When Good Characters Go Bad

Years before I wrote this piece I started writing a story where the author torments the main character by putting him in various weird situations. I compiled several scenes and moments, but couldn't quite come up with a plot to tie it all together. So, I set it aside for a long time until I was told to write a meta-fiction story. I pulled out the sections that did not fit my new story and wrote the rest months later.

This was more enjoyable than usual because it allowed me to do something with a story that I'd had a hard time finishing. There are so many things you can do with this idea that I just left it alone because it was so open-ended. This, however, was a satisfying way to compress a book (a lengthy one at that) into a short story.

It should also be noted that the movie “Stranger Than Fiction” came out years after I wrote this and published it to the internet. I'm not saying they stole the idea from me. I just want people to know I didn't steal the idea from them. In fact, I was excited to see what it would be like to have a story like mine brought to life, but I was honestly a little disappointed in how it turned out.

Months ago, I completed work on a story called “Protagonist.” Marginally satisfied with my work, I gave it to my editor, Julian, and told her to take a look at it. A few weeks passed before I finally got a call from her.

“It’s really great,” she told me. “After the first few pages I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to wrap it up, but you came through.”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “I’m still not sure I like the ending. It doesn’t feel quite finished.”

“I completely disagree,” she said. Julian had a way with bluntness. “I think you wrapped it up quite nicely.”

“Well, okay,” I said.

She told me the name of the anthology it would be printed in, and that was the last we mentioned of the story. She knew me well enough to know compliments made me uncomfortable, especially when I didn’t deserve them.

Anyway, I never rush out to get a copy whenever something of mine gets published. I did the very first time, but that doesn’t count. So, it was a couple weeks before anyone approached me about it. The first time someone mentioned it was in an email. They said they read my story “Antagonist.” I thanked them and politely corrected them.

The very next day I was watching Headline News and my sister called. We went through the perfunctory greetings and random chit chat before she eventually mentioned the story.

“I read it earlier,” she said. “I really enjoyed it.”

“Well, cool,” I said, “I’m glad.”

“It was really, really good.”

“Mmkay,” I mumbled, grabbing the remote. Again with the flattery.

“No, really,” she insisted. “I thought it was really cool. I showed it to dad and he’s reading it now.”

“Well, cool,” I told her, flipping channels on the television. “I’m glad you liked it.”

“Where’d you come up with the idea?”

“I read the definition of protagonist once, and I just started to imagine what it must be like to be the protagonist in a story, forever under the control of the author.”

“Very cool,” she said. “So, the character becomes the antagonist? Very cool.”

“Uh,” I said, turning the volume on the television down a little. “The author’s the antagonist. It’s supposed to be about how the character is manipulated by forces he can’t control. That’s why it’s named after him.”

“Oh, okay. So, what is the real title?”

“Real title?” I asked.

“Yeah. What’s the name of the story?”

“Protagonist.”

“Oh, it is?”

There was a strange silence on the other end.

“Well,” my sister started, “the copy I have in my hands says ‘Antagonist by Eric P. Metze.’”

I sat up in my seat, muting the television, and said, “Say that again.”

“The title here says ‘Antagonist.’”

I was staring out into my thoughts. Had I changed the title and forgotten about it?

“It actually says ‘Antagonist’?” I asked incredulously.

“Yeah,” she answered. I heard pages ruffling on the other end. “On the back cover, in the table of contents, and on the header of each page of the story.”

“Shit,” I said.

“Shit what?”

“I don’t remember changing it.”

“Oh,” she said softly. “Is it wrong?”

“No, wait,” I said, lost in thought. “I wouldn’t have changed it. The damn story is about the protagonist. I think Julian made a mistake.”

“Whoops.”

“Yeah,” I said, resigning myself to the error. “Whoops.”

“But,” my sister said, “I think the title fits the story. It seems to me more like it’s based on getting even with the author, the way the character turns it around on him and all. He may be a protagonist, but he overcomes the author in the end, ya know?”

“Yeah,” I said, half-listening. Then I processed what she just said. “Wait. What part was that?” I asked her.

“You know,” she started, flipping pages, “where…he…here it is. ‘And the Author would not know it until it was too late, when all the prints were made and all the copies delivered. When all the people had read what the Author had not been able to do, then the Protagonist will have succeeded. He would overcome.’ That’s right before the story is published and the character declares victory.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked her.

“Your story,” she said.

“I think there’s something wrong. That wasn’t how the story went. I don’t even remember that line. I finished it off with the protagonist shoved back into the book, hopelessly locked away by the author.”

“Um,” was all she could say.

“I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay, bro,” she said, and then hung up.

I ran down to the nearest bookstore and found the anthology sitting on a shelf. I snatched the first copy up, leaving a dozen of its clones sitting there, aching to be purchased. I looked in the table of contents and, sure enough, the title said “Antagonist.” I flipped to the first page of the story. I couldn’t believe it. Instead of the title I had given it, a different one was printed in big black letters with my name underneath.

So, I started reading.

The complete story appears in the 2026 revised edition of Ten Terribly Terrific Tall Tales Trying to Trip the Triune, coming soon.