Be a Better Writer--CONFLICT
Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2015 8:39 am
In my many years at FaithWriters, I’ve read and judged literally thousands of Writing Challenge entries. The ones that frustrate me the most, I think, are stories that are well-written in that there are no errors in grammar or punctuation or any of the other mechanics of writing—they have fully developed characters, a good balance between dialogue and narrative—in short, there’s nothing really wrong with the writing except…there’s a lack of conflict. Typical stories of this type might include sweet little stories featuring children who say or do sweet things…nostalgic reminiscences of life in the good old days…stories of two friends going on a fun adventure—you get the idea. It may be because of my own personality type—I’m just not sweet—but after I read stories like that, I always think, So?
Here’s an analogy about conflict that you’ll understand if you’re musically inclined. There are a lot of songs that can be played with just the three basic major chords—but things start to get interesting when you toss in a minor, or a seventh, or a sustained chord, and even more interesting when you throw in some dissonance. The ear longs to resolve the dissonance, and the musical composition is far more interesting.
You get the idea, right? Conflict makes your stories more compelling and more interesting. Like that dissonant note, conflict creates something that your reader longs to see resolved.
Some Christian writers are anxious about putting conflict in their stories, because they think that conflict is necessarily sin. When they think conflict, they imagine violence, anger, war, hatred—all of these are unpleasant and some people just don’t want to write about them. Let’s put that idea aside for a better definition of conflict:
Conflict is simply a problem or an obstacle for the main character to solve or overcome. So while Christians certainly can (and do) write about war, evil, sin, and violence, if this would make you uncomfortable, there are still many kinds of conflict that you can use.
Conflict is necessary in fiction for three reasons:
1. Conflict creates tension and suspense—and those draw the reader into the story. Suspense longs to be resolved, and the reader can’t help but read on, in order to see how resolution is going to come about.
2. When you have conflict, you often set up a situation in which your reader can more fully identify with one side or the other, and she’ll keep reading in order to find out if her side ‘wins.’ And that’s what we writers want, isn’t it—for the readers to keep reading?
3. Conflict is a reflection of the reality of life. When I read a story that’s just nicety-nicety, I think, what color is the sky on the planet where that person lives? I don’t think there’s anyone living who hasn’t experienced conflict, and that reality gives you a place where your reader can identify with your writing.
If you’re writing a very short story, like for the Writing Challenge, there’s really not room for multiple conflicts. Even if you’re basing this on a true, very complicated situation—you’ll probably need to simplify it for your readers. Our own stories can be very complicated, and the tendency is to try to give the readers the entire back story, and sometimes even the back stories of the back stories, because we want them to understand where we’re coming from, and to take our side. But in a very short story, stick to one conflict, and develop your characters.
Longer works of fiction, of course, will have multiple conflicts.
This is really just an introduction to conflict; subsequent lessons over the next several weeks are going to deal with specific types of conflict found in fiction. If you’re a poet or a writer of nonfiction, you get the next five weeks off.
HOMEWORK:
1. Make a comment or ask a question about anything in this lesson.
2. Name a book or story (or several) that would be familiar to all readers, and identify the conflict. For example:
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus has to defend an innocent black man in the deep south of the 1930s, where racism is a deeply-embedded part of the culture.
In Little Red Riding Hood, Red has to decide whether to take the wolf’s suggestion of going off the path.
In Castaway, the main character has to survive on his own on an uninhabited island.
In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy has to find a way back to Kansas.
Here’s an analogy about conflict that you’ll understand if you’re musically inclined. There are a lot of songs that can be played with just the three basic major chords—but things start to get interesting when you toss in a minor, or a seventh, or a sustained chord, and even more interesting when you throw in some dissonance. The ear longs to resolve the dissonance, and the musical composition is far more interesting.
You get the idea, right? Conflict makes your stories more compelling and more interesting. Like that dissonant note, conflict creates something that your reader longs to see resolved.
Some Christian writers are anxious about putting conflict in their stories, because they think that conflict is necessarily sin. When they think conflict, they imagine violence, anger, war, hatred—all of these are unpleasant and some people just don’t want to write about them. Let’s put that idea aside for a better definition of conflict:
Conflict is simply a problem or an obstacle for the main character to solve or overcome. So while Christians certainly can (and do) write about war, evil, sin, and violence, if this would make you uncomfortable, there are still many kinds of conflict that you can use.
Conflict is necessary in fiction for three reasons:
1. Conflict creates tension and suspense—and those draw the reader into the story. Suspense longs to be resolved, and the reader can’t help but read on, in order to see how resolution is going to come about.
2. When you have conflict, you often set up a situation in which your reader can more fully identify with one side or the other, and she’ll keep reading in order to find out if her side ‘wins.’ And that’s what we writers want, isn’t it—for the readers to keep reading?
3. Conflict is a reflection of the reality of life. When I read a story that’s just nicety-nicety, I think, what color is the sky on the planet where that person lives? I don’t think there’s anyone living who hasn’t experienced conflict, and that reality gives you a place where your reader can identify with your writing.
If you’re writing a very short story, like for the Writing Challenge, there’s really not room for multiple conflicts. Even if you’re basing this on a true, very complicated situation—you’ll probably need to simplify it for your readers. Our own stories can be very complicated, and the tendency is to try to give the readers the entire back story, and sometimes even the back stories of the back stories, because we want them to understand where we’re coming from, and to take our side. But in a very short story, stick to one conflict, and develop your characters.
Longer works of fiction, of course, will have multiple conflicts.
This is really just an introduction to conflict; subsequent lessons over the next several weeks are going to deal with specific types of conflict found in fiction. If you’re a poet or a writer of nonfiction, you get the next five weeks off.
HOMEWORK:
1. Make a comment or ask a question about anything in this lesson.
2. Name a book or story (or several) that would be familiar to all readers, and identify the conflict. For example:
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus has to defend an innocent black man in the deep south of the 1930s, where racism is a deeply-embedded part of the culture.
In Little Red Riding Hood, Red has to decide whether to take the wolf’s suggestion of going off the path.
In Castaway, the main character has to survive on his own on an uninhabited island.
In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy has to find a way back to Kansas.