Writer to writer: From think to ink - Gail Carson Levine 2014
Have at it
Hatching the plot
Every summer I teach a creative writing workshop for kids, and I always start by asking what they’d especially like to learn. One recent summer the answer was that they wanted to learn how to write conflict.
Cool! We all need to write conflict.
But I’d never taught the subject, so I did an online search for “conflict in fiction” and discovered a list of four kinds of conflict:
• Character versus other character (interpersonal).
• Character versus same character (internal).
• Character versus nature.
• Character versus society.
I rolled the last two together into character versus situation (external).
Character versus character needn’t only be human against human. There’s also human against alien or fairy or vampire, or human-altered-through-mutation against ordinary human or fairy against fairy. But the clash must be up close and personal, not between battling armies. The characters should be sentient (thinking). Conflict between a human and a shark—unless it’s a brainy, talking shark—would fall into the character-against-situation category.
The conflict between characters may be big or small, over the future of mankind or whether or not to get a dog. It can be played out in words or in deeds. For example, in deeds, Eric might maneuver so that Victor is unable to audition for the school play, or so that he can’t find the formula that will destroy the world.
Opportunities abound for internal conflict. A character can argue with himself about a fear, a fault, an ethical decision, a career, a menu choice at a restaurant. We’ve all experienced some of these. Sometimes I can get frustrated with myself. Why can’t I decide?
There are zillions of examples of character against situation, among them a forest fire, slavery, homelessness, and a dictatorship.
We don’t have to limit our story to one kind of conflict. Our MC Ira can argue with his friend Jenna and then with himself over the same subject, how to help mistreated dogs. The story can be primarily about animal cruelty (character against situation) or friendship (interpersonal) or Ira’s fear of taking action (internal).
Writing time!
Here’s a prompt that involves character versus situation. A hurricane hits town. Carlie is at a friend’s house when the storm hits. The power goes out. Her dog, who is terrified of thunder, is home alone. Carlie decides to go home to comfort her pet. Write what happens. Make the reader worry.
This one uses internal conflict. You may know the story “The Lady, or the Tiger.” If you don’t, it’s basically this: A princess, who has a jealous nature, falls in love with a man below her station. The king finds out and arranges a punishment for her beloved. He’s thrown into an arena with two doors. Behind one is a beautiful maiden and behind the other a tiger. If he picks the door with the maiden, he lives, but he has to marry her. If he chooses the door with the tiger, he gets eaten. In the arena he looks to the princess, who knows what’s behind each door, for a signal. She has to decide whether to endure his marriage to someone else or to condemn him to death. The story has no ending; the reader is asked to decide what the princess will do. When the man enters the arena, the two characters, separately, experience severe internal conflict. The princess is arguing with herself about which door to point to, and the man is arguing with himself about whether to believe her signal when it comes. Write the thoughts of one or both. If you like, continue and invent an ending that reveals the outcome. (To do this, you may have to bring in more characters, write the events that landed the man in the arena, and deepen the characters of your two MCs.)
This one coming up is one of my favorite prompts of all time. It features a car trip, a great place for interpersonal strife. You can drag in the other kinds of conflict, too. We all have different driving styles and different styles of being a passenger. And think of the radio! Or CD player or iPod, or DVD player in the backseat. What kind of music to listen to? Who prefers news or a recorded book? Open window? Closed window? How high to crank the heat or the air conditioner? Who sits in front? Does anybody get carsick?
And what about the car itself? Are soda cans rattling around on the floor? Does the car smell like the family dog? Or does it still have a new-car smell after two years? Is it in good repair? Is it a junker? Does it have a spare tire? Jumper cables?
Here’s the prompt: Perry is invited to vacation with his best friend, Letty Pewer, and her parents. They are traveling from Minnesota to Florida for a winter week in the sun. Below are some possibilities to fool around with. Pick as many as you like or make up your own or do a combo of mine and yours. Bring in details of your own terrible car trips. Whatever you choose, write the story.
• Letty’s father is peculiar. You decide how.
• Letty’s mom is a dangerous driver. You decide how.
• Letty’s younger brother and older sister are coming, too. They don’t get along with Letty and dislike Perry.
• The car is older than Perry. The radio doesn’t work. There is no iPod, no CD player.
• The Pewers are economizing and haven’t bought a GPS. Paper maps are good enough for them. They plan to camp out and save on motel costs as soon as they reach warm enough weather.
• The car is bewitched—not in a good way.
• This is the snowiest winter in the history of Minnesota and surrounding states.
• The scenic route will take the family and Perry through an old mining town. Unbeknownst to the authorities, one of the abandoned mines is now occupied by squatters, who may be dangerous.
Have fun, and save what you write!