One Shark Is Better Than Ten Barracudas

#plot #novel #writing #screenplay

This is the idea that one single, potent antagonist is better than a group or sequence of smaller, less potent ones.

But it ignores the concept of the intimidation arc. Which is where the single, potent antagonist is the culmination of arcing through increasingly potent antagonisms.

In sum, the best bet (as we see in Star Wars or Die Hard) is a group of smaller, increasingly potent antagonisms leading to the single, most potent antagonism at the end.

There is a psychological basis to this - the antagonisms the hero faces are a measure of the hero's own increasing change. Antagonisms and their potency are a reflection of the hero's own increasing new self, awakening and other elements.

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