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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #41: Use Foreshadowing

#41: Use Foreshadowing

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #41: Use Foreshadowing

Jane Austen is an expert at foreshadowing. In each of her books, she leaves a trail of breadcrumbs for readers which lead up to her larger discoveries and reveals, whether it’s Mr. Darcy’s surprise proposal (set up by his glances and his attention and his conversation) or the truth about Mr. Wickham (which is hinted at in his words, behavior, and interaction). On a second read, it’s much easier to see these breadcrumbs, yet even if a reader does not recognize these clues as breadcrumbs, foreshadowing is essential for a good reading experience.

It’s easy, as a writer, to throw in something shocking or unexpected or create a huge twist. Yet readers feel cheated—the experience feels lacking and hollow—if these elements are not set up or foreshadowed properly.

Discoveries, especially large discoveries, must be earned. And this applies to any type of discovery, whether it’s a reveal, a twist, a deeper understanding of someone’s character, or the moment when a character obtains a missing piece of information. In the podcast Writing Excuses, the hosts about the importance making these sorts of discoveries “surprising yet inevitable.” Readers don’t necessarily expect these discoveries (and sometimes you don’t want them to expect these discoveries at all), but these discoveries do follow from what is in the narrative.

In this lesson, we’ll talk about five foreshadowing techniques used by Jane Austen, with examples from her first published novel, Sense and Sensibility.

The Techniques of Foreshadowing

The word foreshadowing literally means “before-shadow”: a shadow coming before. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, “the notion seems to be a shadow thrown before an advancing material object as an image of something suggestive of what is to come.”

Foreshadow: "A shadow thrown before an advancing material object as an image of something suggestive of what is to come.” --Online Etymology Dictionary

So how do you throw these shadows in advance? How do you suggest things without being too heavy-handed and providing the discovery earlier than needed for the character and the plot?

In her novel Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen uses five major foreshadowing techniques:

  1. Introduce events that will have renewed importance later on
  2. Give hints of an individual’s true character
  3. Hide or “sandwich” key details between other information which seems more salient
  4. Intentionally draw attention to key moments
  5. Use a lack of knowledge to allow for new meanings and understanding later

We’ll see how she uses each of these techniques in Sense and Sensibility, but first, a little refresher on the novel.

Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility features a family uprooted. Two adult daughters, Elinor and Marianne, both have hopes and difficulties in their love lives. Elinor was falling in love with Edward Ferrars before they were uprooted, and it seemed that he reciprocated her affections, but he has not visited them since they moved. Marianne is beginning to fall in love with a dashing young gentleman named Willoughby; a slightly older gentlemen (think upper thirties) named Colonel Brandon favors Marianne but she is not interested in him.

Jane Austen's foreshadowing techniques. 1. Introduce events that will have renewed importance later on.

Foreshadowing Technique #1: Introduce events that will have renewed importance later on

In Sense and Sensibility, Colonel Brandon organizes a large party to visit Whitehall. It’s a location of interest that he has a connection to—they could not visit it without him. Elinor and Marianne are invited, as are Sir John, Willoughby, and others.

Just a few minutes before they are to leave for Whitehall, Colonel Brandon receives a letter and announces that they must cancel the trip to Whitehall, for he must go to London immediately. He refuses to tell them what his business is, and refuses to delay his trip.

“We must go [to Whitehall],” said Sir John.—“It shall not be put off when we are so near to it. You cannot go to town till tomorrow, Brandon, that is all.”

“I wish it could be so easily settled. But it is not in my power to delay my journey for one day!”

….“You would not be six hours later,” said Willoughby, “if you were to defer your journey till our return.”

“I cannot afford to lose one hour.”

This event becomes important later on: much later in the book, we discover why Colonel Brandon has gone to London: a young girl in his charge was taken advantage of by Willoughby and is now pregnant, a fact Colonel Brandon reveals after Willoughby breaks Marianne’s heart and becomes engaged to another woman.

Clearly, this event has renewed importance thematically, for the plot, and for the characters later in the story. Yet it’s an important event as the moment as well. Directly after Colonel Brandon’s statement that he cannot delay a single hour, we read:

Elinor then heard Willoughby say in a low voice to Marianne, “There are some people who cannot bear a party of pleasure. Brandon is one of them. He was afraid of catching cold I dare say, and invented this trick for getting out of it. I would lay fifty guineas the letter was of his own writing.”

“I have no doubt of it,” replied Marianne.

This event is important within the chapter because Marianne uses it to judge between Colonel Brandon and Willougbhy. She sees Brandon’s abandoning of their party in a negative light, and sees Willoughby only in a positive light (though ironically, we find out later that it is Willougbhy’s actions that have caused the problem).

Colonel Brandon leaves, and everyone decides to drive their carriages together for pleasure. Marianne joins Willoughby in his carriage, and they soon separate from the rest of the party—for many hours. This could be a little scandalous in and of itself, but he takes her to the home he is to inherit and gives her a private tour, something that is certainly outside of the bounds of proper respectability. This is an action that leads many to assume that Marianne and Willoughby are secretly engaged.

As Jane Austen was crafting her novel, she could have had Colonel Brandon run off to London at any time—it could’ve happened off the page instead of in a scene; it could’ve been simply been mentioned by another character (“Where is Colonel Brandon?” “Oh, he had to leave for London for urgent business.”) Yet there is a power to including an event of importance on the page, in scene, with character dialogue and reactions, and this event is especially effective because it is not only important later on, but it has so much impact on the characters and the plot at the moment.

Jane Austen's foreshadowing techniques. 2. Give hints of an individual's true character.

Foreshadowing Technique #2: Give hints of an individual’s true character

Ultimately, the most interesting discoveries that a character can make in a novel are those which are about the true nature or true character of both others and themselves. Characters, of course, have the possibility to change and transform; an attribute can have both positive and negative aspects, as well as positive and negative potential for the story.

In Sense and Sensibility, Willoughby is truly dashing. He’s charming and romantic, and his attention thrills Marianne.

At one point, Marianne’s mother, Mrs. Dashwood, makes comments about improvements she would like to make to the cottage, in order to make it more comfortable for their family. Willoughby passionately insists that their home is “faultless…I consider it as the only form of building in which happiness is attainable.” He flatters them and their home and earnestly tries to convince Mrs. Dashwood to not make any changes:

“Tell me that not only your house will remain the same, but that I shall ever find you and yours as unchanged as your dwelling; and that you will always consider me with the kindness which has made everything belonging to you so dear to me.”

The entire conversation makes Marianne feel all aflutter. For her it’s incredibly romantic—he speaks with the passion and language of her favorite poets and writers. Yet it hints at his character, it foreshadows his flaws and later choices. He wants to fix the Dashwoods and their home, to create permanence, as if they are a museum exhibit for him to enjoy, rather than living, changing human beings. He wants them for his own purposes and pleasures, without considering what their needs are and what they desire.

Jane Austen's foreshadowing techniques. 3. Hide or "sandwich" key details between other information which seems more salient.

Foreshadowing Technique #3: Hide or “sandwich” key details between other information which seems more salient

From the moment since they arrived at the cottage, Elinor has been nursing her heartache, not just for her home at Norland, but also for Edward Ferrars. One day while Elinor and Marianne are taking a walk, they see a man on horseback approaching, who Marianne longingly hopes is Willougbhy, but it is not Willougbhy. It is Edward come to visit. Elinor is a little lost for words, but Marianne is all excitement for her sister. Yet all does not seem well:

He was confused, seemed scarcely sensible of pleasure in seeing them, looked neither rapturous nor gay, said little but what was forced from him by questions, and distinguished Elinor by no mark of affection.

A little later we read:

After a short silence which succeeded the first surprise and inquiries of meeting, Marianne asked Edward if he came directly from London. No, he had been in Devonshire a fortnight.

“A fortnight!” she repeated, surprised at his being so long in the same country with Elinor without seeing her before.

He looked rather distressed as he added, that he had been staying with some friends near Plymouth.

“Have you been lately in Sussex?” asked Elinor.

“I was at Norland about a month ago.”

“And how does dear, dear Norland look?” cried Marianne.

“Dear, dear Norland,” said Elinor, “probably looks much as it always does at this time of the year. The woods and walks thickly covered with dead leaves.”

“Oh!” cried Marianne, “with what transporting sensation have I formerly seen them fall! How have I delighted, as I walked, to see them driven in showers about me by the wind! What feelings have they, the season, the air altogether inspired! Now there is no one to regard them. They are seen only as a nuisance, swept hastily off, and driven as much as possible from the sight.”

“It is not every one,” said Elinor, “who has your passion for dead leaves.”

This passage has a number of salient moments: moments which are relevant and important, moments that draw our attention. First we have Edward’s reticence, which seems even more terrible to the sisters when we find out that he has been in the area for an entire fortnight—two weeks!—without calling on them. And then we have the fact that he has been to their old home, Norland, which is an essential moment for both Elinor and Marianne as they reflect on what they have lost. We can see how both sisters deal with loss and emotions differently by how they each talk about dead leaves.

Yet sandwiched in between the two weeks of Edward not calling on them and the leaves of Norland is a seemingly small, unimportant detail: “he had been staying with some friends near Plymouth.”

Yet this small detail is actual a key moment of foreshadowing, an important detail that is recalled later on, when Elinor meets Lucy Steele. For Lucy is one of the friends from Plymouth, and Lucy dramatically informs Elinor that she has been secretly engaged to Edward for years.

This sort of foreshadowing technique is often used in mystery novels—a small detail is given which does not seem relevant at the time, yet later holds the key to unlocking greater discoveries, greater truths. Yet this technique is just as useful in other genres and types of writing.

“Hiding” these key details between things which seem more important to the reader puts this information on the page but intentionally does not draw our attention to the information—we are meant to notice the information without focusing on it. Austen uses this technique in her novels to help set up big reveals and plot twists. In order for a big reveal, a big twist to be a surprise for readers, we can’t expect it. If too much attention was drawn to a detail such as the friends at Plymouth, we might expect the reveal. Yet if the detail is not there at all, if there is no foreshadowing, then the twist or reveal will feel hollow and inorganic to the story. Thus, details such as this can be sandwiched or hidden in other things to strike the right balance of foreshadowing without lessening later surprises.

Jane Austen's foreshadowing techniques. 4. Intentionally draw attention to key moments.

Foreshadowing Technique #4: Intentionally draw attention to key moments

While at times it is important to distract or draw attention away from important details, at other times Austen draws attention to key moments.

A few pages after the previous passage, we read:

[Marianne] was sitting by Edward, and in taking his tea from Mrs. Dashwood, his hand passed so directly before her, as to make a ring, with a plait of hair in the centre, very conspicuous on one of his fingers.

Marianne asks Edward if it is his sister’s hair, even though it seems a lighter color:

He coloured very deeply, and giving a momentary glance at Elinor, replied, “Yes, it is my sister’s hair. The setting always casts a different shade on it, you know.”

Elinor had met his eye, and looked conscious likewise. That the hair was her own, she instantaneously felt as well satisfied as Marianne; the only difference in their conclusions was, that what Marianne considered as a free gift from her sister, Elinor was conscious must have been procured by some theft or contrivance unknown to herself.

The ring could have been mentioned in simply a sentence, sandwiched between other details, but here it is like a flag is placed above it, drawing attention to the ring. Not all foreshadowing can be subtle and invisible, or it will not feel like enough foreshadowing. The foreshadowing that should draw our attention should be that which creates emotional resonance for the characters. Here, we see in a single sentence a complicated set of emotions for Elinor: she is flattered and hopeful that Edward has taken a lock of her hair, but a little conflicted that he has done so without her knowing. Taking the time to have focus on the ring and explore Elinor’s emotional reaction is essential in order to set up her emotional reaction the next time the ring is mentioned. Which leads us to the next foreshadowing technique.

Jane Austen's foreshadowing techniques. 5. Use a lack of knowledge to allow for new meanings and understanding later.

Foreshadowing Technique #5: Use a lack of knowledge to allow for new meanings and understanding later

While some foreshadowing is very direct and clear—Colonel Brandon has left for an unknown reason, and later we learn the reason—at other times it is effective for the characters to misinterpret or misunderstand these moments of foreshadowing. This relates to the last lesson, in which we talked about distractions and red herrings, and how they can lead characters to false conclusions. By having some information or events misinterpreted by the characters and/or the reader, it sets up later discoveries while creating greater surprise (and other strong emotions) because we expected a different result.

In Sense and Sensibility, Lucy Steele arrives shortly after Edward leaves. Based on the comments and teasing of other characters, Lucy begins to suspect that Elinor is in love with Edward, and so she makes a rather manipulative play to keep him for herself. She makes Elinor promise not to tell anyone of her secret, and then confides in her, telling her of her secret engagement. It takes some convincing and a fair amount of explanation on Lucy’s part to achieve her ends. Yet Elinor remembers that Edward has stayed in Plymouth with friends, she remembers that he was “sadly out of spirits,” and she begins to believe Lucy. And then she learns the truth of the ring:

“Writing to each other,” said Lucy, returning the letter into her pocket, “is the only comfort we have in such long separations. Yes, I have one other comfort in his picture; but poor Edward has not even that. If he had but my picture, he says he should be easy. I gave him a lock of my hair set in a ring when he was at Longstaple last, and that was some comfort to him, he said, but not equal to a picture. Perhaps you might notice the ring when you saw him?”

“I did,” said Elinor, with a composure of voice, under which was concealed an emotion and distress beyond any thing she had ever felt before. She was mortified, shocked, confounded.

Fortunately for her, they had now reached the cottage, and the conversation could be continued no farther. After sitting with them a few minutes, the Miss Steeles returned to the Park, and Elinor was then at liberty to think and be wretched.

This scene is powerful and full of emotion for both Elinor in the reader. It is a grand, unexpected twist, yet it has been properly foreshadowed, which makes it more powerful, for it feels more true and more terrible as a result. It hearkens back to “hidden” or “sandwiched” details, yet it also draws upon an emotionally powerful object that was a focus in a previous scene yet was misinterpreted.  It’s an incredibly effective use of foreshadowing to build to this moment.

Austen uses these foreshadowing techniques in each of her novels to set up key scenes, moments, revelations, and discoveries in a way that creates emotion and resonance for readers.

Foreshadowing is a powerful tool, yet can be tricky to use properly. Often in my own writing, my foreshadow is inadequate in the first draft—either too much, too little, or the wrong techniques in certain moments. For both me and many other writers, it is in revision that the foreshadowing is refined to make it most effective.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1: Choose a different Jane Austen novel and find at least three moments of foreshadowing. Which techniques does Jane Austen use and how does this foreshadowing set up later discovery?

Exercise 2: Write a scene in which the main character is surprised by a discovery at the end of the scene. The reader should be surprised as well. This could be any sort of discovery, such as a surprise birthday party, a surprise proposal, or a surprise award at work. Use several different foreshadowing techniques in the scene to hint at the upcoming revelation without giving it away.

Exercise 3: Revising for Foreshadowing.

Take a draft you have written of a short story, novella, or novel. Choose a key moment of discovery, a twist, or a reveal, and then look back to see what moments of foreshadowing you used for this discovery. What different foreshadowing techniques did you use? Could any of these moments of foreshadowing be refined? Are there any points where it more effective to use a different foreshadowing technique? Are there moments when it might be helpful to add foreshadowing?

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #28: Give Antagonists Redemptive Qualities

#28: Give Antagonists Redemptive Qualities

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #28: Give Antagonists Redemptive Qualities

I spend a lot of time playing with dolls with my 5-year-old daughter. She likes to divide them up and make half of the dolls “good guys” and half of the dolls “bad guys.” The bad guys really like kidnapping other dolls and taking over the ice castle.

Sometimes when she assigns me the bad guys, I try to act out things like them sharing food with each other, or playing a game together.

“No, Mom!” she will exclaim. “They are bad guys. They can’t do anything good.”

In general, I’m really impressed by my daughter’s storytelling skills—I may be biased, but I feel like they are advanced for a 5-year-old—but I partially disagree with her on this one. It’s true that there are some antagonists who don’t do anything good, and there are some villains who are true and complete loners, but for the most part, antagonists often have some good or redemptive qualities. At the very least, there are reasons that other people support them and spend time with them.

John Willoughby is one of my all-time favorite antagonists from Austen. He’s the classic bad boy character, and in the novel Sense and Sensibility he doesn’t end up redeeming himself by giving Marianne the initial happy ending that she initially sought. Yet Austen still gives him some element of redemption.

Initial Good/Redemptive Qualities

John Willoughby is introduced through an act that screenwriter Blake Snyder would call a “save the cat” moment—Willoughby does something selfless and good that immediately endears him to us and to the characters. Marianne has fallen down a hill, and he lifts her and carries her home.

Score one for Willoughby.

As the story progresses, he demonstrates a number of good qualities, all of which Marianne prizes highly:

  • Giving his time
  • Generous with means (offering a horse to Marianne)
  • Handsome
  • Reading poetry and literature with Marianne
  • Friendly and gets along well with almost everyone

And the Antagonism

While Elinor never quite trusts Willoughby, and finds some of these very behaviors problematic (it’s not really appropriate for Willoughby to give Marianne a horse, plus what would they do with it?) his antagonism quickly becomes clear to everyone.

He:

  • Doesn’t actually solidify or finalize an engagement with Marianne
  • Leaves and doesn’t return, and when Marianne goes to London, he avoids her and does not return her letter (or, as we would now say, he ghosts her)
Merriam-Webster dictionary: Ghost. Verb. To abruptly cut off all contact with (someone, such as a former romantic partner) by no longer accepting or responding to phone call, instant messages, etc.

Definition of “ghost” from Merriam-Webster dictionary.

  • It turns out that he has previously gotten a teenage girl pregnant
  • He marries another woman for financial reasons.

His Motives for Antagonistic Behavior

In the last two lessons I talked about different motives that Jane Austen gives her antagonists in Sense and Sensibility—selfish motives, negative motives, positive motives, and mixed or neutral motives. Having understandable motives, whether or not they are ones we support, give a character depth and reality. Willoughby possesses each of these types of motives:

  • Selfish motives: Sleeping with an easily influenced teenage girl
  • Negative motives: Disregarding propriety and societal expectations, playing with Marianne’s affections
  • Positive motives: helping Marianne when she has fallen, realizing that he has genuine interest in her and trying to find a way to make a relationship possible
  • Neutral motive: seeking financial stability/security: (in and of itself, the need for financial security is not a negative thing; it’s much more complex than that—many of Austen’s characters grapple with this, including Marianne and Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility, and, in her other novels, the Bennet sisters, Charlotte Collins, Anne Elliot, Jane Fairfax, and Fanny Price.)

Letting Willoughby Tell His Story

I took a graduate-level class on Jane Austen, and we spent a fair amount of time discussing a particular Willoughby scene that is not included in a number of adaptations.

This scene occurs when Marianne is extremely ill, due to a combination of heartbreak and spending too long in the cold and the rain (deathly illness due to these causes seems to be an occupational hazard of being a young woman in the Regency period).

Willoughby comes in the middle of the night and insists on speaking to Elinor. To his credit, he is extremely worried about Marianne’s health, and is grateful she has taken a turn for the better. At first, Elinor thinks that he must be intoxicated, but he is not, and he insists on Elinor listening to him, which she is not inclined to do:

“Mr. Willoughby, you ought to feel, and I certainly do—that after what has passed—your coming here in this manner, and forcing yourself upon my notices, requires a very particular excuse.—What is it, that you mean by it?”—

“I mean,”—said he, with serious energy—“if I can, to make you hate me one degree less than you do now. I mean to offer some kind of explanation, some kind of apology, for the past; to open my whole heart to you, and by convincing you, that though I have always been a blockhead, I have not been always a rascal, to obtain something like forgiveness from Ma—from your sister.”

Jane Austen then gives Willoughby page after page after page to explain himself. He admits all his terrible motives, including:

“Careless of her happiness, thinking only of my own amusement, giving way to feelings which I had always been too much in the habit of indulging, I endeavoured, by every means in my power, to make myself pleasing to her, without any design of returning her affection.”

We see his angst, his attempts to justify himself, his pride and selfishness, his arguments good and bad. And we see glimpses of redemption:

“The happiest hours of my life were what I spent with her, when I felt my intentions were strictly honorable, and my feelings blameless.”

Ultimately, Elinor comes to understand him a little, and to truly understand a person is a token of forgiveness, a gift of humanity for them and for the reader:

[Elinor’s] thoughts were silently fixed on the irreparable injury which too early an independence and its consequent habits of idleness, dissipation, and luxury, had made in the mind, the character, the happiness, of a man who, to every advantage of person and talents, united a disposition naturally open and honest, and a feeling, affectionate temper. The world had made him extravagant and vain—Extravagance and vanity had made him cold-hearted and selfish. Vanity, while seeking its own guilty triumph at the expense of another, had involved him in a real attachment, which extravagance, or at least its offspring, necessity, had required to be sacrificed. Each faulty propensity in leading him to evil, had led him likewise to punishment.

Ultimately, Elinor expresses her forgiveness to Willoughby. It’s a fascinating scene, worth reading its entirety. In general, Jane Austen’s antagonists are some of her most memorable characters, because they are full of depth, complexity, and nuance. Often we come to understand their motives and character quite well, but here, Austen gives him a gift not often given to antagonists: he is able to fully tell his own story. Unless the antagonist is a viewpoint character, it’s very uncommon for an antagonist to receive this opportunity. The ability for Willoughby to admit his faults doesn’t make his choices better. But it does force us as readers to truly walk in Willoughby’s shoes, which enhances the themes and tensions of the novel.

Redemptive Qualities

While most of the time an antagonist won’t have a chance to fully tell their story, in many cases we get a glimpse of their story. Their motives—positive, negative, and neutral—should be understandable, even if we don’t always agree with them. And at times, an antagonist should possess some redemptive qualities (for instance, in Pride and Prejudice, Lady Catherine de Bourgh is good and generous to Mr. Collins). This helps make the antagonists complex, nuanced, and memorable.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1:

Take an antagonist that you have written into a story or plan to write. Give them the opportunity to explain themselves, whether through the form of internal monologue, a journal entry, a letter to a close friend, or a conversation.

Exercise 2:

Write a short personal essay about a time in your own life when you’ve had a chance to explain yourself and your behavior, or when you wish that you had gotten a chance to explain yourself.

Exercise 3:

Take a book, movie, or series that you know well and list at least five antagonists or villains present in the story. Then write down as many redemptive qualities as you can for each of these characters.

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #27: Give Antagonists Understandable Motives (Part 2)

#27: Give Antagonists Understandable Motives (Part 2)

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #27: Give Antagonists Understandable Motives (Part 2)

Jane Austen’s antagonists are some of her most memorable characters—full of depth, complexity, and nuance, and continuously getting in the way of protagonists.

In the last lesson, Give Antagonists Understandable Motives (Part 1), I addressed negative motives for antagonism, like selfishness, a disregard for social norms, spite, cruelty, and revenge.

Yet not every antagonist interferes with the protagonist for negative reasons. Plenty of antagonists have positive or neutral motives for their interference. And these sorts of motives will be the focus of this lesson.

Positive Motives for Antagonism

Positive Motives for Antagonism

Sometimes good people, trying to do good things, unintentionally make life more difficult for others.

Positive motives can be antagonistic when:

  • • A character helps or assists others in a way that they don’t want to be helped

  • A character helps someone at an inconvenient time or place

  • Helping someone creates an unwanted sense of obligation

  • Kind, understanding, or sensitive actions cause additional problems for the protagonist

In Sense and Sensibility, there are a number of people who attempt to do good for the Dashwood family, yet are sometimes unintentionally antagonistic.

Sir John Middleton has offered his cottage to the Dashwoods because of their lack of their home, which is very generous of him, but also creates a lot of obligation for Mrs. Dashwood, Marianne, and Elinor.

Marianne especially finds Sir John antagonistic toward her goals, as well his wife, Lady Middleton, and her mother Mrs. Jennings and sister Mrs. Palmer. They are constantly interfering with Marianne’s sense of self, her need for independence and solitude, and her desires for certain types of company. They also are trying to matchmake a relationship between Marianne and Colonel Brandon, and they do this out of good motives—they seem like they would make a good match, and it would give Marianne a very advantageous marriage and help her out of poverty. But that’s not what Marianne wants.

Elinor finds the Middletons less antagonistic than Marianne does, yet sometimes their teasing and their mannerisms do make her uncomfortable and act in opposition to her journey.

Another example of an antagonistic character in Sense and Sensibility is Mrs. Dashwood herself. At the beginning of the novel, she does not want to economize, which makes finding their family a home very difficult. She also overprioritizes her love for Marianne, to the point where she refuses to act as a parent figure and talk to Marianne about the pitfalls of her behavior. She’s so afraid with damaging their relationship that she won’t even ask Marianne if she is engaged, and rather than helping Marianne, this contributes to Marianne’s difficulties (and also to Elinor’s). To me, she is one of the most interesting characters, because she is likeable and good and yet so very flawed in her behavior.

Neutral Motives for Antagonism

Neutral Motives for Antagonism

While a lot of antagonistic motives are clearly either negative or positive, some motives are more neutral.

A few types of neutral motives that can be antagonistic:

  • A character is forced to choose between their wants and needs.

  • A character is faced with no good paths and no good options; no matter what choices they make, it will have a negative impact on themselves and others.

  • Two characters have colliding paths. Their motives are often a mixture of good and bad, and as both characters strive for what they want and need, their paths interfere and collide with each other.

  • A character believes they know better than other characters what the right path is and chooses to impose their will on others.

  • A character believes that a greater good is worth some negative actions to achieve.

  • A character lacks the perspective to see the impact of their choices.

A sometimes-antagonistic character who has neutral motives is Edward Ferrars. Elinor falls in love with Edward, and while at Norwood Park he seems to return her affections. But when Elinor, her sisters, and her mother move, he becomes entirely absent from her life, which causes a lot of angst and sadness for Elinor. He eventually visits, but the visit is a rather uncomfortable one.

It turns out that several years before Edward became secretly engaged to Lucy Steele. Because he is a man of his word and trying to do the right thing, he won’t break off his engagement to Lucy, because that would hurt her and break his word. Yet in being honorable to Lucy, he is breaking Elinor’s heart, and giving his attentions to Elinor in the first place wasn’t very fair, knowing that he did not intend to act.

Neutral motives that create antagonism are some of the most interesting to explore in literature because they cause so much tension and they allow writers to explore the nuances and complexities of relationship and morality.

In Conclusion

Story is about conflict, it’s about a character on a journey interrupted, a journey that has challenges, many of them caused by other characters. As a protagonist goes about their journey, they face antagonism not just from Antagonists—people that are actively and intentionally opposing the core journey—but also from characters, large and small, who might be friends, family members, or acquaintances. Considering the full range of motives for antagonism can help you write more complex and interesting stories.

Next lesson we’ll focus on one final antagonist in Sense and Sensibility, my favorite Jane Austen bad-guy, John Willoughby. He has positive motives, he has negative motives, and he has neutral motives. Ultimately Jane Austen treats him with a certain kindness, allowing him some level of redemption, by giving him a chance to tell his story.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1:

Think about someone in your life—currently, or in the past—who has good motives, and yet makes your life more difficult or negatively interferes in certain areas of your life. Write several paragraphs about this person and their behavior. Make sure to examine specific actions they take (whether physical actions, dialogue, text, etc.) that act antagonistically in your life, and record also your reaction to these actions in the moment and over time.

Exercise 2:

Write several paragraphs from the viewpoint of an antagonist who is forced to choose between two competing principles:

  • Telling the truth; being sensitive to the feelings of others
  • Being on time; being prepared
  • Helping someone else; taking care of your own basic needs
  • Saving for the future; enjoying the moment
  • Another pair of competing principles you create

After they make the choice between the principles, have the character experience both positive and negative consequences as a result of their choice.

Exercise 3: A No Good, Very Bad Day

Set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes and do a rush write about a character, in which everything they do over the course of the day has negative or unforeseen consequences for other people.

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #26: Give Antagonists Understandable Motives (Part 1)

#26: Give Antagonists Understandable Motives (Part 1)

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #26: Give Antagonists Understandable Motives (Part 1)

As I discussed in the previous post, an antagonist is a person who actively opposes the main character and tries to interfere with them achieving their wants and needs, typically over multiple scenes or a large portion of the story.

One of the things that makes Jane Austen’s protagonists so effective is that they always have understandable motives. As readers, we don’t always know these motives immediately, but ultimately these motives are explainable and understandable.

We’re going to consider four different categories of antagonist’s motives, with examples from Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility. In today’s post, Part 1, we’ll look at more negative types of antagonism, and in the next blog post, Part 2, we’ll consider more positive or neutral types of antagonism.

Self-Interested Motives

Self-Interested Motives

The first major category of motives held by antagonists is self-interest.

All characters, antagonists and protagonists, act with a certain amount of self-interest. It’s the only way, as people, we can survive—it’s the only way we get our wants and desires. And we often support characters striving for their wants and needs, and we become frustrated with characters like Fanny Price in Mansfield Park when they don’t actively strive for their wants and needs.

Self-interest becomes antagonism when:

  1. A character’s self-interest interrupts the protagonist’s journey.
  2. A character’s self-interest harms other characters, or is done with a regard only for oneself.

In the second category of self-interest as antagonism, we often see:

  • Selfishness

  • Emphasis on bodily passions

  • A focus on gaining power

  • A focus on gaining wealth or material objects

  • Disregard for social or societal norms

Ultimately, self-interest is a prioritization of ones own needs and wants over the needs and wants of others.

An example of an antagonistic character acting with self-interest from is found in Fanny Dashwood (of Sense and Sensibility). Fanny does not want to see any of her husband’s inheritance go to his half-sisters or stepmother.

“It was my father’s last request to me,” replied her husband, “that I should assist his widow and daughters.”

“He did not know what he was talking of, I dare say; ten to one but he was light-headed at the time. Had he been in his right senses, he could not have thought of such a thing as begging you to give away half your fortune from your own child.”

Slowly Fanny works her husband down, appealing to their sons supposed needs and other self-focused arguments, until ultimately her husband decides not to give them any money, and only occasionally assist them with minor things:

“Your father thought only of them. And I must say this: that you owe no particular gratitude to him, nor attention to his wishes; for we very well know that if he could, he would have left almost everything in the world to them.”

This argument was irresistible. It gave to his intentions whatever of decision was wanting before; and he finally resolved, that it would be absolutely unnecessary, if not highly indecorous, to do more for the widow and children of his father, than such kind of neighbourly acts as his own wife pointed out.

Another character who acts with self-interest is Lucy Steele. She has been secretly engaged to Edward Ferrars for four years, and now he is in love with Elinor Dashwood. It’s quite understandable that she would act in her own self-interest and attempt to maintain her engagement. She obviously has (or at least, had) feelings for Edward, and this is her chance for a better life. She is a dislikeable character because of the things she does in the name of self-interest, but we’ll talk about that more in the next section.

Outward-Focused Negative Motives

The second major category of antagonist motives are those which are outwardly-negative.

There are a number of these outward-focused negative motives, including:

  • Spite

  • Bitterness

  • Jealousy

  • Anger

  • Revenge

  • Cruelty

  • A desire to control others

  • Intentional breaking of social rules, laws, and expectations

All of these motives are manifestations of natural human emotions and inclinations. All people feel them, and most of us have acted with them to some degree or another.

Some characters are fixed in these sorts of motives, embracing them; other resist these motives, or turn to them in moments of extreme pressure, struggle, or pain.

In Sense and Sensibility, Mrs. Ferrars is generally cruel, controlling, and unpleasant to those around her. When Edward and Lucy’s secret engagement is revealed, she lashes out. In an act of anger and revenge, she disinherits Edward.

(As an interesting note, some scholars and other readers have noted that Mrs. Ferrars and Fanny Dashwood are both characters of power who are using and maintaining power in a society where traditionally women don’t hold any power. Even though I still find them to be unlikeable characters, this perspective helps me understand, and in some ways sympathize, with their motives.)

Sometimes acting on negative motives happens in the moment. At other times, as in the case of Lucy Steele, it’s planned and premeditated.

Lucy realizes that Edward has fallen in love with Elinor, so she is intentionally manipulative. She “confides” her troubles about her secret engagement to Elinor, after extracting a promise that she will not tell a soul. And then she continues to be intentionally cruel and manipulative, manifesting a fair amount of spite towards Elinor.

In Conclusion

These negative motives for antagonism are very common in literature: even in Sense and Sensibility, there are numerous examples. In a sense, they are an answer to the question—what happens if we stop following societal rules and expectations for “good behavior”? This makes for good storytelling, because it creates the opportunity for conflict.

In the next lesson, we’ll focus on positive (as well as neutral and mixed) motives for antagonism.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1: Negative Perspectives

Some stories explore the perspective of a character fueled by negative motives. For example, in The Count of Monte Cristo, we see someone driven by revenge. And in the story of Robin Hood, a transgression of societal rules and laws (continuous theft of money and property) is shown to be justified as we see his reasons and what he does with this wealth (gives it to the poor).

Other stories, like The Wizard of Oz, give understandable motives to the villains, but still do not allow us to sympathize with them (the wicked witch is understandably angry at Dorothy for killing her sister, yet we are ). Some stories, like Wicked, explore more fully the seemingly negative motives of antagonists—here, the “wicked” witch is not truly wicked, despite some of her negative motives and choices.

Choose a story that does not explain or develop the antagonist’s motives, and write a paragraph or two exploring what their motives might be.

Exercise 2: Good Actions, Negative Motives

Many times, we assume that good actions must have positive motives behind them. Yet good actions can just as well be driven by negative motives. Good actions can be driven by self-interest, or by outward-facing negative emotions, like jealousy, revenge, or a desire to control others.

Set a timer for 3 to 5 minutes. During the time, come up with a negative motive that could drive each of the following actions. If you have time, write extra details about how this motive would play out during the scene.

  1. Donating to a charity/volunteering at a food bank
  2. Throwing a large party and inviting the whole neighborhood
  3. Revitalizing a city’s downtown
  4. Running for the school board
  5. Creating a new work of art

Exercise 3: Protagonists with Negative Motives

Antagonists with negative motives are interesting, but sometimes, protagonists with negative motives can be even more interesting.

Option 1: Brainstorm a protagonist that is sometimes driven by negative motives. In what sorts of circumstances do they act on these negative motives? When do they resist these negative motives? What are positive and negative effects of theme acting on these negative motives?

Option 2: Analyze a draft that you have written. At what points is your character driven by negative motives? Is there a point where it would be useful to give the character a negative motive?

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#22: Reveal Characters Through Dialogue

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #22: Reveal Characters Through Dialogue

The opening scene of dialogue in Sense and Sensibility belongs not to the main characters, but rather, to their relations. At the beginning of the novel, Mr. Henry Dashwood is dead, and his son, Mr. John Dashwood, has inherited everything; despite Henry’s desires, his second wife and their daughters get nothing from the property. Yet before his death, Henry made his son John promise to take care of his step-mother and three half-sisters.

After this exposition, which is provided by the narrator, the first dialogue of the novel is between John Dashwood and his wife, Fanny Dashwood:

“It was my father’s last request to me,” replied her husband, “that I should assist his widow and daughters.”

“He did not know what he was talking of, I dare say; ten to one but he was light-headed at the time. Had he been in his right senses, he could not have thought of such a thing as begging you to give away half your fortune from your own child.”

“He did not stipulate for any particular sum, my dear Fanny; he only requested me, in general terms, to assist them, and make their situation more comfortable than it was in his power to do. Perhaps it would have been as well if he had left it wholly to myself. He could hardly suppose I should neglect them. But as he required the promise, I could not do less than give it: at least I thought so at the time. The promise, therefore, was given, and must be performed. Something must be done for them whenever they leave Norland and settle in a new home.”

“Well, then, let something be done for them; but that something need not be three thousand pounds.”

From this dialogue, we can already paint a picture of who John and Fanny are, in much more vivid terms than pages of description would provide. John feels familial obligation, and Fanny does not want him to fulfill this obligation to the extent he has planned, which we assume is for selfish reasons.

Good dialogue brings characters to life: it is as if they have stepped from the page and we are watching them, animated before us.

Last week, I talked about using moments of tension to reveal characters to the reader. Effective dialogue is another powerful way to quickly reveal characters to the reader.

While John had planned to give 3000 pounds to his sisters—1000 apiece—he proposes that he cut it in half, giving each of them 500 pounds. And the conversation continues:

“Oh! beyond anything great! What brother on earth would do half so much for his sisters, even if really his sisters! And as it is—only half blood!—But you have such a generous spirit!”

“I would not wish to do any thing mean,” he replied. “One had rather, on such occasions, do too much than too little. No one, at least, can think I have not done enough for them: even themselves, they can hardly expect more.”

“There is no knowing what they may expect,” said the lady, “but we are not to think of their expectations: the question is, what you can afford to do.”

Fanny is skilled at knowing how to maneuver her husband: she praises him for his generosity, and then claims that this is way beyond what anyone would do. She then shifts the conversation to their needs, and ultimately, she will appeal again to the future, hypothetical needs of their young son.

Jane Austen truly has some of the best dialogue of any writer. I could probably write an entire book about how Jane Austen employs dialogue throughout her novels. (Please don’t challenge me to do so—I may not be able to resist the temptation!) In a previous post, I addressed some initial ways that Jane Austen creates dynamic character interactions through dialogue. This post takes it one step further, looking at how dialogue reveals character.

From analyzing Austen’s use of dialogue, I’ve distilled 4 questions that I like to ask myself as I write dialogue for my characters.

4 Key Questions to Ask When Writing Dialogue

1. What is the conversational goal of each of the characters in this conversation?

The writer Kurt Vonnegut famously said, “Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.”

Every character comes into a conversation with a different perspective, a different history and personality, and a different relationship with the subject matter. In turn, this creates a different goal. Even people who are close to each other and know each other well, like family members or close friends, come into a conversation with a different goal. Often, a conversational want will be related, in some way, to a character’s larger, overreaching wants and needs in the story.

In this scene in Sense and Sensibility, John wants to do his duty to his father, and he also wants to feel good about himself—he wants to feel morally justified. Fanny, on the other hand, desperately wants to keep all of the money they have just inherited. However, she also wants her husband to feel good about his decisions and comfortable with moral positioning, and she does not want to damage their relationship or come off as cruel and unfeeling.

2. What is the relationship between the characters?

Readers can judge characters’ relationships with each other through a passage of dialogue. This is because relationships always influence the tone of the dialogue, the flow, the approach, and the outcome.

Relationships will determine how open or closed a character is with their intentions. It will impact what they are comfortable saying. It will demonstrate what is at stake for a character.

Some characters, like Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, have no compunction with asserting themselves and speaking their mind in front of a stranger in a position of power and authority, as Elizabeth does to Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and this fact does much to reveal Elizabeth’s character.

When characters shift their behavior because of their relationships, or behave with deference or authority, respect or disdain, it once again is revelatory.

From just a few lines of dialogue, readers can typically determine much about character relationships and their history with each other.

In this opening passage in Sense and Sensibility, the dynamics of John and Fanny’s marriage are made clear, as are other relationships: the relationship between John and his father; the relationships between John, his stepmother, and his half-sisters; and the relationship (or lack of substantial relationship) Fanny has with any of these other characters.

The dynamics become more complication when it shifts from a dialogue between two characters and a dialogue between a larger number of characters. For instance, in a dialogue between four, five, or six characters, there is a web of relationships: individual relationships between each set of characters, and relationships between each individual character and the group as a whole, particularly is someone is an outsider or less established in the group.

3. How is what each character says interpreted by the other characters?

Listening is a constant act of interpreting: interpreting someone’s words and gestures and expressions for meaning and purpose. This interpretation is influenced by a character’s relationships, current emotional state, background on the subject matter, and personality.

When a character interprets another character’s speech, they react both internally—they could impact their mood, their perspective, etc.—and externally, by what they say and do, both immediately and over time.

Throughout this passage, John listens to his wife intently, and he accepts her praise and flattery and justifications. He interprets anything she says favorably, as if she has said it with the best intent.

Before this scene, in the exposition, the narrator tells us of Mr. John Dashwood:

He was not an ill-disposed young man, unless to be rather cold-hearted, and rather selfish, is to be ill-disposed: but he was, in general, well respected; for he conducted himself with propriety in the discharge of his ordinary duties. Had he married a more amiable woman, he might have been made still more respectable than he was:–he might even have been made amiable himself; for he was very young when he was married, and very fond of his wife. But Mrs. John Dashwood was a strong caricature of himself;–more narrow-minded and selfish.

While the narrator has already explained John’s character, here we see it in action as he interprets Fanny’s words and then acts on them.

Cover of The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A. Flynn

In the novel The Jane Austen Project, two time travelers, Rachel and Liam, journey to Jane Austen’s time in an attempt to recover an unpublished novel she has written. In first person, we experience the dialogue and Rachel’s interpretation of it:

I was here. We’d done it.

“Are you all right?” I asked again. Liam groaned but rolled over, sat up, and scanned our surroundings of field, birch, and hedgerow. The portal location had been chosen well; nobody was here.

“It’s dusk,” I explained. “That’s why it all looks like this.” He turned toward me, dark eyebrows arching in a question. “In case you were wondering.”

“I wasn’t.” His words came slowly, voice soft. “But thanks.”

I looked at him sideways, trying to decide if he was being sarcastic, and hoped so. In our time together at the institute preparing for the mission, something about Liam had always eluded me. He was too reserved; you never knew about people like that.

At this point in the novel, she clearly does not know Liam very well, and does not know what to make of his words. And yet she must make an interpretation of them in order to continue acting and speaking.

Conversation is a constant act of not just speaking, but of analyzing and coming to conclusions. The conclusions that characters come to reveal who they are to the reader.

4. How susceptible are the characters to influence?

Words are tools of power: we use them to shift and impact reality. How much a character is willing to be influenced by other characters will depend not just on the relationship between characters, but also on character’s relationship to the subject matter.

John Dashwood already is selfish—he cares about money, which makes him more susceptible to persuasion—and he does not have a strong sense of loyalty to his mother and half-sisters.

Yet even though these things make him more inclined to be influenced, Fanny’s delivery is still an important aspect. If she had started with, “We shouldn’t give them anything,” John would have likely found it much less palatable than her bringing him their by degrees.

Fanny, on the other hand, is much less prone to influence in this situation. Her husband makes concession after concession, but she will not stop until she has reached her full goal.

Near the end of the chapter, Fanny says:

“Indeed, to say the truth, I am convinced within myself that your father had no idea of your giving them any money at all.”

She continues on in this manner, and manages to completely convince her husband:

“Upon my word,” said Mr. Dashwood, “I believe you are perfectly right. My father certainly could mean nothing more by his request to me than what you say. I clearly understand it now, and I will strictly fulfill my engagement by such acts of assistance and kindness to them as you have described.”

And thus, by this single conversation, the lives of Mrs. Dashwood, Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret, are forever, irrevocably changed.

In Conclusion

Dialogue is a powerful tool to reveal characters. At any point in the narrative, dialogue will impact our view of characters. The first conversation in which we see a particular character is particularly powerful in its ability to form our initial snapshot of who the character is and the role she will play in the story.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1: Read the following short dialogue passage between two (currently unnamed) characters.

“I think we should go with the chips and salsa. It’s easy, inexpensive, and can take care of a lot of people.”

“I think the fruit platter would be better. It’s a lot healthier, and it doesn’t cost that much more.”

“True, but people want something that’s a treat.”

“Strawberries are a treat.”

“Maybe we should just get both.”

Right now, the dialogue is bland, impersonal, and boring. It has no weight in a (hypothetical) story. But you can change that!

Rewrite the dialogue two times, each time taking a different approach in your decision-making:

  • Choose who the characters are, and what their relationship is to each other (i.e. strangers thrust together, someone and their ex-, coworkers, estranged family members)
  • What is at stake for the characters? Why does this matter to them? What are their goals, and do they differ?
  • How do they interpret what the other character says? How susceptible are each of these characters to influence?

Depending on how much time you have, you could set a timer and rewrite the dialogue in 5 to 10 minutes, or you could spend longer if you’d like. You can change anything about the dialogue, and if it’s useful, add description and action. Use this as a launching point and see what happens.

Exercise 2: Track your personal conversations for a day. Who do you speak to? How do your relationships impact your conversations? How do your conversational goals differ from one conversation to the next? How much are you influenced by your conversations, and how much do you influence others?

Exercise 3: What is one of your favorite lines of dialogue? This could be from a book, a short story, or a film. Now go to that scene and analyze the entire passage of dialogue. In particular, consider:

  • Conversational goals
  • Character relationships
  • How the characters interpret each other’s words
  • How much the characters are susceptible to persuasion

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