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    Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means): Skill Builders, #2
    Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means): Skill Builders, #2
    Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means): Skill Builders, #2
    Ebook167 pages2 hours

    Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means): Skill Builders, #2

    By Janice Hardy

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    About this ebook

    Do you struggle with creating conflict in your novel? You don't have to. 

    Award-winning author Janice Hardy (and founder of the popular writing site, Fiction University) takes you deep inside one of the most important aspects of storytelling--conflict. She'll help you understand what conflict really is, discuss the various aspects of conflict, and reveal why common advice on creating conflict doesn't always work.

    With in-depth analysis and easy-to-understand examples, Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means) looks at how to develop and create conflict in your novel. It also explores aspects that affect conflict, and the misconceptions that confuse and frustrate so many writers.

    This book will help you:

    • Understand what conflict means and how to use it
    • Tell the difference between external and internal conflicts
    • See why conflict isn't a "one size fits all" solution
    • Determine the type of conflict your story needs
    • Fix lackluster scenes holding your writing back

    Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means) is more than just advice on what to do and what not to do—it’s a down and dirty examination and analysis of how conflict works, so you can develop it in whatever style or genre you’re writing. By the end of this book, you’ll have a solid understanding of what conflict means and the ability to use it without fear or frustration.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJanice Hardy
    Release dateAug 1, 2017
    ISBN9780991536474
    Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means): Skill Builders, #2
    Author

    Janice Hardy

    Janice Hardy is the founder of Fiction University, a site dedicated to helping writers improve their craft. She writes both fiction and nonfiction. Her nonfiction books include the Skill Builders series: Understanding Show, Don’t Tell (And Really Getting It) and Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means), and the Foundations of Fiction series: Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, a self-guided workshop for planning or revising a novel; its companion guide, Planning Your Novel Workbook; and Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft. She’s also the author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall, from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The Shifter was chosen by the Georgia Center for the Book for its 2014 list of “Ten Books All Young Georgians Should Read.” It was also shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize (2011) and The Truman Award (2011). Janice lives in Central Florida with her husband, one yard zombie, two cats, and a very nervous freshwater eel. Visit her author’s site at janicehardy.com for more information, or visit fiction-university.com to learn more about writing. Follow her at @Janice_Hardy for writing links.

    Read more from Janice Hardy

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      Book preview

      Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means) - Janice Hardy

      Welcome to Understanding Conflict (And What it Really Means)

      LIKE MOST WRITERS, I’ve spent countless hours creating conflict in my novels. I’ve thrown exciting obstacles in my protagonists’ paths, I’ve developed sinister antagonists to thwart my heroes, I’ve devised cruel ways to put my characters through mental anguish—and my beta readers have still told me, This book needs more conflict.

      Because despite what we know about conflict as writers, the concept isn’t so cut and dry.

      It’s not just about the obstacles in the path, or the bad guy with the evil plan, or the mental anguish of the hero. It’s not the plot or the character arc, even though we often talk about it like it is. It’s a tapestry woven from multiple aspects of writing that work together to create a feeling that victory will not come easily to the characters, and it leaves readers dying to know what the protagonist is going to do about it. Conflict can be confusing because:

      Conflict is more than one single thing.

      Conflict changes depending on who you talk to.

      Conflict changes depending on how you use it.

      Conflict is a pain in the butt that makes us want to bash our heads against the keyboard on a regular basis, and even makes us want to curl up and cry in the corner. I’ve been there myself, I know how frustrating it can be, and I’ve put this book together to help my fellow writers avoid some of that frustration and keyboard-bashing.

      Creating conflict isn’t that hard once you figure out what it means and how it applies to your novel. Realizing it isn’t a one-size-fits-all means you’ll be able to find the right conflict to suit your need, no matter what that need is. You’ll learn how to parse feedback and how to diagnose your own manuscripts to spot trouble areas before they become problems.

      What You'll Get from This Book

      Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means) is an in-depth study and analysis of what conflict means and how to use it in your writing. It will help you understand the different layers of conflict and how they work together to create the problems and goals in your story, as well as explore the elements of writing that affect conflict, such as stakes and character motivations. It will discuss the common problems that result from a lack of conflict, and offer suggestions and tips on how to strengthen conflict in your story.

      By the end of this book, you’ll have a solid understanding of what conflict is and have the ability to create strong and compelling conflicts in your own novel.

      What Conflict Really Means

      ASK ANY AGENT OR EDITOR to list the top three reasons manuscripts get rejected and you'll find not enough conflict on that list. Conflict is at the core of every story, and without conflict, there is no story. It's so vital, conflict and story are almost interchangeable when writers talk about it. It’s common to ask, What’s your story about? and have the author describe the conflict. 

      Which is part of the problem.

      Since conflict covers such a wide range of storytelling, it isn't always clear what people mean when they say conflict. This can cause a lot of frustration—especially for new writers. Does it mean the plot of the story? The character arc? Does conflict mean the characters have to argue? Does it mean a physical battle? Does it mean soul-crushing angst or a mustached villain plotting against the hero at every turn?

      No. Conflict fuels the plot and character arc, but they’re separate elements. You can have conflict without battles, without major angst, and without evil villains bent on world domination. Some of the best conflicts are those between characters who love each other deeply, but can’t agree on what to do about a problem.

      I think the biggest reason writers struggle with conflict is that it’s not just one thing. Conflict is a one-two combo of a challenge faced and the struggle to overcome that challenge.

      The conflict of the plot (the physical challenges faced to resolve the problem)

      The conflict of the character (the mental challenges faced to resolve the problem)

      These are the two sides of conflict and they appear in every story (and scene) in some fashion. Let’s look at each of them a little closer.

      The Conflict of the Plot

      A plot is external. It’s what the protagonist does to resolve the problem of the novel (the core conflict). The plot’s conflicts are also external, consisting of the individual challenges the protagonist faces on a scene-by-scene basis. Resolving these conflicts creates the plot and leads the protagonist from page one to the final page of the novel. Think of it like the to-do list for the novel. Follow this list of challenges to resolve the plot.

      The conflict of the plot is what’s making it physically hard for the protagonist to do what she has to do.

      For example:

      To sneak into the building, the protagonist must find a way to disable the security cameras and locks—the conflict (challenge) is the technology and security people preventing her from entering the building.

      To catch the love interest’s eye, the protagonist must attend a party she hasn’t been invited to—the conflict (challenge) is her attempt to get into that party when she’s being excluded.

      To defeat the two-headed troll, the protagonist must find a way to use her physical fighting skills and wits to win over a much stronger foe—the conflict (challenge) is overcoming her physical limits to best a monster that could easily squash her like a bug.

      Real conflict involves opposition to a goal and the challenges to overcome that opposition.

      However, when people refer to the plot’s conflict in a scene, it’s often the goal they’re talking about—which is why writers can sometimes think their scene has conflict when it really doesn’t. They’re referring to what the protagonist has to do, not the challenge to achieve that goal. You might have a goal of emptying the dishwasher, but unless that task presents a challenge to complete it, it’s not a conflict.

      For example:

      The protagonist must sneak into a building and steal the plans.

      The protagonist must ask her love interest out on a date.

      The protagonist must defeat the two-headed troll intent on eating her.

      These are all goals that could easily move a plot forward, but these conflicts are just tasks to be completed—there’s no challenge associated with achieving them. Without something in the way of completing these tasks, they’re nothing more than simple obstacles. The conflict (in the story sense of the word) is what’s preventing the protagonist from completing her goal. Otherwise, the protagonist can just waltz in and accomplish her task with little to no resistance. No resistance (no challenge) = no conflict.

      Test Your Conflict: One trick to test if you have an obstacle or a conflict is to put the scene in an if-then statement.

      For example:

      If she can disable the security, then she can break into the building (protagonist vs. security).

      If she can steal an invitation from the printer, then she can get into the party (protagonist vs. staff at the print shop).

      If she can move fast enough, then she can defeat the troll (protagonist vs. physical weakness).

      You can quickly see what specifically has to be done to accomplish the task, and judge if there’s a challenge or struggle associated with that task. For conflicts that are just obstacles, these if-then statements usually read a little differently.

      For example:

      If she can get into the building, then she can steal the plans (notice nothing is stated that shows how get into the building will be a challenge).

      If she can get an invitation, then she can go to the party (notice this is basically how parties work, so there’s nothing to suggest this is a challenge for the protagonist).

      If she can be tougher and stronger, then she can defeat the troll (notice this is close to the original, but can the protagonist really be tougher and stronger than a troll three times her size?).

      The key here is to find the specific task that must be done to accomplish the goal. If the task is basically do it in some way, odds are there’s no conflict. Let’s look at some conflicts that aren’t really conflicts:

      For example:

      If she can disable the security, then she can break into the building (except she’s an expert thief and the security is so old she could have cracked it when she was 10. In this case, disabling the security is a form of do it. All she has to do is complete this task and she succeeds, yet this task isn’t a challenge at all).

      If she can steal an invitation from the printer, then she can get into the party (except she works at the print shop and handled the invitation job, and all she has to do is slip one in her pocket. Again, no challenge to the task preventing her from her goal, so no conflict).

      If she can move fast enough, then she can defeat the troll (except she has special powers that give her supernatural speed and strength when she most needs it. Moving fast is how she completes this task, and it’s not a challenge to do it).

      No matter how impressive a potential problem seems, if there’s no challenge in overcoming it, it’s not a strong story conflict.

      A word of warning here: It’s up to each writer to decide if the conflict is a challenge or not. You can have what seems like a solid conflict on paper, but when the scene is written, the challenge isn’t hard to accomplish at all and the conflict feels weak to your readers.

      The Conflict of the Character

      A character conflict is internal. It’s the emotional struggle the protagonist faces to resolve her challenges. These conflicts make it harder for the protagonist to make decisions, because choosing what to do has emotional consequences, and often, the right choice is the one the protagonist doesn’t want to make. 

      The conflict of the character is what’s making it emotionally hard for the protagonist to do what she has to do.

      For example:

      In order to steal the plans, the protagonist needs to use (and reveal) the thieving skills she’s been trying to keep secret from her new boyfriend. (She can’t get the plans and keep her secret, so she has to choose which is more important to her.)

      In order to get into the party, the protagonist must use the connections of the family who disowned her (She can’t meet her love interest without revealing the truth about her scandalous past, so she has to choose if love is worth the risk.)

      In order to defeat the troll, the protagonist must fight it in the middle of town where it has limited mobility. (She can’t beat the troll in the open, so she has to choose how many lives she’s willing to risk to stop a greater threat.)

      The conflict of the character is the emotional struggle the protagonist faces while deciding what to do about the external problem. Risk the secret. Reveal the past. Endanger the innocent. It makes the protagonist ask, Is this goal worth the price I’ll have to pay to get it? Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes it’s no, and sometimes the protagonist tries her best to get the goal without paying the price, which rarely goes well for her.

      However, when people refer to the character conflict in a scene, it’s often the character arc they’re actually talking about—which is why writers can feel all character conflict (internal conflict) needs to result in character growth, but it really doesn’t. You can have internal conflict without a character arc. The protagonist can struggle over the right choice without changing as a person.

      For example:

      In order to steal the plans, the protagonist will have to struggle against exposing her criminal past. (Yet exposing that past does nothing to make her a better person or cause growth, it’s just a part of her the new boyfriend might not like, and he might break up with her over it.)

      In order to get into the party, the protagonist will have to struggle against relying on a family that disowned her. (Yet using the family does nothing to change the protagonist, and she’s not going to reconcile with them because of this.) 

      In order to defeat the troll, the protagonist will have to struggle against what she considers an acceptable loss of life to prevent wide-scale death. (Yet possibly sacrificing

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