Conflict and the Mechanism of Story, Part 2

Clint Johnson—Conflict and the Mechanism of Story Part 2

  Conflict is the high-grade fuel of a story, the drama, the reaction of resistance, not just tension.

Dramatic Conflict needs: 1) Need. Character needs something, a motivation. This need breaks the character from routines of life and creates action. Tip: We don’t want real life, we want an assimilation of real life. 2) Opposition. Opposition to the above need must be equal to or greater than the need itself. 3) Action. What the character does, says, thinks, to overcome the opposition. This includes internal and external action.

  How your character responds to your plot=the real story. What do they want for themselves and others?

  Central needs for youths: Individuality with community or trying to become someone he/she is please with that others can accept while there is opposition.

  Nonfiction: The perception of a need, not creating one. Use the point of view in which you can be honest; this is your point of view for someone else’s story. Show why they might have done something. Use Need, Opposition, Action in non-fiction too.

  Like a person with chronic pain, we adjust or adapt. In order for it to feel like things are getting worse (rather than adapting to the crisis or pain), conflict has to increase at a significant rate/pace. There are little breathing places of relief along the way before the next stomach punch.

  The main character has a need that motivates them into action. If the need isn’t achieved, what will happen? What is at stake?

1) External/Public Stakes: Social, often large scale, plot driven, world ending.

2) Internal/Private Stakes: Poignant, individual, self-worth.

  Weave both external and internal together. A stake affecting multiple people will intensify it. (Having to diffuse the bomb before the building explodes.) A stake affecting a significant person will broaden, complicate it. (Having to diffuse the bomb in the building where your wife works.) How far you push depends on the story/genre you want to tell. Take your characters into places the reader didn’t want to go. Comedy takes pain. Love characters for their flaws. Happiness has to be earned or it is resented. Endings can be win, lose, or draw.

Clint had us think of a story idea we wanted to write. Then he asked us to 1. think of an internal stake for the MC and, 2. how can you intensify it? Conflict it of major importance to a story and something I've struggled with. I hope these tips help you as well as me.

Conflict and the Mechanism of Story

LDStorymakers Conference Notes #2:

Clint Johnson—Conflict and the Mechanism of Story Part 1

  Writing is primarily a craft/skill that can be learned. If you work hard enough, you will be published. Writers need two dominant skill sets: 1) Language—learned by exposure, and 2) Narrative/Story—universal human language. Take conscious control over your own creative process.

  Components of Writing were compared to an engine. You need more than a spark plug. You need all the parts put together. Think of the story as a whole and conflict is the fuel. Conflict is the most essential component. We want high grade fuel.

Components:

  1. Conflict forces action. Characters don’t want to break routines or risk failure. Conflict forces them to act or go away from routine.

  2. Action reveals character. These actions show who they are.

  3. Revealed character facilitates reality. Characters do things that feel authentic, make the distance between reader and story narrow. Reader believes.

  4. As disbelief is suspended, identification increases (identify with characters). Begin with an individual instead of something universal. The individual will go toward the universal and a broad audience can identify with it.

  5. Transmission of emotions/meaning. We tell stories to figure out what they mean. Even data has to be interpreted. Lead the reader into a different place through one set of facts. Story = mechanism of meaning. This is how we are wired to think.

  Don’t write for interest/theme sake. Write for emotion. Some people read for ideas more than emotion. Someone interested in your story idea will pick it up anyway. We read for a vicarious experience of emotions.
  You might want to try this exercise Clint has us do. Start with a story idea you want to write about. 1. Identify a protagonist need. 2. Identify an opposition to that need. 3. Identify the initial action the protagonist will take. This is a good way to start your story. Good luck!

Writing Journal #2: The Second Attempt

I especially felt the stories that brought the scriptures to life for a reader held extra value, even though obvious liberties were taken. If I could fill in the gaps to make a scriptural account seem more complete and memorable to someone else, that was a worthy goal. So again, I embarked on the novel-writing journey. Heroes like Chris Heimerdinger and Heather Moore unknowingly pumped me up. Hmm . . . which scriptural account to study?

I read Sarah by Orson Scott Card and found new inspiration. An Old Testament story seemed the road less traveled. I picked out my character and began my second book. The story of Isaac and Rebekah was the one I wanted to tell. After investing a good amount of time on this project, I learned that Card had just published this very story and expected to do a trilogy of the Women of Genesis. A crushing blow. But I would finish my project anyway and not read his until I had written mine so as not to be too influenced or similar.

As it turned out, Card’s version was disturbing to me once he got into marital struggles and Rebekah’s deception with her son Jacob. A prophet and his wife should not have so much conflict! It didn’t feel right to have my marriage better than a prophet’s. But ignorance is bliss. Conflict, I later learned, is an important component to a story. Final revisions were made and I sent off the manuscript to two publishers. Rejection #2. Undaunted, it was time for some specific writing education. Next entry: Joining a Critique Group

Finding and Fixing the Weakness

My story had a weakness and I needed to know what it was. Was there a problem with the plot, not enough conflict, what? I had my "ah-hah" moment during a writer's conference as the result of two different classes meshing together in my head. Here are some definitions from one class that I wrote in my notes:

Plot: Action that grows out of conflict in a sequence of events leading to the next conflict. Conflict: keeps characters from what they want. I had both of these to some degree, but they really depended on a major consequence.

Here is the tip from the query letter class that jumped out at me:
Consequence: What will happen if the main character doesn't overcome the conflict? State in one sentence the consequence of the MC not getting what he/she wants. Elana's example: Control or be controlled. If you write this out early in your work in progress, it will help you to stick to the main conflict.
I had action growing out of conflict (plot), I had characters who had trouble getting what they wanted (conflict), but I didn't have a strong enough consequence that it mattered to the reader if the MC could overcome the problem. Strengthen the consequence and I take care of my story's weakness.
So, I have been rereading my manuscript, inserting this stronger dimension and hoping it all still flowed. The extra time it takes will make the story better so it is worth it. Anyway, I'm feeling better about getting the story strong enough to submit soon. (I just hope there doesn't have to be another ah-hah moment of which I am not aware.) I do believe that the more knowledge we gain and can put to use in our craft, the better the results. Be not weary in well-doing. Take the time to get it right to the best of your knowledge. Can I get an "Amen"? Who else has a rewrite or "ah-hah" moment to share?