Ideas and Thoughts on Antagonists

The following I posted in response to a question on a LinkedIn forum I belong to in reference to the means of “chosing an antagonist.”

I like the idea that an antagonist personifies the hubris or fatal flaw of the hero. He shows the audience what the hero would become if he succumbed to his flaw and even embraced it.

Since Luke and Vader have already been mentioned, let's run with it. Darth Vader (and later the Emperor) has embraced the Dark Side and has become very powerful for it. Luke is being tempted by the Dark Side and is even succumbing to it to a degree. But, it is at that moment where he demonstrates that he would rather die by falling down the gas mining shaft than join Vader that he triumphs over himself and becomes the final hero whose actions lead him to his final confrontations.

What Bill said is correct, you need to see that the antagonist might have a shot at winning. He might even have a very good reason for winning.

Remember, though, that Darth Vader offered to finally end the entire war with Luke by his side, and they probably could have too. But, which was better, to give in and save hundreds to thousands of lives to establish a tyranny, or to continue to resist, lose hundreds to thousands of lives but let those lost along the way die in pursuit of the freedom of those who came after?

Provide both your antagonist and hero chances to grow and change becoming more of their defining character value. Remember that Han Solo is a lot more interesting (at least to me and many others to whom I have spoken) than Luke. Han starts at "Scoundrel" and becomes "General" and a hero of the Rebellion. But, ultimately it is when Luke faces the darkness within himself that he is able to become the true hero by triumphing over it.

Do I Write in the Mode of King or Tolkien?

In reference to Jim Wolverton’s question of, am I a Tolkien-style writer or a King-style writer I answer, I’m a mix of the two. I guess I should also throw in that I have a third author in my mix: Dave Wolverton (and this is not just a brown-nosing moment). I have made an extensive study, over the last near-twenty years (ever since Dave gave me a copy of On My Way to Paradise for my thirteenth birthday on Thanksgiving day twenty years ago) of writing how-to books. Some I have kept some I have discarded.

King or Tolkien?

I tried to do my writing once, pardon the pun, A-La-King, and did alright. Elsewhere he compares writing to seeing the story inside the words the way Michelangelo would see the sculpture trapped inside the stone, just chip at it until it comes out. I guess with words, it's kind of backwards: see the scene and write at it until it comes out. King states that he writes from situations: he sees the situation in his head and then starts asking the questions of why and how; why is this character in this situation; how did the character get there.

And there is something very good to be said there, when writing a scene look at the characters in the scene and ask yourself how and why is the character in the situation. But go into detail on characters, their depth and detail of that answer with care--we don't want to get so caught up in character creation and explanation that we don't write our story.

Tolkien, on the other hand, created almost every single character and situation from its linguistic root. Even the names and happenings to the Hobbits in the Lord of the Rings come from their name linguistic roots. For example, look at this quote from the Wikipedia page for Merry:

In the prefaces and appendices to The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien employed the conceit that he was the modern translator of a unique manuscript, the Red Book of Westmarch, and that his stories of Middle-Earth derived from that. In this guise of translator, he maintained that Meriadoc Brandybuck was not the character's real name, but rather Kalimac Brandagamba. This was said to be an actual phonetic transcription of the name in Westron, the Common Speech of western Middle-earth, which Tolkien said he transliterated to English as follows: The nickname "Merry" represents his actual nickname Kali which meant "handsome, happy", and "Meriadoc" serves as a plausible name from which a nickname meaning "happy" could be derived.

Merry is called Holdwine by Théoden and was thus known as such in the records of Rohan. It most probably derives from the Old English words hold and wine, respectively meaning "faithful" and "friend". Tolkien used Old English to represent Rohirric so Holdwine, like Meriadoc Brandybuck, is not what the character was actually called. Tolkien does not give Merry's real Rohirric name.

It has been asserted that the name Meriadoc could be in itself an allusion to the British nobleman Conan Meriadoc, legendary founder of the house of Rohan in Brittany, since the character Meriadoc is closely associated with Tolkien's kingdom of Rohan. (Wikipedia. Meriadoc Brandybuck. “Names and titles.” 2009)

Indeed, the fact that Merry ends up going with the Rohirim and serving their king, is because of this linguistic root. His name is very Anglo-Saxon (Old English) in origin and the Riders of Rohan are essentially a romanticized view of the Anglo-Saxons with horses, Merry went with his namesake group.

For my writing, though, I actually like Dave's approach of the three documents (Setting, Character, Conflict). It gives an opportunity for the chiseling-out of characters in their settings then the Conflicts document becomes the outline for the story. For my own trick, I have found that cloud writing (or even more visually the classic bubble brain-storming) helps get me started on those elements of setting, character, and conflict and then, when I get to a point that I understand my character and his situation well enough, I write up a seven-point character story, as suggested in Algis Budrys’ Writing to the Point.

I think this is kind of half-King, half-Tolkien.

Like I said, each writer has something good to offer. Each writer can almost be viewed as an extreme on the spectrum of story creation, but, ultimately, I think that there are benefits to taking some from each and making it your own.

Meditation and Getting into the Zone

The following is a copy of an email I sent to my Uncle Dave Wolverton as he is doing research into getting into the Zone while writing. These were some of my suggestions:

I have been teaching Zen meditation, Yoga, and Tai Chi Chuan for eight years, I have been practicing for ten. And I have found that a good meditation indeed helps to find your zone.

A simple one anyone can do is to sit still, spine straight, on a chair or on the floor. Then breathe correctly. To breathe correctly, make sure to breathe with the belly (employing the diaphragm)and not the chest. The diaphragm is meant to expand and contract, the chest is meant to protect organs.

Next, when you breathe in think the number "1" to yourself. Don't drag the number through your mind with the whole inhale, just at the start of the inhale.

Then hold the breath for a moment.

Now let the breath out slowly and controlled. When you exhale, count "2" in your mind. Again only at the start of the air movement, not through the whole exhale.

Hold the breath out for a moment.

Breathe in again and count "3" in your mind.

And so-forth.

The purpose of this meditation, called "Counting the Breath" is to silence the inner voice. This is usually a negative voice that prattles on and on inside our heads giving a running narrative to everything we do. This voice usually tears us down and calls us names. It tells us how stupid we are and that we will never accomplish what we're after. Counting each part of the breath, gives the mind something on which to focus. Once focused the inner voice silences.

If, during the process of this meditation, you find that the inner voice starts talking again, and you start saying anything more than a syllable to yourself, you need to start back over again at "1" on the counting of the breath.

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Additionally, if you do a small workout of yoga or tai chi before you write, this gets the blood flowing through the body and improves your ability to think and concentrate.

Welcome Dear Reader

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the official blog of R. M. Emerson Jr., Screenwriter. I plan on adding short stories and novels to the writer credit within the next couple of years, it just takes more time than I have right now to focus on those pursuits. I still work a Monday through Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM job. However, I plan to use the current movie, titled The Wild Hunt, a science fiction film noir in American Sign Language (ASL), to launch my career far enough to be able to support my family on my income.

My uncle inspired me to writing by the gift of his first-published novel on my thirteenth birthday, which was a Thanksgiving day, incidentally. I, even before then, liked good story, but since that gift of a paperback, I have desired story, regardless of whether or not I could articulate it as such. I remember during “writing time” in my high school English courses, I would take my favorite comic book characters and send them on the adventures I wanted them to live. And they really failed to live up to what I had hoped.

I started college with the goal to become a medical doctor, but, only found a scholarship as a technical theater major (on my second go-round of college). I completed my Associates of Science in general education and transferred to the University of Utah, as a Physics major, intent on achieving my goal. However, I realized that medical school was never to be mine. I then decided to pursue particle astrophysics, but, alas (for that degree) realized I possessed better skills of writing than I did in the physics world. (Although my most favorite job I worked so far outside of my current field qualifies as the job I worked as a laboratory assistant for the Physics Department at the U, my laboratory was the Blackrock Mesa Southwest of Delta, UT. I operated the mobile cosmic radiation detector they had erected there.)

My then-fiancée (now wife) helped me recognize my strength in writing, my love of story, and, quite frankly, the fact that I could take three semesters back at UVSC (now UVU, where I achieved my AS) or take three more years of near prohibitively difficult classes at the U to achieve my bachelor’s in Physics. I took the better route and graduated in three semesters.

After a number of years, and a number of jobs (ranging from Specimen Processor to editor to software tester), I finally got into technical writing, in which I still work.

I may have always wanted to be a writer, but it has only been since my marriage that I have begun to actively work toward this goal. I write every night that I can. And, currently, it looks like my first published work will be the screenplay I am helping to make into a movie this fall.