A Different Kind of Conflict

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This week we've been exploring the role of conflict in story, and today I'd like to address the conflict involved in writing story. I've been working through a book by Dr. Karen Peterson titled Write. 10 Days to Overcome Writer's Block. Period. It's one of the many 'how to' books that I've purchased with great intentions over the years, but languish unread on my bookshelf. I discovered that this book is chock full of graphs, lists and fill-in-the-blanks designed to help writers find what works best for them to keep the ideas flowing. According to the good psychologist, the conflict springs from the fact that our brains have two halves - left and right. Now, at the risk of doing an injustice to her ideas, I will attempt to reduce the conflict down to a nutshell.

'Just do it' vs. 'Just say no'
Basically, people can be divided into either left-brain dominant or right-brain dominant. The left brain's motto is 'just do it' and the right brain's is 'just say 'no." Regardless of which one is dominant for us, we still have to get the two halves to agree about when, where and how we will write before we can accomplish anything. "This means that, even though the logical left brain may exhort us to write, the right brain remembers every hypercritical voice we've ever heard, and is more than happy to replay them, en masse, every time we try to write." (page 13)

'Fight' or 'Flight'
In addition, the right-brain is responsible for the 'fight or flight' and 'freeze' responses, which can be triggered by a desk piled high with stacks of unfinished projects or a blank page with a mind-numbing blinking cursor. The left-brain is admonishing us to just accomplish something in whatever time is available, but the right-brain wants a huge block of time and the certainty of a finished product at the end of it. Now, since I also have a full-time job, this particular conflict waged every time I sat down to write - so I sharpened my Ticonderoga #2 pencil and went at it.

Results
The charts and graphs are to be completed once with your dominant hand and once with your non-dominant. It was hard to believe that changing hands could produce different results. Surprisingly, I did end up with some different answers which led to the discovery that a slight adjustment in the time of day that I have available to write can make a big difference. Nothing earth-shattering, but if it helps me be more productive, why not! There are more conflicts in writing than I knew about, such as whether I needed a clean or cluttered space, a quiet or loud environment, food, drink and what kind, to make lists & subtasks or to ignore them. Some weren't just a matter of preference - there was left/right-brain trash-talking going on without my knowledge.

I'm only half-way through the book and the exercises, so I look forward to making some significant changes and fine-tuning soon. Are there any how-to books that have surprised you with the results? Are you confident that you already have a handle on what works for you, or are you open to trying something new? We'd love to hear!

Complex Conflict

Our second Audience with an Agent contest is underway. This is your opportunity to have your manuscript read by Janet Grant -- one of the premier agents in the industry -- of Books & Such Literary Agency. We will accept manuscripts until April 15. Please go to our Promotions page and carefully follow the guidelines. We look forward to reading your submission.

When it comes to conflict, we writers err in one of two ways – we fail to inject our stories with conflict, or, we pile on so many problems the story becomes a confusing muddle.

I love Sharon’s Monday post. She reminds us the conflict isn’t always combat, and it isn’t even always big.

I read a fiction proposal recently that was so overstuffed with “insurmountable obstacles” I couldn’t figure out what the story was about. It seemed to be about everything.

In the excellent book The Anatomy of Story (recommended by one of our readers, thanks Becky!), John Truby tells the writer that you need a central conflict. This is what “your story is about at the most essential level.” He offers a breathtakingly simple method for getting a sense of the central conflict; “Ask yourself “Who fights whom over what?” and answer the question in one succinct line.”

While answering this question won’t give you the whole picture of conflict in your story, it is the back bone and once you have answered it, you can ensure that the rest of the conflict you create ties back to this one, central issue. To reference Syd Field’s advice from Sharon’s post, knowing your central conflict will help you to know which rocks to throw at your protagonist that will, eventually, get her out of that tree.

You want to ensure the rocks you throw relate to the central conflict and, occasionally hit their target. Throw stones at the protagonists main goal or motivation, chuck some at her values, too. While you’re at it, have your other characters throw some stones at each other, making sure that their conflict plays into or effects the main character’s conflict in some way.

What is the point of all this conflict? Why is fiction driven by it? Because pressure on your protagonist will force him to change – and that is the key to fiction; demonstrating the human condition in flux. We believe in our ability to change ourselves (and often, in Christian fiction, God’s influence on changing us for the better). For better or worse, the human condition is morphing and we writers are running to capture the process with our words.

Surely all art is the result of having been in danger, of having gone through an experience all the way to the end, to where no one can go any further. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

What about you? Are you picky about the rocks you throw at your protagonist? What are your thoughts about conflict in fiction? We’d love to hear from you.

Conflict: The DNA of Fiction

Our second Audience with an Agent contest is underway. This is your opportunity to have your manuscript read by Janet Grant -- one of the premier agents in the industry -- of Books & Such Literary Agency. We will accept manuscripts until April 15. Please go to our Promotions page and carefully follow the guidelines. We look forward to reading your submission.

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April M. is the winner of last week's giveaway--Seeing Things by Patti Hill. Please contact Patti with your snail mail address through the "contact" button. Congratulations, April!

I hate conflict, hate being at odds with anyone. I do what I can to avoid it, and if a rift in relationship comes between me and another person, I do what I can to correct it. My younger sister, reflecting on our teen years, might argue the point. All I can say is, "Sorry, Janet."

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But my aversion to conflict applies only to real life. When it comes to fiction, all bets are off, for conflict is the DNA of fiction. To quote James Scott Bell, "A plot is two dogs and one bone." Plenty of room for conflict there.

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When I first began writing I shied away from this hugely important factor. I liked my protagonists, and since I had it in my power, I wanted to make their lives as easy and pleasant as possible. Or, if conflict came their way, I made sure they suffered in silence, with dignity. All that equaled one thing: B-O-R-I-N-G.

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In Stein on Writing, Sol Stein says, "Inexperienced writers ... often try to write novels with a relatively passive protagonist who wants little." But "the essence of dramatic conflict lies in the clash of wants ... The essence of plotting [is] putting the protagonist's desire and the antagonist's desire into sharp conflict." Figure out what "would most thwart your protagonist's want, then give the power to thwart that want to the antagonist." That's a perfect recipe for conflict.

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It may not be in our nature to heap trouble on our helpless heroines, but think about what you're currently reading -- or writing. Take away the conflict and what are you left with? A deflated, lifeless thing that's not worth exploring. The truth is, without conflict we have no story. Ayn Rand says simply, "The essence of plot structure is: struggle -- therefore, conflict -- therefore, climax (The Art of Fiction). There's a lot of talk about essence in those several quotes, which we can also define as DNA. But both words refer to conflict as the critical element to good fiction.

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As novelists we must give ourselves permission to be mean. American screenwriter, Syd Field, is attributed with this advice: "Get your protagonist up a tree. Throw rocks at him. Then get him down." But throwing rocks can be our stumbling stone. It just isn't in us to be that mean. Fine. Disassociate yourself if you must from the one throwing rocks. Commiserate with your protagonist. Tell her how awful you think that rock thrower is. Just get the job done. Then avoid mirrors for a day or two.

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Here are some important things to remember about conflict:

1. Conflict can be external or internal. Conflict doesn't just come from one character opposing another. It can arise from a force of nature, from war, from illness, from prejudice. Those are all external sources of conflict. But it can be internal as well, where a character is in opposition to himself.
2. Conflict should be in every scene. Conflict isn't one issue that's dealt with in a plot. If conflict is the DNA of your story, you'll find it everywhere. It must be in every scene, in every passage of dialogue, to a degree appropriate to the scene.
3. Conflict should intensify as your story unfolds. In Between the Lines, Jessica Page Morrell says, "Well-written fiction includes ever-growing dilemma, adversities, and pressure as the story progresses (emphasis mine). The conflict should build with the rising action until it reaches the boiling point. Like a set of stairs, it should be ever climbing till it reaches the top, or climax.
4. Conflict should be equal to the story. The conflict in a romance is going to be quite different from the conflict in a fast-paced thriller.
5. Conflict must matter to your reader. Back to the "clash of wants" that Sol Stein wrote about. He adds this important piece of advice. "You need to be certain that the conflicting wants are ... over something that the reader will view as important." If the stakes aren't high enough, readers aren't going to care.

There's a tremendous payoff when conflict is handled correctly. "A reader who feels anticipation, excitement, interest, or compassion is a reader who is not going to walk away from the novel till the entire story is told" (Elizabeth George in Write Away). And isn't that what we want in our fiction, as both writer and reader?

Getting Dirty for Christian Fiction

Time for a giveaway! I'll put your name in the hat for Seeing Things if you've commented on any of the Novel Matters posts this week. We love hearing your erudite voices.

If you missed Wednesday's post by Latayne (brilliant!) and the comments by our readers (also brilliant!), take a minute to enjoy a very thought-provoking discussion on the parameters we either self-impose or are imposed on writers by publishing houses or the market.

Believe it or not, this discussion has been going on for quite a while. Prior to 1964, the year of her death, Flannery O'Connor wrote an essay on the aim and purpose of fiction. The essay was included in a collection of her work posthumously, Mystery and Manners. She wrote:

Ever since there have been such things as novels, the world has been flooded with bad fiction for which the religious impulse has been responsible. The sorry religious novel comes about when the writer supposes that because of his belief, he is somehow dispensed from the obligation to penetrate concrete reality. He will think that the eyes of the Church or of the Bible or of his particular theology have already done the seeing for him, and that his business is to rearrange this essential vision into satisfying patterns, getting himself as little dirty as possible.
Flannery O'Connor, Mystery and Manners

You have to love Flannery O'Connor. She calls out writers who shirk their responsibility to know the world they live in. I love her chutzpah.

I have to ask this question: How do we get "dirty" and honor God at the same time? (Notice I didn't ask how to please every reader at the same time.)

We look to Jesus.

No one saw the world more concretely than Jesus. A whore washed his feet with her tears. He not only made wine, he drank it. He touched leprous skin. He invited himself to a tax collector's house for lunch. And, I'm thinking, he heard naughty words there. Caked with blood, spittle, sweat, and dirt he took the nails for us. Gruesome. Violent. Definitely off-putting. That's crucifixion, the purest act of love.

To follow in the steps of Jesus, to write in a God-honoring, "dirty" way, we must see the world--as best we can--as Jesus sees it, with empathy, detail, and love. And so it is for the Christian writer to observe and portray the beauty and brutality and pain and suffering and redemption all through the eyes of love.

There will always be someone imposing rules. It's our nature. It's much easier to operate with rock-solid parameters. I believe our calling is higher. Our writing--and everything else in our lives--is a product of our relationship with Jesus--subject matter, theme, genre, word usage, voice. Every element is fruit of the faith with put in Jesus, the manner in which we allow ourselves to be loved and love so shallowly in return. Before art and through art, we love Jesus.

It takes a great deal of courage and a solid foundation of faith to look at the world as concretely as O'Connor suggests and as Jesus modeled. I pray for that courage and faith daily.

Can the kind of fiction O'Connor is advocating happen in today's CBA market? Who is getting "dirty" writing fiction for the CBA today and doing so artfully? How have you gotten "dirty" in your fiction? Is Flannery O'Connor, well, wrong?

Can this be done? How?

Like most people who write novels from a Christian worldview, I struggle with parameters. How much violence is too much? How should discussions about sex be handled? Where is the line between gritty, timely, relevant description and that which is salacious and offensive? We’ve touched on this issue here on NovelMatters before but the controversy is perennial.

Some people think I stepped over that line in Latter-day Cipher. (Look at some of its reviews on Amazon.) In this novel, I described the acts of a man who wanted to enact the old Mormon custom of punishing apostates by shedding their blood (a practice known in Mormon history as blood atonement.)

Long ago, before I ever wrote a novel, I had a theory. I thought that it would be proper for a Christian to write within the parameters of the Bible. (I thought it was my original idea. Probably not.)

Should be fairly straightforward, it seemed: Just talk about what the Bible talks about, in the way it talks about it.

Sounds good? Well, let’s see. That would allow discussions of incest, gang-rape, murder, corpse desecration, child sacrifice, and other horrific subjects.

It would contain very little of what we call romance (except that steamy Song of Solomon, but in the narratives – almost nowhere.)

And it wouldn’t address a boatload of “hot” issues like global warming, drug abuse, or social media. (Or any media except books and letters, for that matter.)

You see the problem?

Could this be done? Is it possible, without descending into legalism, to set such boundaries? And what role would the Bible play in setting such boundaries?

I found that some publishers have their own lists of which words can and cannot be used. But aside from just vocabulary, how have others of you who are writing “realistic” Christian fiction handled this issue?

How Do You Blow the Stink Off?

Last week, in Bonnie's post about Wielding Words with Wisdom, she used a phrase that I haven't yet gotten out of my mind. She said we writers need to step away from the keyboard and "blow the stink off," from time to time.

It made me wonder what other authors do to clear the air (so to speak) when they aren't writing. Do they really do all the things they think they want to do (clean the toilets, clip their toenails) when they are actually writing? Or do they find other ways to express their creativity?

I know Camy Tang is an Olympic-class knitter. Some authors travel: Diann Mills once journeyed near the war zone in Sudan - on her own, all 97 lbs of her - to research her next novel.

What do I do? I walk. I take pictures. And everywhere I go, I make a game of noticing things other people might not.

How about you?

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You mean, besides take a daily shower, Katy?

Well, I walk miles each day with my dog, Tillie. Being out in the fresh air, where my mind can wander as well as my feet, gets blood flowing to my brain again. But to truly regenerate, I must draw deep into a forest or scritch along a desert trail or snowshoe to a lake shrouded with mist. No matter what, this happens once a week, weather permitting and sometimes not.

I also collect characters in airports. That's why God created cell phone cameras. I arrive home with a "wanted wall" of characters and notes scribbled on boarding passes.

I have noticed that the worse thing I can do for my creativity is spend too much time in front of the computer. When the computer crosses the line from being a tool to being a lifestyle, I know I must step back and into the arms of the people I love.
I sure am boring. Hope the rest of the girls come up with something more interesting.

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I'm a chatterer - I love to yap with friends. There's nothing like lunch at McNally Robinson (our swanky bookstore complete with cozy restaurant serving London Fog tea, triple chocolate cake and, if you're so inclined, salads with bleu cheese and dried fruit in them). A good chat does wonders for the ol' pipes.

I also like to engage in a little extracurricular creativity. I love music, so I'll sing, or look up new music to download (legally! I pay for my music!). In summer, I'll tend my sad little garden in the backyard, play badminton with my hubby (I let him win), and ride bikes with the kids (which looks a great deal like me jumping off my bike every three feet to grab my daughter who is, assuredly, falling off her bike.) Sometimes the simple act of going outside is enough for me to recharge. In Talking to the Dead, my character Kate hasn't gone outside in several days. I wrote this passage:

"I felt the wind on my face for the first time in weeks. Its freshness, the joy of it, caught me by surprise."

Once, when I was very stuck for words, I took my daughter to the park and pushed her on the swings. After awhile she was playing on her own and I sat down and wrote an entire scene while I watched her push sand around. I've found it doesn't take a profound change or adventure to get my wheels turning again.

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Sharon the hermit here. For me, there's no place I'd rather be than home. While I enjoy a fun get-together with friends or lunch with my girls, if I'm stuck on a scene or not sure where to go next, it'll be at home, alone, where I find my way, just not at my computer. I may take advantage of the need to think or clear my head by doing something around the house that I can do by rote, leaving my subconscious free to work on th eissue, Usually in no time at all I'm back to a productive writing session.

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One other place where the creative juices flow, is riding in a car with my husband behind the wheel. For while I don't particularly like to travel, I do enjoy a road trip that takes us away from the masses. Both of us would rather take a 16-hour ride to Montana than a 2-hour ride to San Francisco. We can go, comfortably, for miles without saying a lot, and I find my mental wheels turn at a speed equal to our car wheels, so I'm usually scribbling as I go. (Patti, I love your "wanted wall of characters." I too love to people watch, but I've never taken their pictures. Don't they have a word for that?!?)

Oh man, I am the most boring of all. And predictable: I have a friend who calls me and asks what I'm doing and if I say, "moving furniture," she asks, "So what are you supposed to be writing?"

But hey, rearranging my house (or drawers or other smaller space) frees my mind.

The only other solution is to read or listen to a really, really well-written book. Recently I devoured both Liars' Club and Reservation Road. The first book jarred me out of a major writer's slump, and the second one kept the momentum going. But of course -- I listened to them on audio, while I was cleaning house and rearranging my pantry.

Works for me.

I enjoy s pending time out on the deck when I need a break from writing. We have one of those faux-rock fountains from Lowe's that simulates a soothing mountain stream, and there are finches and hummingbirds that fight for food, although it is plentiful. Nature refreshes me.









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The Great Debate

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Some debates are just plain fun:
John Lennon or Paul McCartney (yes, Sharon, we know)
Davy Jones or Mickey Dolenz (or Michael Smith or Peter Tork)
Old Elvis or young Elvis
Ginger or Mary Ann
Capt. James T. Kirk or Jean-Luc Picard
Best Bond - Sean Connery or Daniel Craig (or Pierce Brosnan, or Roger Moore...)
Best Angel - Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson or Jaclyn Smith
Goobers or Raisinets

Debates can define us:
Dog-person or Cat-person
Snowbird or beach bunny
Morning person or night-owl
Health nut or junk food junkie
Vegetarian or carnivore
Democrat or Republican
Glass half-empty or half-full
Cheerleader or skater-girl

For writers, I could add 'SOTP or outline'. This debate is the literary Mason-Dixon line, dividing the author camp into those who write by the 'Seat Of The Pants' and those who outline extensively in advance. Writers will tell you it's the way they're wired to write, and to do anything less is like putting a stubby golf pencil into the left hand of a right-handed person. It can be done, but it's not gonna be pretty.

I've tried it both ways, and I've always leaned toward being an outlining control freak. I created extensive character bios, personal timelines, family trees and plotted how to get from the title page to the end. I wrote chapter summaries and drew maps of homes and rooms and cut out widget people from magazines so I'd have a clear picture of my characters. And it all worked! There's absolutely nothing wrong with these tools. Even Tolkien drew maps to keep Frodo from wandering off the face of Middle Earth. But now I'm wondering whether it's the best fit for the manuscript I'm working on. Outlining just doesn't feel right. Is it possible to be ambidextrous in a literary sense?

There's an element of control in outlining that appeals to me. It's safe. The characters have a certain amount of freedom within established boundaries. Extensive plotting has its own economy which amounts to less time spent rewriting. It's a bit like having your trip planned out by AAA before you leave home so you don't worry about getting lost and having to stay at a crummy fleabag hotel. But, doesn't it make you wonder what surprises could be waiting in that unexpected layover?

Frankly, SOTP scares me to death. I once found myself three-quarters of the way through a manuscript and realized I had tangled a cat's-cradle of story lines into a huge knot. And, oh, the rewrites! (Can you tell I hate to rewrite?) But it felt magical to have the character take me by the hand and tell me her story. To have her push open a secret door and say 'look in here - bet you never thought of that.'

So, I've decided to trust my character's lead this time. It may be a winding road, but by the end of it, I'll know her pretty well. I'm sure I'll have to give her direction from time to time, or steer her clear of a distraction or two, but her story's worth telling and I'm going to listen close and type fast.

You probably already know which side of the SOTP/outline debate you're on. Do you think it's possible to do both, and have you tried it?