Conflict- Rising Action Podcast Episode

Podcast Episode

  My A-muse-ing Life podcast

Season 2, Episode 10

Word of the Week:

Conflict:

An argument or disagreement that is serious in nature; to be in opposition with

Reading:

Little Women, Chapter 8

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott | Project Gutenberg

12 Tips for Writing Conflict:

Conflict can happen in many different ways throughout a story.  It drives the story forward, and can keep readers engaged.  Here are 12 Tips for Writing Conflict:

1. Decide what type of conflict should be in the story.  The type of conflict will influence the characters, the setting, and even how the story is told.
2. Put obstacles in the character’s path.  Think about what the character wants.  What are their goals and passions?  Put challenges and obstacles in their path that stop them from getting what they want right away.
3. Build up the conflict early on in the story and then carry it through the middle.
4. Add twists and turns that surprise the reader.
5. Put someone in the character’s way that has the opposite values as they do.  How do they interact?  Use someone with opposite values to challenge your character and create conflict with dialogue and/or actions.
6. Include subplots.   Layers of conflict can help provide backstory, and introduce other characters to add further tension within your story.
7. Raise the stakes.  Whatever goals or passions your character has, increase the stakes of what they will lose if they don’t succeed.  
8. Think like a movie maker.  Visualize the conflict in your head and then write it out as though watching it in a movie.  
9. Focus on the Failure.  What does it mean if the character fails?  
10. Involve all of the meaningful characters within the conflict.  All main characters or those that have significant meaning within the story should be involved or impacted by the conflict in some way. 
11. Study what has worked in the past.  Read genres within the area you are writing in to see how others have added conflict into their stories.
12. Practice.  Writing a good conflict takes time.  Spend time focusing on the conflict within the story and practice writing the conflict out in different ways.  

Prompt:

Complete the Conflict Graphic Organizer, then rewrite it from a different type of conflict.