Such a strange way to end things.

[temporus]

So, you other writer types out there. Have you ever gotten all the way through a story, working on the last scene, and suddenly realized you don't like your antagonist?   

I don't mean dislike him as a person--his personality or his actions--but in the sense that you think he's wrong for the part. I think this choice of antagonist made the ending muddled.   I have a "complete" story now.  But, I'm torn about going back and re-writing the whole thing with a new antagonist.  I all ready did that with the protagonist.  I'm happier with the new leading lady.   Dumped about eight pages to start over.  I don't know that this second rewrite would require quite so much slashing as the one for the protagonist did.  

Early on it felt like this was going to be a nice 4K or less story.  The draft I printed crept up to 5750.  Sigh.  I know I can pare that down in the edit.  I've been doing a fair job of that recently on other stories.  I just hoped that I had kept this tighter during the first draft, so it wouldn't need such extensive edits.  I guess that might be moot in any case if I do make a casting change this late in the game.

Ah well.  At least I can call it a first draft.

Comments

[l-clausewitz.livejournal.com]

Not specifically in the way you describe, but I've gone more than halfway through a novel--over fifty thousand words--and I found that I no longer cared for the antagonist or the plot. So I scrapped the damned thing.

(It's Gilded Lilies, in case you remember.)

Maybe the trick is simply that you have to be prepared to set it aside and let it ferment for a (long) while before revisiting it. And you probably know that already. ;P

[elizabethboyce.livejournal.com]

I often found myself thinking as I was writing the antagonists's scenes in my fantasy ms Hearthstone, "You know, he sort of has a point..." so I'd have to come up with some new jackassery for him to pull off to keep him from being overly sympathetic. But no, haven't totally ditched an antag before.

What is it about the character you don't like?

[temporus.livejournal.com]

It's a question of who/what he is. As it stands, he's almost a generic type of bad-guy. He has a sort of serial killer persona, but nothing is clear about it. He has a girl captive (a former prostitute who has fallen back into working the street), and is threatening her life, unless the protagonist does what he asks.

It's not horrible. The scenario is plausible, since attacks on streetwalkers (both of the serial killer type, and the not-so-serial killer type) are not exactly uncommon.

In a lot of guidelines you see warnings off from serial killer stories. And the idea that he's a serial killer isn't specifically important. What is, is that he's a person with little to no remorse for the crimes/sins he's committed.

I'm considering making him a pimp, specifically her previous pimp who caught her back out on the street after she "got away" from him. I figure this might allow more interaction between the "victim" and the antagonist.

On the otherhand, it seemed kind of lame to me that my choices were serial killer or pimp. Kind of wouldn't mind another option. Just not sure what it is yet. Which is why, despite having a feeling that I wanted a new character, I just finished up the draft. If I can't make a better choice, then at least I have a complete work.

[elizabethboyce.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. I like your idea of the pimp being someone who was connected to the victim previously, rather than just nabbing her off the street for no reason. Another option might be a john that she'd previously serviced who became obsessed. Or, since you say she went through a period of not being a prostitute, someone from the halfway house (that's not what those orgs. are called for prostitutes, but I can't think of the term), who is a touch deranged and furious that she's fallen back into her old ways, and wants to "save" her (this could be interesting, because the people who work with prostitutes tend to be women.). Maybe a drug dealer she used to buy from, or just knew from her days on the streets. Or a cop gone bad... there are lots of options. Just think about the kinds of people a prostitute would come into contact with.

And for what it's worth, I remember now that my fantasy novel's antag. did evolve more than I said previously. He started out as a stock wizard type, white beard and all that. As I wrote more and developed a better sense of the story and world, he became a member of a particular caste, completely hairless, and an alchemist specializing in fluid manipulation, rather than generic "magic."

Sorry about the growing pains, but it sounds like you're really digging in and finding the story. Good luck. :)