Tag: Conflict

Transitions

Diane Ferguson 1 Comment

“Transition: (a) a passage or change from one place, state, condition etc. to another; (b) passage in thought, speech, or writing, from one subject to another. ” (From the Canadian Oxford Dictionary.)

If we’re lucky and kind to ourselves, we will live long lives. And in that life time we will be different people, wear different hats, be different ages. Some will change more than others, but we will all change to some degree. When we take that same concept to our writing, we’re talking about the character arc. How does the character change over the course of the novel?

(There are stories where the protagonist doesn’t change, but I don’t particularly like those stories.)

All stories have characters, but I love stories where the main focus is the character development and plot is secondary. I’m interested in people: how they live, how they feel, how they function, how they survive. They say that fiction is the art that comes closest to representing human consciousness. I want to know what goes on inside people’s heads.

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Snippets of Conflict at Mudtown Station

Lori Twining Leave a comment

Ascribe Writers visiting Mudtown Station in Owen Sound

Storytellers know ALL the best pieces of a story are usually built around conflict. Sometimes it is hard to find or figure out what the conflict is.

Where does your story start?

Where does it end?

Both are difficult questions.

The easiest way to decide where your story should start is to assume you only have two minutes to tell the story. Two minutes is being generous, because EVERYONE at the table has a story they are dying to tell too, and they want to cut in and interrupt your exciting tale, so they can start on their own story. It’s a competitive world out there, so how do you compete? Read more

Creating Conflict that Resonates throughout your Novel

Diane Ferguson Leave a comment

I was recently at my mother’s reading a magazine with the title, How to increase Conflict. My mom looked at me with a strange expression and I realized how the title must look to the non-writer. Who wants to increase conflict? Of all the self-help books on the market, I doubt any of them have that title.

Most of our lives we try and avoid conflict and tense situations, but then we have to turn around and create them. This was a major issue that came up for me in my substantive edit: my main character was avoiding conflict. In a good-humoured way, my mentor did say she sees this a lot. Writers tend to avoid conflict in their own personal lives, and then do the same on the page. The good writers realize that’s where to get it all out, all the conflict they’ve been avoiding.

So my major re-write has me focusing on creating the right amount of conflict and tension in my novel. How much is too much? Depends on the story and the reader. Ultimately, there is no one answer. It’s a balancing act known as pacing, and only the reader will tell us if we get it right. And each reader is looking for something different.

But there are some guideposts to follow.

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