Help For Writers discussion

I've begun preparing my second novel but having a potential structural problem. I don't have a principal antagonist. From what I've learned, this is nearly taboo in the world of fiction, but I don't know how to resolve it. The book is about a man that has all sorts of things go wrong in his life, but all of it is at the expense of one form of government intrusion or another. It comes from all levels of government: municipal, state, and federal government. Each of the incidents are based on things that have actually happened to real people.

I can't come up with a credible scenario where one individual is the source of this. If I did, it would be conspiracy of some sort and I don't want that to happen. The book should illustrate that all these things can happen to anyone without there being some single evil force behind it. Essentially, the antagonist is out-of-control government, not a person

Is this a bad idea? It just seems strange not having one person as a antagonist.

Hello Burt. First of all, we're really sorry its taken this long get back to you! Secondly, thank you so much for telling your problem and using Help For Writers! Now, about your problem; It sounds like a very interesting, compelling plot that you've got there! An antagonist can be an individual person, a group of people or even an event. Remember that creative writing has no rules! An antagonist is only meant to be a dilemma of some form that the main character/s face and your antagonist(s) is in the form of real life issues/problems posed to the same man. We don't think that this at all strange, as lots of books have varying ideas when it comes creating an antagonist! If you're still unsure and feel that one person should solely become the antagonist, why not try creating someone in the government as the main antagonist? It could be absolutely anyone whom you perceive to be suitable enough to fill that role! So overall, no, NOT having one person as the main antagonist is not at all strange...and remember (we've said it earlier, but it is really important!) creative writing has no rules. We hope that this helps you, and once again, we're so sorry for late reply! Thank you for getting in touch! :-)