I loved wearing a mask during the shutdown: A chance to not think about what expression my face was wearing. A chance to not display my crooked tooth.
In novel writing, villains wear masks of a different kind. The villain or antagonist, generally wants to hide less obvious flaws or desires.
The villain of my trilogy poses as a rich man—which he is. However his mask covers the many ways he plots his return to the good old days when his family controlled vast wealth and power. I’m afraid he’s too stuck in the past to change.
I’ve learned to pay attention to recurring thoughts. Lately, what keeps coming to mind is the antagonist in my retelling of The Goose Girl, which I’m not currently working on. (Maybe thats my next project?)
There’s a rule of thumb that the main character of a book is the character who changes the most. And I keep wondering, should this antagonist actually be the protagonist? Both female characters share a similar problem, but their reactions are polar opposites.
Maybe if I manage to remove the mask my antagonist wears, discover the hidden reasons behind her determination to take the place of the queen’s daughter, there will be—not a role reversal so much as—dueling protagonists.
After all, no matter what a protagonist faces, their own self is often their biggest challenge.
What about you? Do you fight a villain outside yourself? Or inside?
Kate Harrington 