On The Table Read, “The Best Book Reader Magazine in the UK“, author JJ Barnes describes what a Protagonist Partnership is, what they do for your story, and how to write one successfully.
Written by JJ Barnes
Whilst most stories focus on one protagonist, a protagonist partnership can work really well for others. I’ll explore what a protagonist partnership is, what it does for your story, and how to write one.
What Is A Protagonist Partnership?
The protagonist of your story is the main character. Your story follows them from the Inciting Incident to the climax as they try to accomplish their story goal. Your protagonist has an antagonist who’s story goal is to stop your protagonist from getting what they want. They cause the obstacles and challenges that make your story entertaining.
A multiple protagonist story sees several protagonists with different story goals. Their stories will interconnect but they follow their own unique plot. In turn, each protagonist will have their own antagonist.
However, a protagonist partnership is different from both of these things. A protagonist partnership sees two separate protagonists, but they have the same story goal, and the same antagonist. They both become motivated at the Inciting Incident, and their story is mutually resolved at the climax.
Why Write A Protagonist Partnership?
1. A protagonist partnership allows you to have an expert in the main role.
I have written before about why your protagonist shouldn’t be an expert. If you start your story with a protagonist who already knows everything they need, your audience will feel disconnected from them. You need your protagonist to learn about the science or magic or world they’re in alongside your audience. That way they aren’t talking about things that your audience doesn’t have access to.
However, with a protagonist partnership you can solve that problem. Because it’s a partnership your characters need to be on equal footing, equally strong, equally smart, but they can be different. As long as one of your characters isn’t an expert in a field, the other one can be. For instance, in Bones, Temperance Brennan is an expert in forensic anthropology. Booth is not. This means that whenever Brennan talks about something scientific, she has a reason to explain it to the audience because Booth needs it.
2. A protagonist partnership allows plans to be discussed.
When your protagonist is making plans or dealing with internal conflict, they need someone to talk to. While you can communicate it all to your audience through internal monologue, dialogue is more entertaining. By creating a partnership in the lead roles, that conversation is always available. Plans need to be made, ideas discussed. It’s not info dumping to the audience because each character needs to work out what they’re doing.
3. Constant Conflict
Conflict is essential to keep your story moving forwards and entertaining. Conflict doesn’t mean fighting, it means not having what you want. If your characters have what they want then they’re satisfied and have no motivation to change their lives. When your characters are satisifed their story is over. Conflict keeps your story going for as long as it needs.
When you have a protagonist partnership the opportunities for conflict are endless. Being equally motivated towards the same goal does not mean they have to agree on how to go about it. They both have their own areas of expertise, their own passions and opinions. Your characters need to be different enough that it’s worth having two of them so make them as different as possible.
They have reasons to disagree, experiences they’re drawing on, ideas they want to pursue. There can be differences in politics or religion. There can be unresolved sexual tension that they don’t act on due to their working relationship that keeps the energy high.
The conflict between two characters who are equal in every way but different can really bring strength to your story.
Who Are They?
When designing your protagonist partnership there are things you need to consider. Firstly, why is it worth it? You can always have the conflict and conversation in a story with one protagonist by writing a friendship network. In my book What Ivy Wants, Ivy is a singular protagonist but has conflict, conversation and unresolved sexual tension with the surrounding characters.
Pick professions or expertise or interests that are very different, but work well when used together. It’s Booth’s expertise in policing and human interaction mixed with Brennan’s science that makes their working relationship so strong. They can teach one another, guide one another, and contribute equally to any scenario.
What Is their Relationship?
Work out their relationships to one another. Are they buddy cops, are they enemies who will become friends, are they friends who will become lovers? There has to be a dynamic between these two characters that makes them interesting and exciting.
Then work out why they are working for the same goal. If it’s a professional setting then the reason is clear, it’s their job. It could be an antagonist who is set against the individually and forcing them to team up. It could be personal if something is happening in both their lives that pushes them both down the same path. There is something connecting them together and putting them into the roles of protagonist partners.
A Sparky Dynamic
Ultimately, a protagonist partnership will mostly benefit your story because of the sparky dynamic between these two people. It’s their chemistry and their conflict that draws you in.
Your audience will care about them, root for them, and enjoy spending time with them. So develop characters who will create that emotional response and give them a good story to follow.
More From JJ Barnes:
I am an author, filmmaker, artist and youtuber, and I am the creator and editor of The Table Read.
You can find links to all my work and social media on my website: www.jjbarnes.co.uk
Buy my books: www.sirenstories.co.uk/books
Follow me on Twitter: @JudieannRose
We strive to keep The Table Read free for both our readers and our contributors. If you have enjoyed our work, please consider donating to help keep The Table Read going!
[…] we suddenly had more time, we had lost our face to face connection, and building that writing partnership suddenly took a lot longer. My partner was also busy working on existing projects, plus we were […]
Awesome post! Join the fun at https://sugongfang.com for up to R$1,000 welcome bonus, progressive jackpots, and instant PIX withdrawals. Date: 2025-10-23 23:40:03 (-03).
hgh online kaufen
References:
git.unpas.dev
evogene hgh kaufen
References:
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com
anabolika und hgh kaufen
References:
hgh pen kaufen
schwarzenegger steroids
References:
https://hipstrumentals.net/
what is a major disadvantage of using over-the-counter (otc) medications?
References:
https://lius.familyds.org:3000/jasperwile038
If this stress continues, SARMs have the potential to extend the
chance of coronary heart assault and stroke.
The main medical use of these compounds is to treat delayed puberty, some kinds of impotence, and wasting of the
physique caused by HIV infection or different muscle-wasting diseases.
Some physiological and psychological unwanted side effects of anabolic steroid abuse have potential to impact any person, while different side effects are gender particular.
This may be attributed to the rise in testosterone ranges that anabolic steroids may
cause. Nonetheless, as with different unwanted effects, this elevated
aggression will affect customers to completely different degrees.
This might rely upon a person’s genetics and habits before taking anabolic steroids.
Low-density lipoprotein (LDL)—the bad—cholesterol levels increase, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL)—the good—cholesterol levels lower.
Severe cardiovascular problems, including hypertension,coronary
heart assault, and blood clots, are reported with using anabolic steroids.
Nonetheless, these effects usually come at the price of a extensive range of probably harmful medical
situations. One Other research confirmed that 35% of the users examined
had been discovered to be constructive for 2 or more AASs
in reference to post-mortem. Moreover, an affiliation between the usage of AASs and
different illicit drugs, similar to hashish, cocaine,
amphetamines or LSD, was observed. The mixture of physical activity and prolonged/chronic or earlier misuse of AASs leads to a predisposition to completely different patterns of myocardial harm and sudden cardiac death [35].
Many of those products are marketed and labeled as dietary supplements
that may purportedly improve muscle mass and strength.
The subject of Estrogen is a very interesting one,
especially because it pertains to anabolic steroid users,
as it is certainly one of the central features of anabolic steroid use, particularly the place unwanted effects
are concerned. But this text is designed to be an all-encompassing informative piece on Estrogen normally
as it pertains to anabolic steroid use. A widespread fable
is that ‘Estrogen’ refers to 1 single hormone, however the truth
is that estrogens are a group of related feminine steroid hormones.
Though Estrogens are steroid hormones, they aren’t anabolic steroids in the sense that they don’t
have any direct facilitation of muscle anabolism.
In fact, the overwhelming majority of steroid
hormones, like Estrogen, have nothing to do with muscle building.
Females who take steroids may experience irregularities in their
menstrual cycles.
Ought To kidney damage occur, then the steroid consumer should discontinue using the drugs.
Some steroids customers have suffered from end-stage kidney failure and have required a dialysis.
Others, having beforehand experienced kidney damage, when beginning a cycle of steroids again have
skilled a relapse of extreme kidney damage and dysfunction.
Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is regularly used to begin or preserve spermatogenesis and endogenous
testosterone production. Although it is efficient to stimulate gonadal function, it
doesn’t stimulate gonadotrophin manufacturing. It may actually delay
restoration of gonadotrophin manufacturing by artificially growing plasma testosterone ranges
and thereby prolonging the underlying hypothalamic suppression of reproductive function.
Importantly, more than a third of these respondents reported that they’d used AAS purely to enhance personal look or for “social” purposes,
and never for athletic efficiency. In 1989, Johnson and colleagues reported AAS use in 11% of 853
male college students in six Southern excessive colleges (Johnson et al.,
1989). Also in 1989, the Monitoring the Future Research added AAS to its
annual nameless questionnaires; in that year, three.0% of 12th grade college students of both sexes reported lifetime AAS use (Johnston et al., 2006).
Since a large majority of AAS customers have been boys (see Johnston et al., 2006, p.
243), lifetime AAS use for boys alone in this examine was probably about 5%.
In 1991, AAS have been included for the primary time on the Nationwide Family Survey (NHS) of drug use.
This survey produced lower estimates of AAS use than the
nameless questionnaire studies, for reasons that we have mentioned
elsewhere (Kanayama et Cómo evaluar tu respuesta al clenbuterol., 2007).
But even by this more conservative estimate, practically 1,000,000 American males
had used AAS by 1991 (SAMHSA, 1991; Yesalis et al.,
1993).
This could be measured on-cycle by checking the AST (aspartate transaminase) and ALT (alanine aminotransferase) enzymes.
When these shoot up, it’s proof of liver stress; thus, common checkups
with a physician ought to be taken to carefully monitor these scores.
Anadrol may be a potent mass-building steroid; nevertheless,
it’s also one of the poisonous AAS (1), based mostly on our liver perform and lipid profile checks.
Anadrol (oxymetholone) is an oral steroid used in bulking cycles to build large quantities of
muscle dimension (hypertrophy).
According to NIDA, an estimated 9% of secondary faculties have drug testing packages for
illicit drugs and less than 4% of excessive schools in the
Usa test their athletes for anabolic steroids. Even if such testing was more widespread,
research has yet to clearly determine if drug testing
is effective in lowering drug use. In Accordance to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, most
of the info the company has gathered in regards to the long-term results of
anabolic steroids has been obtained from case reports and never from formal epidemiological
studies.
Another problem is the dearth of a normal when performing analysis because
of the vast numbers of brokers which might be offered worldwide on the black
market and their relative efficiency. Many counterfeit
merchandise are bought and used, which complicates the study of abuse.
Steroids are a general class of brokers that every one have the steroid ring in widespread.
The steroid ring consists of three 6-carbon rings
and one 5-carbon ring joined, of which cholesterol
is probably the most primary type and, indeed, the precursor.
Though the term steroid consists of all brokers derived from this ringed construction, this dialogue contains only testosterone and
the anabolic-androgenic steroids (AASs).
Trenbolone use can cause mood swings, which can have a significant
influence on a person’s mental health and well-being.
Mood swings brought on by Trenbolone use can include irritability,
anxiousness, and depression, and they’re considered
as a result of drug’s influence on neurotransmitters within the mind.
Gynecomastia is a condition the place the breast tissue in males
becomes enlarged, giving the appearance of breasts.
This could be a highly distressing condition for men and might trigger
emotional and psychological distress. Gynecomastia is caused by an imbalance of estrogen and testosterone within the
body, which can be triggered by means of Trenbolone.
As per the Anabolic Steroids Management Act Of 1990, anabolic steroid
is included[20] in Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), as of
February 27, 1991.
好文！2026年世界杯越来越近了，让我们共同期待这场全球足球盛宴。日期：2025-11-10 13:15:34 (-03)。
Awesome post! Join the fun at https://gck-1whatsapp.com WhatsApp 网页版的安全机制确保用户资料未被盗用，严格保护隐私。 . Date: 2025-12-07 02:04:03 (-03).