how to create a antagonist?

Answer 1

Well, it depends on the type of antagonist you want your protagonist to face. For instance, if you're writing a story about a spelling bee, the antagonist could be good friends with the protagonist. They just happen to be going up against each other to win the spelling bee. Since the very first definition of antagonist is basically an opponent, there's nothing really to say that the two couldn't be good, even best, friends.

Sticking with the spelling bee idea, the antagonist may not be friends with the protagonist but they might be someone the protagonist might otherwise want to be friends with. Maybe their Elizabeth "The Dictionary" Stevens, the person whose won the last three county spelling bees and is known to never miss a word. Or they could be someone the protagonist would never be friends with for some reason. In this mold maybe their Eugne Tate, a kid who with the highest grade point average in his year and who believes he's the smartest kid in his grade. Thus he refers to the protagonist as to stupid to even spell photographer.

Or maybe your antagonist is going to be a puppet master. Their someone working behind the scenes who the protagonist might not even expect. They might even be the seen as the protagonist's best friend. But they want to keep their true identity a secret so as to continue to carry out their operations. Manipulation is what their all about, and their good at it.

Perhaps their a bit more of a physical bully. Their threats are always about getting beat up, and beat up fairly soon. They don't like to wait (kinda the "Give me all your mlik money now or I'll pound your face into the dirt" type), wanting to see immediate results.

Or their a bit more of a patient, leader type bully. They don't like to get their own hands dirty, so they send others to do the job for them. When they make threats, their more likely to give you some time to get things done before they have you beat up. But their patience can wear thin if too much time is taken.

They could be a powerful buisnessman/buisnesswoman who is used to their money and power letting them get their way. They have the money to buy off anyone and the power to be virtually above the law. And what's worse is that they not only know it, they flaunt it.

There's any number of ways, these are just some suggestions I could come up with.

Answer 2

Give the character a lot of strength and hard to beat. Give s/he a complex psychological profile, not just cliche'd and give him/her some goodness.