Stories are the perfect setting for a contest of worldviews. And yet, so many novels read like one-sided arguments. While the villains may have numbers and physical might on their side, the lies they live by are so obvious that they hardly pose a legitimate challenge to the truths defended by the heroes.

When there’s no fight, victory feels hollow.

In real life, the lies that lead us into danger are subtle and appealing. Often, they include just enough truth to disguise their true nature.

As authors, we do our readers no favors by giving them false confidence in easy victories. If we want to encourage them to hold fast to righteousness and life, we need to write stories that show truth’s triumph over evil’s strongest arguments—not its weakest.

In A Study of Shattered Spells, author Josiah DeGraaf doesn’t give his characters an easy path to truth by pitting them against soggy opposition. He does the reverse, forcing his protagonist to struggle for answers amid a host of regular people whose arguments are all the more compelling for their humanity.

So, how can we create characters who pose a truly formidable challenge to the truths we’re trying to prove?

⚡Give them relatable motives:

Almost no one wakes up in the morning and decides “I’m going to be evil today!” We all believe we’re the hero of our story, and we like to think we’re acting out of noble motives.

Let your opposing characters voice the justifications we’d give ourselves in their shoes. Let them believe they’re in it for the greater good.

Not only will the result be more realistic, but it will force the reader’s mind to work harder to discern the sheep from the wolves (and from the sheep with questionable beliefs.)

For Example:

In A Study of Shattered Spells, all the characters perceive their actions as driven by virtue.

They make their choices in the name of objectively good goals: justice, compassion, unity, honor, and integrity. Even their worst offenses are backed up by a rationale that (almost) sounds good on paper.

It takes time and experience for Kalina to discern which hearts are true.

⚡Let them be right sometimes

Just because characters disagree with you doesn’t mean they can’t also possess a measure of wisdom, display admirable qualities, or experience success.

Give your reader a reason to take the opposition seriously—or at least a reason not to fully distrust them. If a character is proven correct in one area, we’ll be more likely to believe his other arguments are at least worth considering.

If you want to confront your character with a truly difficult problem, put the opposing argument in the mouth of a good person. If a character has obvious issues, even giving him the potential for goodness can go a long way toward making his arguments seem more reasonable.

For Example:

Kalina receives conflicting messages from all quarters—not only from her enemies, but from her allies. Insight and unhelpful advice sometimes come from the same mouths, making it all the more difficult for Kalina to decide who she can trust.

⚡Treat them with dignity and compassion.

We need some stories that show the defeat of plain, irredeemable, inhuman evil. But if you’re intentionally setting a character up to play the devil’s advocate, a regular human will do the job much more effectively than an actual demon.

The thing about arguing with humans is that we have to behave like humans.

If we dismiss someone as less than fully human because of their beliefs, that’s not a fair argument—it’s fighting dirty, and it’s missing the point. It’s all too easy to set up an inhuman villain as a straw man and then set him on fire. The more dignity you give a character, the more likely the reader will be to engage with his ideas instead of rejecting them out of hand.

The other thing about humans is that they need compassion, especially when they don’t deserve it. Evil doesn’t just wound the victim, it also damages the aggressor.

If you can lead your readers to genuinely care about the opposition, they’ll follow the impulse to reason with them instead of the desire to destroy them.

For example:

While there are a couple of characters who are just plain rotten to the core, the majority of the dissenting voices in A Study of Shattered Spells are normal people. (I mean, as normal as a person can be while using a musical instrument to channel telekinesis.)

This story goes to great lengths to test the limits of compassion. If you’re wondering where it draws a line between extending grace and pursuing justice, here’s my advice:

Go read the book already! 😆

Thank you so much for reading this series! You can check out A Study of Shattered Spells on Josiah’s website!

I’d love to hear from you! What’s your favorite example of a story where the antagonist tests the truth with a challenging argument?