who plays the first part, chief actor') is the main character of a story.
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Can the villain be introduced too late?
An important aspect of my story is the dread of my villain. He is slowly built up throughout the story, with a bunch of characters here and there talking of the terror he inflicts upon the world. ...
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Going back in time [closed]
If i were to have a character go back in time, could there be a rule for having only one world exist? So if she goes back in time, the other world would be destroyed? Could that potentially happen, so ...
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How would you torture one of your MC without having a permanent injury? [closed]
I am a young author writing a fantasy series. I have been thinking about this for a while. In my fourth book, one of my MC’s gets captured by the antagonist. Th MC that was captured is the closest ...
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My protagonist being needed for my story is a life changing event, does that mean the event needs to be in my story?
My protagonist is a first-generation native on a colony world. The general culture of the colony makes it clear that everyone must contribute to the colony in a meaningful way. But instead of ...
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How do you prevent a character from being a creator's pet?
I have a character that I really like. They were originally intended to be the main villain for a particular story arc and then get killed off for good at the end, but I felt they were really ...
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Morals on Novels, is it appreciated to make sacrifices for the greater good?
One of my MC's is a decision maker to turn the tides of war, the enemies have brought hostages, he tells the other MC (who has principles on not taking innocent peoples lives) to not worry about it. ...
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Male, but can handle only female protagonists
I’m trying to improve my writing skills, doing both original works and facfiction, but there is a peculiar limitation to what I achieve. Despite being male, I fail to write from a male perspective and ...
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Does my protagonist need to be the most important character?
In my fantasy story that I'm slowly getting into, my MC Sirena is an apprentice witch. Her two fellow apprentices, Aster and Keeva, study alongside her under their High Priestess, and they all ...
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What if a dark protagonist doesn't want to change?
Dark protagonists. Heroes who are evil, pure flaws, or exhibiting only weakness or darkness, rather than strength or light. There is one basic assumption I would like to make about such characters: ...
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Can I conceal an antihero's insanity - and should I?
I have an idea for an anti-heroic sci-fi character whose character arc runs from spoilt rich girl, to a refugee in the rubble of human civilisation after an alien invasion, to crewmember and then ...
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Is using a different voice for protagonist's narration and dialogue ok?
My protagonist uses a lot of extensive vocabulary and is quite verbose. The novel I am writing is a first-person narrative, and my protagonist is the narrator of the novel.
An extensive vocabulary ...
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How to trick the reader into thinking they're following a redshirt instead of the protagonist?
I'm currently planning a "magical girl" story, and I thought of an interesting way to start it, rather than launching straight into the backstory. It opens with a woman in her mid-thirties, complete ...
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What if neither the protagonist nor antagonist wins?
This may seem like an awkward scenario for a story's ending. My plot revolves around a constant struggle of the protagonist against the antagonist's forces, and eventually the antagonist himself. I've ...
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Will it be accepted, if there is no ''Main Character" stereotype?
There is a character in every story. Special One. It becomes the center of the story. i.e. the Main character.
The author takes special care of them. Provides them wise thinking. Good luck. A charm. ...
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Creating or identifying secondary protagonists
First of all, this is my first time writing more than a short story, and I am quite new to writing in general, so pretty novice. I am currently in the process of outlining the story for a novel I am ...
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How far I can write about a protagonist with a different ethnicity of me?
I am planning to write a book about a life of a person. However, the protagonist is a black person. The main plot is not about ethnicity things, but where the plot happens I have to talk about some ...
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Is a lawful good "antagonist" effective?
In my post-apocalyptic novel, my protagonist is not necessarily "good", and although the antagonist is an honest and kind person, my protagonist perceives her as "evil". My antagonist is the leader ...
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How to turn an antagonist into a protagonist? [closed]
In a piece I am writing, I want to turn an antagonist into a protagonist. I know that numerous ways to accomplish this are somewhere out there, but none of the help with a smooth transformation. Is ...
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Protagonist constantly has to have long words explained to her. Will this get tedious?
A while back, I redrafted my NaNoWriMo 2017 story, but it still needs another draft. This question is about one of the concerns I have.
The story takes place in a medieval fantasy setting, and the ...
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Protagonist Goal and achieving it [closed]
My MC is a famous singer/songwriter who is bad at writing lyrics. Her goal is to write commercially successful, deep, serious songs. How do I design the character arc in relation to this goal? Also, ...
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Effectively conveying an unreliable narrator
I have been working on a post-apocalyptic novel for about a year. My female narrator/protagonist, named Eris, was isolated for almost all of her life until meeting a rogue group of survivors and ...
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Averting Protagonist-Centred Morality
Protagonist-Centred Morality is when a fictional work is eager to point out when an antagonist does something immoral or distasteful but fails to acknowledge when a protagonist does the same or ...
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Female Detective [closed]
I want to write a female detective murder mystery. I have 15 characters; 14 women and 1 man. I want the male to be the secretary for the, Cavalcade Detective Agency. He is well educated, charming, and ...
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Should I let my hero die with the villain?
I'm writing my own fantasy novel and the way I want it to end is with the villain showing his humanity to the hero, begging for mercy, and when the hero is about to spare him the villains stabs him ...
