Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/2925
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/2925
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Certainly stories can be written without a "traditional" antagonist. An example that popped to mind was Daniel Abraham's [_The Curandero and the Swede: A Tale from the 1001 American Nights_](http://podcastle.org/2009/10/21/podcastle-giant-the-curandero-and-the-swede-a-tale-from-the-1001-american-nights/); this story meanders between fable-like stories, all basically dealing with how people cope with the troubles life sends their way.

But really, I've seen lots of no-antagonist stories. The trick is to find out what _is_ interesting in the story, if it isn't overt conflict. Sometimes it's a character portrait; sometimes it's an intriguing situation; perhaps a personal experience. Sometimes it'll be a unique literary experimentation. (In general, short fiction seems a better match for this than a novel - it doesn't need to be as compelling or as plot-driven, and you can mess around with format more because it doesn't need to hold up very long.)

"Angels in heaven," for example, isn't a story yet - it is, perhaps, a setting. An angel ruminating on the nature of sin and of providence might be spun into an intriguing short piece; or angels trying to learn to see the world through mortal eyes - you've got movement, development, and _story_ even without an antagonist. But "angels sitting around all day praising the Lord" would be rather dull, whereas "angels fighting demons and bringing justice to Sodom" would be lively, but have clear antagonists.

**Edited to add:** here's a few short stories I can readily link to which I'd describe as not revolving around antagonism:

- [_Rotting_](http://www.susurruspress.com/iamthismeat/rotting.html), by Shannon Dugan Iverson - character portrait of a man trying to pull his life together.
- [_Bad Enough_](http://www.susurruspress.com/iamthismeat/badenough.html), by Kristi Petersen - a protagonist determined to starve herself to lose weight, in an absurd but compelling manner.
- [_Synesthesia_](http://www.susurruspress.com/iamthismeat/synesthesia.html), by E.E. King - in which our narrator experiences a fantastical heightening of his senses.
- [_Anatomy, Mechanics_](http://www.susurruspress.com/iamthismeat/anatomymechanics.html), by Jack Kaulfus - character portrait of a person on the cusp of a sex-change process.

Original score: 8