In the last lesson we introduced the cycle of conflict, action, and resolution. This cycle begins when the character’s disappointed, ordinary life is first disrupted and continues until the moment when the book ends in success or failure. Thus we have an extra set: conflict, action, resolution -> transition into next cycle.
If at any point in your story you cannot identify a current conflict, then you need conflict. Conflict is what drives the story forwards. Remember: a conflict is a want prevented by an obstacle. It is important to note that if the resolution is clear before the action, then there is no real conflict. What you’re aiming to achieve is this response:
“Oh fuck! How is the hero going to get out of this one?”
So how do you know if you have a conflict?
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Writing is about Fighting
Conflict isn’t important for what it is but for what it tells us about your characters. Your character isn’t what you tell us they think or feel. Your character is what they do. Action is character: what they do shows us who they are. A lot of writers make the mistake of trying to tell us who their characters are, when 100% of the time they would be better of sticking them in a tricky situation and showing the reader how they get out of it.
So, what does conflict mean, and how do we right good conflict?
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“Write what you know” is one of the most common and misleading pieces of advice given to writers. It is often taken to mean that your writing should stick close to your own life and first-hand experiences. It sounds like good common sense – a way to avoid making and idiot of yourself and bring realism to your work. But, in the words of Admiral Akbar, it’s a trap.
Writing what you know is intended to make your writing believable. You were a police officer, so your story about a police officer will ring true. Straying too far from what you know threatens inauthenticity, and readers disengaging because what you are writing isn’t true.
Unfortunately, this interpretation of “write what you know” misses an essential fact about all good writing. Good writing is about discovery and imagination. If you only write what you know, your stories will be flat, sad, and uninteresting – because you have discovered nothing and underused your imagination. So, what do we do if we can’t just write what we know?
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By now we are familiar with the essence of a story: a character with a flaw (an incorrect world view that is making them unhappy) caused by a wound (a serious incident in their past that caused them to firmly believe this view) is presented with a serious problem that challenges this world view. They are face by a series of obstacles attempting to solve this problem (often in the form of a villain), things becoming worse until they overcome their flaw and become a whole person, or they fail and are doomed to misery.
But where does the villain fit into this?
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