Good fiction features characters who are at cross-purposes with others. Kind of you-say-potato, I-say-pot-ah-to, only meaner. Characters who live and let live aren’t very interesting.
Writing Tip for Today: It can be useful to state how either hero/heroine or protagonist/antagonist are at odds with one another. Fill in the following statement. “My protagonist wants ____, but the antagonist wants ____.” Doing this gives you some advantages:

• You can adjust or refine the inner and outer conflicts if they seem too weak or unbalanced.
• Knowing these cross purposes enables you to write the characters in a way that forces them to grow and change over the course of the story.
• If you know what these cross-purposes are, it may help you plan the big climax scene, and be sure it doesn’t happen prematurely in the story.

As a further exploration of cross-purposes, you might also ask, “What will my protagonist do to try to overcome antagonist’s goals and win the day?”

• Don’t be general. Define the two goals in terms of the actual story and characters.
• Map out at least three scenes in which the protagonist grapples with the issue.
• Don’t allow your protagonist to win too easily.
• Remember, change takes time. An abrupt change of attitude or belief feels dishonest or phony.