Remind me when the Antagonist and MegaAntagonist should be introduced? I feel like I may be missing a key in my first act by not having them stir up trouble so far. Or if easier to answer is there a rise/fail succession typical way that plays out in the different Acts?
Hey Edie. We see stories handle this very differently, so there’s not so much a right/wrong answer. However, both of these characters should be present in the story by the Icarus Moment (which is right smack dab in the middle of the story).
Typically, we do see the antagonist in the first act. But it’s not uncommon for the Mega-Antagonist to not have real influence until well into the second act.
If you feel like you’re missing something, trust your intuition. Look to your antagonist to make sure that your conflicts really feel like conflicts, and there’s a sense of opposition. It’s not a bad idea to introduce the antagonist as early in the story as possible (as long as it makes sense for your particular story).
Edie,
I think that I keep pushing up the introduction of these two exactly because the stir up trouble. Or they can pretend to have good intentions, but view it as fun to have them join in earlier. (Not a requirement but have fun.)
