Wordsmithing: BASIC CONFLICTS COME IN 3 FORMS... OR 4

Saturday 25 June 2011

BASIC CONFLICTS COME IN 3 FORMS... OR 4

In a novel, conflict is an essential part of the plot.

There are three varieties of conflict you can inflict on your MC: inherent, external, and internal.

Inherent
Inherent conflict exists within the novel from the beginning - the environment, social mores within your society, previous experiences.

External
External conflict is the rub of one character upon the other - the antagonist. The external conflict can also be provided by environmental changes such as extreme weather.

Internal
Internal conflicts are driven by fear, doubt or failure and the MC's need to protect themself from physical, mental or emotional pain.

There is a fourth kind of conflict.

Extra-personal

I see this as the writer inviting the reader to bring their knowledge, understanding and fear into the plot eg when a character says it's time to go for one last swim, take the short-cut home or how kind it is to help the guy with the broken leg load his shopping into the car, I'm cringing and looking ahead to see if it is safe to read on. ;)

Without conflict, there is no novel.

I have no favourite kind of conflict but pitting an MC against nature leaves me cold ;)

Which kind of conflict do you love to read or write?

3 comments:

Paula RC25 June 2011 at 20:51
When there's a mystery to be solved, and you, the reader, as well as the characters are trying to work out what is going on.
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MC Rogerson26 June 2011 at 14:09
I enjoy reading and writing about escalating conflict. Small nuggets of unrest that turn into epic battles.
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Unknown27 June 2011 at 09:08
Hi Jamara
I love puzzling out the mystery with the MC - the very essence of "show don't tell" :)

Hi Melissa
I agree (with the exception of Jude the Obscure) I love reading escalating conflict :)
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RETURN: YA Paranormal Romance

I was running late. But, it was nothing I couldn’t make up with a bit of effort. I shook my head. Confident and happy? I smiled. Increasing my stride, I pushed until the muscles in my legs burned. I kept up the pace even when the hill grew steeper.

Magpie Lane was hardly wider than a ribbon that edged the woods but that didn’t stop traffic using it to get to the motorway quicker. Large trucks and fast cars loved Magpie Lane. They sent vibrations running through me rising from the soles of my trainers. I felt the disturbance in the ground, even before the air pressure tried to knock me off balance. I hunched my shoulders as the cab hauling a container spat stones up at me.

Jogging on the spot, at the entrance to woodland, I ached to leave the road and go inside. My Mum was probably still asleep but I could hear her you-never-know-what might-be-in-there lecture buzzing on repeat inside my head. I should run safe. Not even I would argue that running through the woods on my own was the best definition of safe but I wanted to run-wild and the woodland offered me that. This early, I should be safe from axe murderers or perverts in the trees and besides, I was fast.

I jogged down the slope into the trees. From two paces in, I felt different. Freer. It felt so right. Running in the woods did great things for my style. Avoiding the roots and dodging branches forced my stride longer, I had to step higher. The woodland, The Weald, was only a sliver of ancient woodland that the developers forgot to build on but it felt like it could have been anywhere. Everywhere. At any time. The oaks and beech trees dominated the space and the skinny, silver-birches squeezed up beside them. I laughed. For a second, the woods reminded me of school and I needed to run a lot faster.

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Saturday 25 June 2011

BASIC CONFLICTS COME IN 3 FORMS... OR 4

3 comments: