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WHAT
HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE? "Conflict is essential to the story. Nothing to fight against, nothing to win, nothing to lose… why bother reading it? In the end, who cares?" i Conflict is not just essential to the story—it is the essence of story. Your reader wants to become involved in the protagonist's struggle to achieve a specific goal, and she wants to ‘worry' about whether or not the hero/heroine can actually achieve that goal. Conflict fuels that worry. Another way of looking at conflict is to think of it as a barrier. It is what is standing in the way of the protagonist. Stories are about people, people undergoing tremendous struggles. "What happens to the characters in the course of the story should be unusual, dramatic, and meaningful. This doesn't mean that you have to write stories about epic wars; it's just that you have to write about events that have impact."ii Impact upon the characters. Impact that propels your characters into action, into change. Conflict is that impetus. Let's use an example to show you what conflict is and how it works. I'm going to use "The Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum because it's a classic fairytale that most people know. In this story, Dorothy's main conflict is the Wicked Witch. Dorothy must overcome the witch to get home to Kansas. "What's at stake? Ask yourself this question: "If your hero/heroine wants a particular goal, and if he/she is not successful, then what?" Well, then what? That is the essence of defining what is at stake. What would be lost? A day, a love, a life?"iii What would happen if Dorothy can't find her way back home? Conflict is more than just the obstacle that prevents your hero/heroine from getting what he/she wants; it is the reason. Think of conflict as a barrier, and make the protagonist have to struggle against or go around something or someone. And make sure you leave the outcome in doubt, at least until the resolution of the story. Conflict is the catalyst for action. You want change—you need action. You want action—you need conflict. What you need to do is put a lot more than you'd first imagined at risk. And then do your best to escalate the stakes. This doesn't mean making the initial conflict worse, rather, it means adding varying layers of conflict, those unexpected (at least unexpected to the reader and to the character) barriers that escalate your character's problems. Introduce obstacles, each more difficult than the last. As the story goes on there should be more to lose. When the conflict is a villain, make that villain a worthy opponent.iv What makes the Wicked Witch such a worthy opponent is the fact that she has her own personal agenda, her own goals and conflicts. In "The Wizard of Oz", the Wicked Witch's main conflict is Dorothy. The witch must get the ruby slippers from Dorothy in order to become the most powerful witch in all the land. Readers enjoy anticipation, and the trick is to keep the reader on the edge of her seat. You want the reader to be worried about the protagonist. You want her to care. Conflict enhanced with rising stakes creates that worry. To aid in the construction of rising stakes for your protagonist ask, "How could things get worse?" Trials and tests are the stuff of character building. In "The Wizard of Oz", events evolve slowly with the Wicked Witch. In the first scene we see the witch flying overhead on a broomstick where she gives a verbal warning; the next time we see her she's stalking Dorothy and sneaking along behind the trees; the stakes begin to rise when the witch puts the Scarecrow on fire; after that we learn that she's powerful enough to drug Dorothy and her allies in a poppy field; and then we finally come upon her nasty castle complete with evil monkey minions. By the time the wizard orders Dorothy to steal the witch's broomstick as payment for his help in getting Dorothy home, we know that Dorothy is being set an impossible task.v The stakes have been raised, and the protagonist has now been pushed to the edge. All this conflict is what's going to make something static like a character study into something dynamic like a classic novel. Most of this action is inspired, or at least catalyzed, by an external event. And an outside event, or exterior conflict, can be the cause or catalyst of internal change. Growth and change doesn't come from ignoring fear, but in accepting fear and acting anyway. A key element to heightening the stakes is to remember that external events won't seem very important if the protagonist can eventually change without undergoing all that suffering. The internal conflict should match the protagonist's need to grow, to change. In "The Wizard of Oz", Dorothy's internal conflict is that she feels as if she doesn't belong. At the story's opening we learn that Dorothy is an orphan who is feeling sorry for herself for being landed with her relatives on some small farm in Kansas. She feels as if she's underfoot while the others have roles to play in working the farm. Dorothy has to learn not only that she is loved for herself, but that she actually wants to go home to Auntie Em and live with her on the farm. She learns to care about what is going to happen to Auntie Em. Because she cares, the reader cares. Internal conflict complicates what might otherwise be an exciting yet basically meaningless external plot. Internal conflict is emotional conflict. As previously suggested, Dorothy must learn that she cares for Auntie Em and is in return loved for herself. This is where character growth and the learning of life's lessons comes in. Consider how your character's internal conflict will individualize his/her journey in and out of the external conflict. Build the external plot around one central external conflict. In our example we set out that, Dorothy must get past the Wicked Witch in order to return home. For real narrative drive you need the power provided by a central conflict. Give the protagonist a compelling goal or quest, put him/her to some test, make him/her have to achieve something or solve something or survive something. State this external conflict clearly. Ask – what does he/she need to learn or achieve? Dorothy must learn that there's no place like home. In "The Wizard of Oz", the wizard gives Dorothy a next to impossible task of getting the broomstick. A less motivated hero would walk away at this point. But Dorothy can't. She must get the broom. She must get home. In a vision she has seen Auntie Em, and Auntie Em appears sick and desperately in need of her. "But" she must first confront the witch before the wizard will help her. What can be more compelling than such high stakes? You might want to consider your own stakes. I'd like to ask you now, why are you writing the current story you're working on? If you stopped writing this novel, why would that matter? High stakes ultimately come from your own high commitment.vi It doesn't matter what motivates you; fame & fortune, to see your name in print, to share your stories, to make a stand. What matters is that you have a reason, a reason that keeps you going despite the rejections and the long hours alone in front of your computer. Write from the heart; write because you have a dream. If you don't write with some vision, some goal in mind, your own personal stakes will be too low. Bibliography & Recommended Reading List: i Anne Perry, forward to Maass, p.3 |
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