October Novel Prep Challenge

In Western writing, it is accepted and standard (I would say, expected) to have an antagonist.

This could be a person - think Cape Fear.
This could be an animal - think Jaws.
This could be a monster - think Dracula.
This could be nature or a natural disaster - think Earthquake.
This could be a government system - think anything anti-Nazi in WW2.
This could be a situation - think Castaway.
This could be the person's own feelings or foibles or "weaknesses" - think Leaving Las Vegas.
This could be a disease - think Terms Of Endearment.
It could be anything.

No matter what, though, for a story to be classified a story (in the West), there needs to be some sort of conflict. Protagonist v antagonist.

But, as you can see, some of these things do not lend themselves to an antagonist profile. How would we profile something without a consciousness, like, say, Hurricane Milton? That is not an easy thing to do. And we cannot even profile an animal because that would involve anthropomorphisation, which is something to be avoided outside of writing for younger readers. Read the book Jaws - the animal is just following instinct, not being evil.

Yes, most of these things cannot be considered "evil" in the natural sense of the word, and this is something to be very aware of:

The antagonist, in order to be realistic, must think that what they are doing is correct. Having a pure evil antagonist is not realistic. The only time it works is when we are talking supernatural evil, and even then the antagonist has to have a reason for doing what they are doing. Too often a bad guy is just evil for the sake of being evil. Why? Why are they like that?

Hopefully, this is where the antagonist profile comes in. When filling in the details of your antagonist you can look at that back story, expand on it, find ways to make the antagonist at least a little sympathetic.

Why did Darth Vader do what he did? He felt let down by the Jedi, that their rules stifled and ultimately killed his love, and that the Emperor was the only person who cared for him.

Why did Palpatine do what he did? Even in the expanded universe, there is no answer. He is just evil for evil's sake... and that is probably a reason why I find him such a non-entity of a character. He is more a story-tool than a real character.

Why did the shark in Jaws do what it did? It was hungry. So, it was trying to live.

Why does cancer do what it does? Because its internal metabolism needs the vitality of healthy cells to survive, but this corrupts them in the process.

For what it's worth, I do not believe in evil. I do not think evil exists, and so when I write an antagonist, I try to look at them as people. It is also why I tend to use monsters, nature or situations as my go-to bad guys. They are not evil. They are doing what instinct dictates.

Just like every hero is not all-good, every villain is not all-bad.

And I think your character profiles should reflect this.

FWIW, I believe if you cannot write an antagonist profile, then the people who run this place suggest you write about another character. If in doubt, ask someone who knows more about this than me. I is a idiot.