WRITING - TO PAINT A PICTURE WITH WORDS - PART 6 - CONFLICT

Here on To Paint a Picture with Words, we’ve covered Character, Structure, Plot, Theme and Settings.  Today, we’re going to look at another important element for your story which is  Conflict.

Why is conflict important?

Because without it, your story will be flat and won’t hold your reader’s interest for long.

There are two types of conflict.  Inner conflict and external conflict.

Inner conflict is your character’s personal struggle.  This can be many thing such as, self doubt, guilt, grief, or a dilemma facing your character.  For example, in the Fitzjohn Mystery Series, Detective Chief Inspector Fitzjohn deals with grief when his beloved wife Edith dies.  His job becomes his lifeline, but it’s under threat by his nemisis, Superintendent Grieg, who would like nothing better than to destroy Fitzjohn’s reputation and career.

External conflict is created by something your character needs or wants to resolve, but there are obstacles that have to be overcome.  Not only does your character have to deal with his/her inner conflict but also the external struggle.  For example, in The Celtic Dagger, James Wearing finds himself a prime suspect in his brother’s murder and feels the need to clear himself of suspicion.  That conflict compels James to act and pushes the story forward.

What effect will these conflicts have on your character and story?

In dramatising your character’s inner struggles, he/she will come to life on the page enabling your reader to care.  The same can be said with your character’s external struggle.  As he/she tries and fails, and tries again to reach the goal, your reader will be filled with anticipation, sitting on the edge of his or her seat until the very last page.  At least that is what we hope!

WRITING - TO PAINT A PICTURE WITH WORDS - PART 5 - STRUCTURE

To recap on, To Paint A Picture With Words so far, when writing a story, your words take your readers on a journey into the world you have created.  Not unlike a painter who engages the viewer with the subject of the painting with colour, style and the medium in which it’s painted.  To engage our readers when writing, we use engaging characters, settings, plot, structure, theme, conflict, and the all important five senses (smell, taste, sound, touch, sight).

In Part 5 we’re going to talk about Structure.  So, what is structure?  Put simply, structure helps to organise and shape your story.  And although there are probably many ways to accomplish this, the method I prefer is the three acts.

Act One  (the beginning)

Introduce your characters, their relationships, and the settings.

Establish the conflict - that is, the situation that drives the main character to act

Act Two  (The middle)

The story develops

Complications and obstacles arise

The main character tries and fails and tries again

Tension grows until it reaches a climax

Act Three (The end)

Resolution of the climax

All loose ends are resolved

When writing a full length novel I find this method is helpful because it divides my story into three sections.  I know that in this first act, I have to introduce all my characters.  I may not have them all appear in a scene, but they will be mentioned so that the reader knows they exist in my story.  I also try to have all my characters introduced in the first 20-25 pages.  By the end of the first act the conflict should be established.

Act Two is by far the longest because it encapsulates all the complications and obstacles that the main character is confronted with in his or her quest.  So, it’s important to keep tensions coming and being resolved and in so doing, keeping your reader interested in the story.  Tension gradually rises toward the end of Act Two till you reach the climax.

Act Three, of course, is similar in length to Act One because it resolves all issues and lets the reader know what happens to all the characters.

What type of structure method do you prefer?