Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character in a drama or other literary work.
Why, do I have the definition included above. Basically because I have had to learn a few things. I’m reading a book about character development. I think you can read for ideas, but to really understand your character, you have to get inside the character’s head. Sounds weird!
The protagonist I’m currently developing came to me in a journal entry a few months ago. Doing a little brainstorming, I started writing a journal entry with a new “voice.” This new voice evolved into a character who in ways shares some of my personality quirks and in other ways she is quite different.
Some major differences. My protagonist is older than me by about five years. Unlike me, she has children and her kids are both teenagers. Not having kids of my own, I’m going to have to lean on my experiences and what I hear from others about their children. I started to create her without children, but I think the relationship with her children makes a great sub-plot and will stretch her. This woman is in danger and it heightens the novel’s tension when she has to worry about more than just herself.
I chose to give my protagonist a very different profession from my own. Thankfully, I know several folks I can interview when my imagination gets stuck.
My writing progress has been at stand still for a few days now. I’ve read in several places a writer should write the first draft freely and then go back to edit. I have revisited my first three chapters several times too many. What was originally my first chapter is now the third. Oh yeah and I added a prologue!
The rewriting has occurred I guess because I’m still trying to get a handle on the conflict my protagonist must face in this novel. The conflict stems from the antagonist, which is another whole area of development I’ve been pondering for days. The prologue introduces the antagonist. Sort of. The thing about writing suspense – I don’t want the antagonist to be obvious in the first page. 
Antagonists – One who opposes and contends against another; an adversary.
I hope to push my way through this first draft over the next few months. It’s more than likely it will need to be rewritten and edited. So let’s get this story written!
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