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| Erin Shakespear |
"The greatest rules of dramatic writing are conflict, conflict and conflict."
-James Frey
Conflict. Oy...we need a lot of the stuff, right? In our books anyways...in my living room, between the wee natives, not so much.
But how do we make conflict? How do we stuff enough into our stories to turn them into Must-Be-Read-Until-The-Crack-Of-Dawn page turners?
I'm glad you asked! I'll just turn to my notes from a lecture Patti Gauch gave. Yep, I know, I'm talking about her again. I tell you, she's brilliant. And then I'll sprinkle in some wisdom from other awesome people.
The Proper Care & Feeding of Conflict
#1: Start in a hole.
What does you character want? Put them as far away from this as possible. Make 'em suffer! It's for their good. Give them a large dose of internal conflict. They want something so very very badly. It's the thing they want most in the world, but they are their biggest obstruction. Somehow they are standing in their way. Or maybe someone else is. Someone else is keeping them from getting this Great and Grand Thing They Need. Just make it big and make it good.
#2: Dual Desires
Okay this is just an awesome idea. Dual desires? I'd never thought about this before until I read Daisy Carter's blog post about conflict. What if your character wants two equally good things? Or one is good and one is not so good, but he just can't choose? Two different love interest? Yep. that would definitely add some major conflict.
The story...must be a conflict, and specifically, a conflict between the forces of good and evil within a single person. - Maxwell Anderson
#3: Load It Up
You could give your character one conflict. But why not throw in all three? A conflict internally, something he wants desperately, a conflict between those around him, with a friend or family member and a conflict within his environment. Oooooh, that would be a whole lo
#3: Load It Up
You could give your character one conflict. But why not throw in all three? A conflict internally, something he wants desperately, a conflict between those around him, with a friend or family member and a conflict within his environment. Oooooh, that would be a whole lo
3 Comments on The Proper Care and Feeding of Conflict, last added: 3/23/2012
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Love the dual desires - I remember the old Superman movies (Christopher Reeves style) where a bus load of children were in danger but on the other side of the world so was Louis! Lex told Superman he had to choose, he couldn't possibly save them both (silly Lex).
Wagging Tales
I see a lot of characters having dual desires where one is a matter of his heart and another is the thing needed to end the adventure happily. If played right things get really juicy at the end when he has to choose or figure a way to get both.
I love in Batman when Joker says something like "we're the same, you and I." No way is Batman like Joker! Or is he?? Great internal conflict.
THANKS Erin! Great post.