Know your conflict - Part 1

Do you know the difference between ordinary conflict and dramatic conflict? Only one of them makes for excellent fiction...

Fiction demands conflict. Lots of it. Conflict crosses all genres: Action, Thriller, Horror, Romance whatever. They all need conflict to keep our interest, and to move our story forward. 

Our biggest problem with writing about conflict is not that we go too far, it’s that we don’t go far enough.

Think about that for a minute. We live in a society were we have rules about conflict. We are raised to deal with conflict in a positive and/or diplomatic way; to talk things out for example. In fact, most times we try to avoid conflict in our lives. I mean how much conflict have you intentionally started today?

Because we are not normally raised to go out and cause a bunch of conflict we, as writers, must then go against everything we are taught in order to create conflict for our characters which moves the story forward. And that can be challenging at best.

As I stated, in real life, we go out of our way to avoid conflict. But seriously, how boring would it be to read a story about a divorce that ends with the couple parting ways as friends? Yawn. (If you haven't seen the movie "War of the Roses", you need to :).

So that begs the question, what is conflict? And even better yet, when is conflict sufficient?

I break conflict into two types: ordinary conflict and dramatic conflict. Ordinary conflict, while interesting, doesn’t really make for the best possible fiction. Ordinary conflict can be anything from not knowing what clothes to wear, to having an argument with your boss, or a fight with a loved one, or a coworker etc. 

What about getting drunk and subsequently arrested? Yep, that too is just ordinary conflict to a great degree.

Let me use an example to illustrate:

If your boss threatens to fire you unless you change the way you dress at work, that would definitely constitute conflict. You might have some choice words, or even a heated exchange, or even a fist fight where someone is arrested. Or maybe you just flip him the bird and quit. Conflict? definitely. Dramatic conflict? Not even close.

Now imagine your boss comes to you and threatens to fire you unless you do something illegal or immoral to further the companies interests!

Is this dramatic conflict? No. Not yet! Why not? Simple. Because you still have a choice to quit your job and go away quietly. As I'll talk about later, no one, and I mean NO ONE ever goes quietly in good dramatic conflict.

Now let’s take the boss thing to the next level. Add to that last scenario that your boss also tells you if that he has a file on you that he's been building for quite some time. Some of the information is true, and some of it isn't but all of if would be horribly incriminating and even convince a judge that you're guilty of something. And if you don’t do what he asks, he’s going to publish that file and ruin your career.

NOW we’re getting spicy. Are we there yet? Almost!

Take it up another notch. Now your boss tells you that he’s got friends that will not only ruin your reputation such that you’ll never work in this city again, but threatens to harm your wife and child if you don’t do as he tells you.

Now, we’ve arrived.

THAT’s dramatic conflict. So what’s the difference?

In that last bit, the character is forced to act, even when he doesn’t want to, because he (or someone he cares about) will suffer serious physical, mental or emotional harm if he does not. That is the essence, and critical difference of ordinary conflict and dramatic conflict.

It is this type of conflict that reveals your character to your reader.

Writing about conflict is the one time we can really let ourselves go and live outside the rules that promote healthy society.

One trick I learned was to ask yourself “Would they go quietly?” and from that question, the best conflict is born because the answer is unequivocally NO. If you have a break up scene, will the ex-girlfriend go quietly? No. She is going to create horrible dramatic conflict, FORCING you to act. Just think of all the delicious possibilities!  

So when you write a scene with conflict, don’t hold anything back. In the first draft write it as messy and go as far as you can to the extreme as possible. Free your mind and get into it. If it’s too much, you can always tone it down later, but my guess is, you’ll leave it as is.

Reviews

[Alex Falkner]

Some very helpful advice, I'm sure alot of budding writers will find this quite useful.
I just have to add it's also well written, not like one of those common "how to" textbooks.
Well done.

[byPatKeegan]

I'm glad you found it helpful. I know I did. For me it's about the basics. When I get stuck, or off track, i just keep going back to the basics: Want-Obstacle-Action.

Thanks for the compliment on style :)

[char]

Last paragraph reminded me of Tom Clancy: "Just tell the damn story!" Pretty it up later. I love conflict. My characters will kill me if they knew what I have in store for them...still taking notes :)

[byPatKeegan]

heheh...that's too funny. They say you have to be a masochist to be a writer, and a sadist to be a GOOD writer. Or something like that. I like to beat my characters up, and only when they've had enough do they get some kind of reward :) (and then only maybe :))

[char]

Right?! I give my characters what they want. They seem sooo happy. And BAM!!! The monster in me rips it away! :D
(As I write, I feel them plotting my death :p)

[byPatKeegan]

lol...too funny...and you actually have a good idea for a story...the characters who star in a "series" like Hardy Boys or something secretly plot the death of their creator lol...i can't take it.

[Kaylin R. Boyd]

I'll have you know that really helped. I think that's what I knew was missing that I didn't know was missing. Appreciate it. ;)

[byPatKeegan]

Glad i could help :D