Common Bonds?

Pss. 97: 10 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.

Prov. 8: 13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

Common bonds?

Bond in hatred, bond in love

Nothing makes any sense.

How can one be devoted

To a life that’s so intense?

Bond in glory, bond in joy

Blessings mount on high.

With humble adoration

My Savior’s drawing nigh.

Bond in hate, bond in love

There rises inner conflict.

Turmoil then slowly erupts

By the pain you chose to inflict.

Bond in glory, bond in joy

A peace-filled soul pursue.

You’ll never be at a loss

For blessings that ensue.

Bound to glory, bound to joy

My life is full of love.

Bound in peace, bound in mercy

Blessings rain from above!

Deut. 28: 2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.

Thank you my friend in Christ who rained unexpected blessing upon me. You see Christ in me, and I thank you! God Bless!

Grip 'em! Grip 'em Good!

I like to think of what happens to characters in good novels and stories as knots --- things keep knotting up. And by the end of the story --- readers see an unknotting of sorts. Not what they expect, not the easy answers you get on T.V., not wash and wear philosophies but a reproduction of believable emotional experiences. ~ Terry McMillan

***

This week we’re learning the technique of utilizing conflict in a story. I think the above writer, Terry McMillan, has said it much better. It’s like tying your words in knots and placing the knots in the hands of your readers and letting them slowly do the unraveling of sorts until they walk away with an emotional experience for having read your words.

Conflict in a story? Sure you can call it that, but I like the knot theory much better. Conflict sounds so aggressive and can be. Do we want to write an aggressive scene or a scene that has your stomach in knots as you turn page after page? I’m leaning towards the knots, myself.

For conflict to be effectual, you need the inverted check mark is what I’ve been taught. You need to slowly build up the scene, place a few knots in the rope, or tension, as the scene grows and mounts the highest mountain.

Instead of having your character jump off the other side of the mountain, you need to bring your reader down slowly as if releasing the pressure out of a tire. It doesn’t deflate immediately; it slowly comes to a flat. But wait a second now, you don’t want your ending to be flat, you want vibrant life to be in the ending, so don’t deflate your tire completely. Give your reader an emotional release.

This is why I like the knot theory more than I appreciate the conflict. Sure you can give the reader an enormous amount of conflict but giving them knots is like handing them a fully inflated tire, and releasing the pressure slowly so that your reader is gripping their stomach in anticipation, the knot has been built and you’re slowly releasing them. By not allowing the tire to go completely flat you’re saving room for the completion of the heartache in the tale, the happily ever after, so to speak.

All in all your reader is what counts. If you can tug at THEIR heartstrings, bind them up in knots, and give them a welcomed conclusion by untying the knots, I think you’ve achieved your goal in your story.

Chapter by chapter should have elevated the heart rate so that they continue reading each and every word, dangling by a thread; they are waiting for you, the writer, to make them feel as though their visit to your world of words was worth every thread.

Giving them conflict, you might be giving them aggression. Giving them knots, you’re filling your work with the drama that carries the story. Remember that as you’re building your characters and story. Drama is GOOD; it is a writer’s best friend!

Book Bites:

Elements of Fiction Writing - Conflict and Suspense by James Scott Bell

Elements of Fiction Writing - Conflict, Action & Suspense by William Noble

Drama Writing ~ Ray Bradbury

Here you have it, the secret to all good writing, and that is drama! “I’m leaving, it’s personal.” That’s a statement trying to drum up drama but not being skilled, the person loses their mark. When drama happens it is important to show, and that means details. Telling someone something is not drama. You can tell someone you’re leaving but without the details of showing, you just come off as a whiney drama king or queen. Your character musters no sympathy when they TELL, your reader wants details and showing them is the only way.


Yesterday we lost a great writer, Mr. Ray Bradbury; he was 91 years old. This man knew the art of drama and if anyone is a reader of good works, you’ve read at least (at least) one of his books. They called him an iconic Science- fiction writer, but really, can you put a name on art like that? He was an artist who knew the written word, period! With such titles as “The Martian Chronicles”, “Fahrenheit 451” and “Something Wicked this way Comes”, he showed writers the edge of humanity and took them on a ride through wondrous worlds.

The writing world is in mourning for this artist that taught us a little about the way the written word is to be received. When I read a book, so many times I’m dissecting the way it is written; the plot, theme, the drama of it all; I lose pertinent elements of the story. Mr. Bradbury had a way to make me forget that I’m a writer and made me a reader of his words. I’d dive in, become entranced by the story, and by the end of the book I was sighing thinking, “Why did it have to end?” So I’d begin reading it again as a writer, dissecting sentences, fishing for structure, and finding all the points that made this a wonderful read.

My point here being, that Ray Bradbury had a way with words. We as writers would do him justice if we learned from him and anything he wrote. Sure he was pegged a sci-fi author, but he was so much more, just as Stephen King is more than a horror story master. They are masterful writers of drama! Any way you read it, the drama is spilling out of the pages, and it is with that, you finish reading with a sigh.

Drama can mean a play or screenwriting, but today’s blog topic is more about intense, in your face drama that a reader connects with. It might be considered conflict, but that is more physical action in your writing. Drama is the intense feeling you get as a reader of what will happen next. It’s the ability to bring home a page-turner for the reader, like Ray Bradbury had the knack of doing for us.

So when you want to be a drama queen, don’t just tell people, “I’m leaving, it’s personal.” Give the reader something to be intently involved with. “I’m leaving this place because Burt has abused me for the last time! Bruises and hospital visits are over, and so are we!” NOW you want to know…the rest of the story.

Rest in Peace Mr. Bradbury! Long live your words!

I'm Done...I Move on...

I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him. ~Booker T. Washington
***

Well I’m done with it all. I’m done being attacked, spit on on, trashed and made to feel like an incompetent piece of crap. I am, and I know it, a much better person than that, and I, like all of you, deserve respect. We live in such a hateful world, that I think moving on is best for all involved.

I was raised to sweep everything under the rug. Never confront an issue, keep it all hidden, be pleasant always, therefore pretending, supporting things that you just don’t believe in. Well, when I was sexually assaulted at a young age and my elders did nothing, (swept it under the rug like the good soldiers they themselves were raised to do) Joni developed something new at the ripe old age of fourteen. I gave my life to God and asked HIM to guide me.

Wouldn’t ya know it, He wanted me open and honest? Truthful and trustworthy? He had me forgive my assailant and I did, quickly moving on in life. I found joy in writing because it was a form of releasing all my pains and heartaches, it was my way of dealing with such a sad life that I had gotten myself into.

The recent events had me reliving past events where evil entered into my (or tried to) life and made me feel incompetent. When something is not from God, I have no other name for it. And when it attacks me, it is not from a good solid foundation based on the Lord, that’s for sure.

I confronted the issue while everyone else cowered and climbed in their shell and just wanted it to pass over like a toxic radiation cloud. Can toxic radiation really pass over, without causing any harm? Well I was not about to let it ‘pass over’ me and destroy me, instead I opened the door of ‘communication’ so the problem could be resolved.

Again I was attacked, again I was the bad guy, but all in all, I’m good because now I see this person(s) for who they really are. They play the pity card well, they have all their ducks in a row and are happy and content with that and I wish them nothing but godspeed.

I am not a bitter person, I don’t hold grudges and allow them to cling like leaves to wet pavement. My best bet is to move on, be done with it all and find a new place. I don’t like being judged, and won’t allow the torture that my psyche has had to endure. I am moving on to save myself.

I am an adult, I at least expect my elders to act like adults. When I find that they really can’t...then I move on.

Love and hugs to all who have supported me and comforted me. Those who KNEW what *I* went through and were there for me, I thank you. May you all have a blessed day.

Next up: Quotation Saturday.... godspeed...

The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less. ~Eldridge Cleaver, Soul on Ice, 1968

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear. ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Lesson 4: Conflict ~ Ironic

 "I am me...there is no other." ~joni

Wouldn’t you know it, this weeks lesson at f2k is Conflict. Recently there has been a lot of conflict at f2k, conflict that I may have to let The Creator of the Site, become aware of so he can put an end to it.

What I’ve been hearing a lot thrown around is the words, “Freedom of Speech.” That term is being abused as much as the poor smiley. I always thought that as you got older, you grew up and matured, respected one another and found a common ground to live.

We live in a country where there are more nationalities and different races than any other time in history. We (the U.S.) allow Freedom of Speech, to give adults (and some children) the voice to be heard. But do you realize, when words are abused, things get shifted out of place?

I don’t know exactly when it all began but my friends and I fool around on facebook, and someone came on my wall and basically attacked me saying I was bullying my way around f2k. A conflict arose. The clique gathered their resources, built their waging war of words against me, and I became the victim of unnecessary, unwarranted attacks, all because of what? Because I said people abuse a smiley face? I have no idea.

Rules and guidelines are set up all over the internet, in chatrooms, forums across the web. But when people start crying (babbling) "Freedom of Speech, I have rights", then you know, things will go down the drain. And at f2k, THEY DO HAVE RULES AND GUIDELINES too, but also, you have your rebels, without a cause!

I really believe it all started to begin when someone posted an erotic/x-rated story. The panel decided that this was not what f2k was about and it was removed. Then the words Freedom of Speech arose. It is not MY writing site and I do not make the decisions, but since I spread the Word of the Lord, on MY facebook wall and this blog, I became the person to attack.

It is quite obvious that those who sought to attack, befriend and support the attacker, know nothing about me, the site, or from whence they speak. Anger and bitterness, hate and threats are just easier, than to come to what they thought was the source of the problem, me.

The bashers, went to everyone around me by going into the chatroom, where they mounted their attacks and viciously spoke bad of me, all for what? I still do not know. Not one person was brave enough to contact ME, in the whole ordeal, which shows me that they are cowards and need to be removed from the site. Or they need to grow up and get a life in the real world. 

I was all set to quit and give up the course that I’ve worked at for eight years, throw in the towel, crawl under a rock, but then, wouldn’t that be letting the evil win? Aww, and they actually thought they had won?

Well, the once successful writing course has changed and it is because of these folks, not because of me. It has taken a dive, and they are to blame. And to think that a mentor stood and watched and did absolutely nothing, except participate? This is truly a sad sad day for this writing site.

We will overcome this. The Writing Site will rise out of the ashes. WE are there to WRITE and LEARN a little something of the craft; not play and breed hate. The conflict will be resolved and we’ll move on and hopefully, those people grow up somewhere along the line, or just think, I’ll have an entire novel of conflict!

Resolution

“Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will. ~ Jonathan Edwards
***

Yesterday we spoke of the conflict in a story. Some folks think that is the height of the story but really you find solace in the resolution more than the conflict, don’t you? When you’re reading a story and your heroine is tossed into a conflict, do you not find yourself rooting for her and anticipating a resolution as the story ends?

Take for example, a young woman who has decided to get out of a troubled relationship, where conflict is heightened, where her child and her are endangered. You see her on a dusty road heading off to the sunset with a small child's hand in hers and a backpack on her back. Leaving behind everything precious; ornaments, nic-nacs, photographs, even her very first Teddy bear.

You watched the conflict build in this relationship and you pulled for her and as she is walking down the road, sun in front of her, shadows of her past behind her; you read the conclusion. Or did you?

Picked up on the road to nowhere the child and her are tossed into another relationship. Thinking it was for the best but then it happened, the same old circle of the past came running around; the relationship grew, the same resentment and pain that was left behind brewed and here she was back in the mirrored image of the life that she left behind.

Once again, you felt the joy in her resolution only to find she was smack dab in the middle of conflict once again. In writing, this is the crux of the story that you’re writing. We like to call it the inverted check mark. The conflict rises, rises, peaks, then resolves. Whew! But then it confronts the heroine again and the vicious cycle comes back and before the final chapter, either your heroine dies, or she succeeds in finding a way out of the circle that has haunted her life and held her captive for so many years.

This is the premise of so many novels so I don’t believe I’m releasing anything new to the reader and this is why my life story has been put on hold for a spell. It seems ‘done before’ even though it is unique to me, to readers, they might not find it interesting enough to pick up and scale through thirty or forty chapters of this same thing happening over and over. Maybe the title should be Karma- What goes around-comes around.

Now remember, it is all in the resolution where the reader finds reward. So as you embark on learning the ropes of conflict, no matter where they may be in your story, resolution is what the reader is REALLY looking for! 

Congratulations to me on my 700th post!

Sprigs and Sprays

John 15: 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
***

What a week! I’ve blogged, I've wandered, I've kept up the pace of the every day hum drum, all with the help of a sprig and a spray! What in the world is a sprig? A spray?

Allow me to tell you, a sprig is a small branch and a spray is an offshoot of the branch, and after the week I’ve had, had it not been for the extension of the branch, I may have been weakened to the core. The spray of friends who understood me, as a friend and a writer, reached out and consoled me.

As our lesson ‘Conflict’ unraveled, students assumed this was a physical fight scene that needed to be written. Again we go back to say, “Did you read the tips?” Conflict can also be the inner struggle that one endures when faced with a decision in his/her life. It is not a knock down drag out fist fight which conveys a conflict scene, it is the mindset of the character, it is the emotional roller coaster that the said character is on day in and day out.

So with that said, my inner conflict is being helped along by the branches that are extending outward from people who really care. They are far and few in between, but the ones who do extend are enough to fill my heart, and make it grow three sizes too big this week. I’ve had to cut out a few things, restructure a few things and focus on more important things, all for the resolution of the inner conflict raging war inside of me trying its darndest to see to it that I crumble like an unneeded wad of paper.

Friends can be a branch in the war on conflict. They can be the making or breaking of all that you stand for. You are more than likely to have a so-called friend, stab you in the back, slice you open or just go for the jugular or a prettier scenario is they can rip your heart out of your chest and toss it on the floor and stomp around a few times to see how much blood they can drain from you.

But on a more positive note to resolution, real friends, the ones who stick by you through thick and thin, (eliminate family because they’re just there as a back up) will be the ones who extend loving words, kind gestures, a heartfelt love that no other on this Earth can offer. Friends don’t let Friends, drown!

Job 19:14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
***
Mark 3:21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.

Tinkles and Twigs

He who has imagination without learning, has wings and no feet.
Joseph Joubert
***

Conflict ~
Conflict can be expressed on many levels. Take yesterdays post of inner conflict. I wrote it so it wouldn’t be on my back pushing me down like an overstuffed garbage bag, but remember, conflict in a story can lift your words to new heights.

We have antagonist and protagonist in reality and in our fictional stories. The job is to know who is who and where they lurk. In life, they can seemingly be your friend, who has turned and gone to the other side of the moral spectrum, and in fiction it can be the butcher, the baker, or the candlestick maker. You are the creator so your antagonist can be whomever you want them to be. (Reality can hold antagonists such as your Butcher, Baker and Candlestick maker, too.)

I love conflict in a story. Have you noticed as you’re reading a book (or listening) and the story is going along smooth, a happy gathering of folk all laughing having a good time, then gunshots ring out in the neighboring apartment. This stirs a story into conflict. The characters all flee the scene and in doing so a person is shot dead! Why didn’t they just stay where they were?

You know why? Because the conflict would have fell flat. Conflict needs to be stirred in ways that the reader is trying to read so fast and get through the pages, they flip and flip until the story concludes and you find you’ve read the entire book in record time!

Without conflict, you have a toddler genre ready to absorb all the good in stories. But even in Children's writing, there NEEDS to be a conflict to get your point across and you can draw the lines from good and bad. Kids need a moral compass and as writers our job is to see to it that through our antagonist and protagonist, they can see the good guy and the bad guy. A child always wants to see the hero win in the end.

Adult novels, while some bathe in smut, most have a genuine love story wrought with conflict.  Like Odd Thomas. Not too many characters touch me like the Odd one and his endearing love for Stormy! No smut a bout it, this love went deep and lasted through four novels, all the while fighting off the demons that Odd had to carry around with himself.

So you see, conflict, whether real or imaginary are the things that make up life, whether fiction or non-fiction; whether internal or external, conflict arises when one wakes up in the morning on a seemingly beautiful day. The bars of sun stream in the window, not a cloud in the baby-blue sky, you open the door and are assaulted with the biting cold, the rush of traffic, the neighbors dog barking and every other conflicting noise, sound, sight, you can imagine.

Make your writing DANCE! Add a little conflict to it!

Confusion~ Conflict

Ps.71:1 In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.
***

What a roller coaster of a ride. I have my ups and downs, my twists and turns, my corkscrew of a loop and then I live life like a straight and narrow path has been set before me as I walk along the road of life.

Sounds like a writers life, doesn’t it? Sounds like a novel. Ironically, this week in F2K, (the free writing workshop that I mentor) we’ve been working on conflict. Conflict in a story is essential, I guess, just like in life.

If we had no conflict in our story they would be boring beyond belief, no one would read a word of it, or at least they’d get so far into the story, realize there is nothing happening and decide to put the book down.

So I’m wondering, without conflict and controversy in our lives, would our lives then be boring? Sometimes which bread to buy can be a conflict on my weekly shopping trip. Although not really bread but the decision of what meals to make for seven days can stir in me a conflict.

And now I’ve come upon a fork in the road. Which do I take? The easy one that leads me to where *I* want to be, to achieve the things that *I* want. Is it all about me, me, me? No, it’s not and never is about me and what I want, it’s about a decision, made by God, and do I listen to him in his offering of settling the conflict, or do I go against what he is telling me and follow the path that I want?

A yo-yo, that is what I feel like, dangling by a string bouncing up and down wondering when the worn out string is going to snap. We in class like to use the inverted check mark.
Should be a yo-yo but really it wouldn’t define the uphill battle that the inverted check mark provides.

You start out slow going up the hill, conflict arises, you move onward and upward,  /\ , pace it nice and slow, throw in more conflict, reach a peak upheaval, then slowly resolve the conflict to give a to-die-for ending. This can be used in short stories also. You don’t want your story all cozy as a laz-e boy recliner, you want the lumpy sofa with no added pillows for cushion.

That’s my life, a lumpy sofa that needs refreshing. I like to have a plan in place, you know an outline, but when someone comes in and erases the entire central part of my outline, I need to try and figure out the outline all over again. Have a plan and stick to it. Sure, upon revision you can edit out or add to, but stick to the plan, or scrap the whole thing!

Do we go to Omaha or do we not? Does he listen to God and his heart or that of people? Does he buckle to man or rise in the Spirit. His choice. I’m just a yo-yo.

Confused? Join the crowd.

Conflict!

Phil. 1: 30 Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.
***

What do you mean conflict? Like fist fights? Knock down, drag out, bar room brawl scenes?

No, no, no friends. Conflict in writing is essentially a stirring of emotions. Did you ever notice how picking out a dress or shirt to wear can cause you to look for a different dress and just forget about shoes, that’s a whole other conflict in and of itself!

Have you ever read a book that didn’t have conflict? Seriously, a book with no conflict is not even a book, okay it may be a text book or something but a story is not going to be carried along without the proper use of conflict.

Did you ever struggle with a spiritual decision? There you go, that is internal conflict. How about struggling with a school assignment? Conflict! Or how about trying to decide if you’re marrying the right man when a new one comes along. Oh yeah, that’s conflict.

What I’m getting at here is Lesson four, it's all about conflict. In f2k we hand you the essentials that is needed to build a story and you guessed it, after you use the senses, you need to get the gist of whose POV you’re going to use, then it is on to conflict and the struggle of what will carry your story (whether short story or novel, fiction or non-fiction) you basically have to have conflict for your reader to stay stuck on the book like a licked stamp! (Wait they don’t have those anymore, but you get what I mean, right?)

Conflict isn’t as simple as a car crash scene, or an argument, or war. More times than not the conflict in a story comes from inner turmoil. The point of indecision, the inability to make up your mind. This is all considered good story material and you can build around the conflict many paragraphs or chapters if you like. The idea here is not to be so full blown that it becomes over the top implausible to believe, you have to nurture the conflict like taking care of a wound. You don’t just hurry it up to heal, it takes time to heal, and then there is the scab, and then the full crux of the tale where we find completion, satisfaction. The healing of the sore so to speak.

So where is your conflict going to lead us, the reader? I like a good conflict in a story but I want subtlety. As in lesson three, you don’t need to go over the top, you just need to understand what conflict adds to a tale and you are well on your way to making the most out of your story.

Now what are you going to do? Give me some conflict and I’ll give you a brownie point!

Pri No Wri Mo

John 9: 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
***

I did pri no a few years back and you know what, to get myself back on the constant of writing, I think I’ll do it again this year. (there’s a goal, June.)

What is PriNo? It’s Private Novel Writing Month which takes place in May. Like NaNo (National Novel Writing Month) we belt out 1500 words a day for a month. But in Mr. Bennings prino, any writing counts as a springboard, just as long as you are writing!

I need to get back on track and my friends June and Raven are always talking about setting goals for yourself. I got a little sidetracked last year when we moved and life was just all over the place for me, just ask Steven. It has still not returned to normal but at least I’ve had some focus lately, enough to get my blog done on a regular basis, mentoring f2k, keeping the forest alive in 911 (my group at WVU) and trying to keep up with the domestic stuff too.

Did you ever notice how life happens no matter what your goal is? If you make plans, they get broken. You set goals and they get sidetracked. You try so hard to keep some brevity and instead you get white-washed. I keep a positive outlook no matter what negative forces try knocking me down. They can pull out the bulldozers but guess what? I’m a Superwoman against those things and they can not and will not move me!

I think I have my story for prino in my head dancing around. Jayden is a girl who was looking for prince charming and realizes after many moons that she has only found the same thing she left behind, pain. Plenty of conflict will abound as Jayden and Prince Otto try to find a place of meeting of the minds but does Jayden know the secret of the power that brought her to this prince in the first place?

Can a protagonist be fear, mistrust, disillusionment? Does it really need to be a person, per se? Okay, I’ll put my spiritual spin on the story as usual and there will be many forces that battle it out for Jayden’s soul, and which one wins in the end, is anybody’s guess.

Maybe not exciting sounding as of yet, but remember, I’m just toying up there in my brain and something, I’m sure, will concrete itself and fixate on me in the process of building this tale. For now, it is a goal to work towards. I’ll get it together and noooo I won’t be sharing it with my blog friends because it’s a big secret as to what will happen to poor Jayden.

So there you have, prino! The force that will reckon with me to pull me back into the realm of imagination and character building. Maybe you all need to set some goals too, not just set them, stick to them!

Conflict in Writing

Numbers 31: 53 (For the men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.)
***

Now we’re dipping into the good stuff, not that f2k isn’t wrought with good stuff but this week we’re going to learn how conflict added to a story can carry many chapters into a great novel.

Conflict isn’t about writing a scene where two people argue, or buildings blow up, people getting hit by a train, or other death defying fetes, conflict in a story can be as simple as Margo deciding what color dress to wear or which date is the better choice; the long ago high-school crush or the recent guy she met at the library.

All of this lends to the conflict in your story. On a broader level conflict can be a simple choice of whether the doctor gave the right diagnosis, whether the character wants to live or die, or maybe even he/she wants to become a monk and live a life of isolation. Inner conflict is as exciting in a story as are the knock down drag out fights.

Without conflict in a story, we would have pretty boring novels. Just think, had Frodo never found the ring. Would Lord of the Rings been as appetizing as it was? How about Harry Potter? Had he never had those disagreeing adults wanting to run his life, would the door have been open for the people at Hogwarts to come riding in (literally) to save little Harry?

We need conflict in our writing, even in our blog writing. We need to expel all the conflict in our lives or teachings to know whether we are on the right path or not. I can’t say that teaching writing techniques has bunches of conflict in here, enough to make you come back over and over again. But my poetry has enough inner conflict to keep you reading and wondering what the next poem will bring.

And sure enough there is always enough conflict in my blog because it makes you wonder if you’re writing right, you think about the craft, you dive into the conflicting feelings you have about writing and spit them onto the page in hopes you have something worth reading.

So, all in all, conflict is what makes the world go round. Conflict is what’s going to make your story go from wimpy love story to an all out triangle of people’s loves and thoughts.
As Valentine’s Day approaches, can you think of any conflicting feelings you have about the day of supposed LOVE? Why not write about it and see where there might be a story hidden in there for you to give to your reader.

Don’t beat me up for this post, drink from the pool of conflict and get some good writing done!

*** Congratulations to me, I made it to my 400th post! Way to go Joni!

Conflict Arising

Conflict Arising~~~

In last nights writer’s chat we discussed the element of conflict in writing a story. The exercise calls for a scene of conflict. The questions and answers were quite enlightening.

The students asked, "What is conflict?"

Conflict is the struggle between right and wrong. It can be the protagonist, the lead character, fighting off the antagonist, the opposing force to be reckoned with, at every chapter. Or it can be something as simple as the main character having doubts about his/her life’s decisions.

Maybe your character wonders if having a baby at 16 was the right thing to do. Should she have gotten an abortion and made her life easier to live without having to care for a child at such a young age? This is a dramatic conflict that will play out in the sub-conscious of your reader.

This inner struggle with making a decision can be considered a conflict within a story. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a knock down drag out fist fight, or a gunfight while cars are chasing behind you. It is the conscious debate.

Another question arose as to the conflict resolving. In my opinion, you don’t want the conflict resolved right away. You want your reader to go along on the ride and as they place themselves in your character’s position, they are then feeling the same struggles as your character. Let the reader fantasize in his mind what he would do in the given situation. As he does this he is now enthralled with your character, your words, and continues to read to see this conflict resolved.

If you find resolution for your character too early, the reader has no reason to continue reading.

Now remember, a conflict is not a crisis. A crisis is a bad hair day or an overturned vehicle blocking your way to the hospital. A crisis is usually resolved in the chapter or two that you’re writing, while a conflict will be the basic element of your words throughout the story. You’re not going to TELL the reader, you are going to very descriptively SHOW them the tale. Have them live it all over again and walk away breathless.

Give us a hero that we can watch through sequel after sequel. The one book that comes to mind (no, not the Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter; although they are good examples too) but the Odd Thomas series.

Odd was set to be a hero from book one. He wants to save the world through crisis after crisis. With each book the conflict was ever present and only in the fourth book do we see signs of possible resolution. I’m sending a hint out to Dean Koontz, “Odd Thomas is not over YET!”

Just like in LOTR, we see the crisis, we know it so well, the struggle of doing what is right and not liking the way we have to go about it, but then by book three Tolkien gives us a resolution.

Can you see the difference in conflict and crisis? If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask. NOT asking is what will keep you in your struggle with writing.

Conflict and crisis is within, let’s get it out onto paper!