WORDSMITHING 101 : Damn You, Conflict!

Again, I wasn't able to comment at another blogger's post because of some glitch. T.C. Mckee, I would have had something to say at your blog about your conflict post. And the fact that you were reading until the ungodly hours of the morning. Oh, to be the writer who has held your attention that long. Would we give blood for this? Gold? I wonder.

The question posted was "Is there enough conflict in my WIP?"

How do we, as the writer, know? Unless you have some people who can read your WIP and give you honest feedback, you really don't know. So, how do you know?

This is from my story checklist the main two questions you ask as you do your read through:
1). Were the characters plunged into rising conflicts? - Did the action lag or conflicts become static or jumping?

I also always ask myself  "are the conflicts believable?"AND "have I built up to them enough?"

Jealousy is a good one to work with. It is universal. Everyone knows how it feels. And it doesn't have to be about jealousy over another woman or man. It could be over a pet, a car--anything that the other person is paying a lot of attention to.

Conflict isn't just two people not getting along, or they hate each other for whatever reason. You can have two people who like one another, but disagree at some point about some pivotal thing that is important. Two brothers argue over money, a woman, land, who is going to mind the store, politics etc. But it has to be something important to the story.

What is the main problem in the story? What carries the story along? Is there a mystery to be solved? Who is in the way of that problem or mystery being solved? Could something else also get in the way of the hero/heroine solving the problem or mystery? This is where the conflicts come from.

Also, if the characters aren't likable the conflict doesn't have enough grist to pull the reader along. Who will care what happens to them? I remember not being able to get through the book, A Lovely Bones. I found myself distracted by the writing, and I really didn't care enough about the characters to find out who murdered the girl. To this day I don't have any idea who murdered her, nor do I even care.

So, the next thing you ask is :

2). Are all the conflicts resolved?

If you have a few conflicts that aren't resolved, that's okay, there's always book #2 to resolve them, or attempt to, and bring in new ones!

You might resolve a lover's triangle with a death of one of the players. Jealousy can create all sorts of interesting plots and sub-plots. But having a jealous husband or wife simply kill off the offending other person is sort of crapping out. You gotta make it interesting make it fresh; wow me!

You also want to ask: Does your climax have impact? Was there a surprise? Was the emotional impact powerful enough that the reader either cries, or feels some emotional response that has her wanting more? Does someone die, someone who is likable, someone who the heroine has had a relationship with?

Another question to ask: Have you avoided working up a conflict for some reason where maybe you should have? It might be that you have two characters getting along and you don't want them to be in conflict, but maybe the conflict will work in favor of the plot.

And finally: does each scene have a conflict? What is the objective of the scene and who holds it as though they own it? Is someone holding back the truth? Do they know something that is important to the story and if they told it would ruin the ending? Dialogue is a huge key. It pulls the reader along. Leave somethings unsaid. Have someone lie. Have someone hold a grudge, and it comes out later. Have someone secretly plotting to do ill toward your hero.

All important questions to think on.

Here is an example from something been working on my own WIP, just today. This is an example of one scene in one chapter that I've been working on which has some sort of small conflict. It hampers Sabrina's need to do what she came here to do.

Set up: Sabrina is on another world, where vampires rule, but humans are treated well enough. However there are some creatures called "Dreadfuls" who cause people to become sick and die. No one can kill these things. . . until Sabrina came along. The people she is speaking to are all humans. She's at a ball. She is trying to find her cousin Lindee, and take her home.

~*~
Ali floated in. "It's true! I saw her kill one in my room!"

Suddenly I was surrounded by excited faces. Gasps circulated around the crowd of on-lookers.

"How did you do it?" a woman in a pink taffeta gown surged toward me and I had to lean back a little because she was in my space.

"She has a dagger. Don't you?" Ali said.

"Well, yes--"

"But anyone who has ever tried to kill one with any weapon has never been able to kill it!" a man argued heatedly.

"It must be a special dagger," the woman in the ruffled pink taffeta dress, who was still standing in front of me said. She held her champagne in a gloved hand, in an awkward way--this was how everyone held their glass, around the rim--and took a slug. Her face was flushed. I thought that she'd had enough o f the bubbly.

"I--"

"Magical! That's what it is!" Ali exclaimed.

"Well, then, she must help rid us of these things!" a woman in blue said. I noticed the ruffles of her off-the-shoulder dress had beads threaded throughout. Her fan hung from one wrist, and a matching velvet bag hung from the other. "You know that Dedra has two at her place!"

"Two!" came the other woman's gasp, eyes wide.

Wonderful. I'd never have a chance to find Lindee, and then leave for my world if I was busy placating these people.
Now, get to work!

WORDSMITHING 101 - Part Six - Don't Give Your Protagonist The Easy Road

Just like there's rules of the road when you drive your car, when you write you need to have several rules of the writing road in mind as you write.

Conflict is one. This is pretty much king. If you don't want your characters to come out flat, if you don't want your readers to become bored because two characters agree too much with one another--because this just doesn't happen in real life, either--you need conflict to stir things up a bit. Even if they are friends. Every character has their own motives, their own secrets, their own destiny, and sometimes their destiny may cause conflict with another. And keep in mind, they may refuse to do something on the grounds that it's distasteful, or they fear something. That's why you need to know everyone of your characters intimately when you begin your story. If one person is afraid of heights, then put them in a predicament where they have to conquer their fear because it's a life and death situation.

Another rule that is also just as important is DON'T LET YOUR CHARACTER HAVE IT TOO EASY!

As I've been working along in my next two books, the things that my protagonist most wants in life is to love someone and be loved back. I'm not a romance writer, but there is romance in my books. In Vampire Ascending I don't want you to know who Sabrina will finally be with at the end, until we're more than half-way through the book. And in my second book, the very reason they were allowed to be together is pulled, yanked, because of--you guessed it--all the conflicting reasons behind who/what they are. Life is never fair and conflict is king. Emotions must play a part in some of the reasons your characters act and react the way they do, but you need to set it all up, carefully. Which is where I'm at with the second book.

But other than love, there are other things, the smaller things. The scenes that take place throughout. Whatever Sabrina's objective, even when she thinks she's got the whole thing figured out, something wild and new happens. It's usually something she has to deal with, and it's usually something she really doesn't want to do, but has to because of the fact she has no other options, and she has new responsibilities.

When you get into a scene with your characters the #1 question you have to ask yourself is What is the worst thing that could happen here, or to my character?

When Sabrina is babysitting her nieces in the second book, Vampire's Trill and her shift changing partner, Dante, is slowly trying to shift up into human form--which takes days--I had Sabrina stretched out on the couch watching TV with Dante in the form of a dog, her nieces up in bed, and soon her brother and his wife will come home. Suddenly the dog shifts into a black jaguar. And then, if this isn't scary enough, he shifts back into human form--buck naked.

At this point, again, I asked myself, how much worse could this get? Well, you guessed it. Her brother and his wife come home.

I must admit I like to throw a little humor into my books and this is just one example. Dante does make it out of the house, wrapped up in a blanket, but the crazy moments makes for both a humorous moment, and giving a break from some of the heavier things that happen throughout the story, and especially all the emotional things that happen after this moment between the two.

We, as writers, know almost instinctively what the worst things that might happen to our characters, and we have to at least give way to those ideas. You may wind up with an intriguing read if your reader simply doesn't know what will happen next.

Hey! This is the last Wordsmithing post of the year. I'll be back with a new one next week, hopefully, and hope to see you all there with me again!

Happy New Year!