So, we have a conflict (want vs obstacle), an action (driven by a flaw or an attempt to overcome a flaw), and now we need a resolution.
The principal purpose of the resolution is to show the emotional consequences of the character’s flaws being challenged. Remember, a flaw is essentially a harmful world view – and learning that the world is not the way you think it is can easily be one of the most painful things you will ever experience.
(more…)
Around the middle of the story, you’ll have a crisis point where your protagonist realises that they are at least partially responsible for making things work and attempts to change to overcome the antagonist. This does not, however, stop the character flaws from driving their course of action – the only difference is now they are driven by the attempt to overcome their flaws, rather than in ignorance of them.
(more…)
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.
(more…)
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?
(more…)
“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?
(more…)