the un-evil antagonist in The Journey
I seem to have gotten into the habit of creating truly evil antagonists in my contemporary romance novels. So much so that they’re even scaring me. Then my good friend and fellow author, David Lee Summers, mentioned that an the antagonist doesn’t always have to be an evil villain. He or she could simply be someone whose goals are contrary to the protagonist’s goals. So, after listening to David’s comments, I’ve come up with an antagonist who has no evil intentions.
Harrison Tyler, or Hal, as his friends call him, is a nurse practitioner who appears in my contemporary romance novel, The Journey. We first meet Hal when lead character Jeremy is missing and presumed dead, and Cassie, Jeremy’s wife, is recovering from an automobile accident. She meets Hal at a medical appointment. He’s filling in for someone else that day, and he immediately falls for Cassie. Larry, her brother-in-law, was with Cassie at the time, and on the way home Larry encourages a reluctant Cassie to go have coffee with Hal. Cassie finally agrees, but only to get Larry off her back.
Cassie sees Hal as a friend who’s come into her life at a time when she really needs one. She genuinely likes him, but she would never make a commitment to him. Hal, however, sees Cassie as a rare find. He hasn’t quite fallen in love with her, but he knows he wants her, and he’s willing to wait until she’s ready. If doing so means he has to be persistent, if not a little bit manipulative, so be it. His intention isn’t to cause any harm. He simply wants to make Cassie his, before it’s too late.
Hal is a purely fictitious character. He’s a genuinely good man who wants something he can never really have, but tries to reach for it anyway.
Marina Martindale
The Journey is available on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com.