{"id":1430,"date":"2014-06-13T08:00:10","date_gmt":"2014-06-13T15:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/?p=1430"},"modified":"2014-06-12T09:32:41","modified_gmt":"2014-06-12T16:32:41","slug":"1430","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewritespot.us\/marlenecullenblog\/1430\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Blogger Rebecca Lawton: conflict = bringing opposing forces to light"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rebecca Lawton <\/a>writes about conflict . . . the kind writers want to have in their writing.<\/p>\n

Recently I read an article by a bestselling novelist who claimed she didn\u2019t follow the well-worn advice to include conflict in story. \u201cI hate conflict,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI don\u2019t like to read it, and I don\u2019t like to write it.\u201d Wondering what techniques she did use to captivate her devoted followers, I turned to my bookshelf and opened one of her latest works to the first page.<\/p>\n

The initial paragraph set a sunny, peaceful scene in which couples and families strolled and played outdoors; the second paragraph described a situation only blocks away where a crowd was experiencing danger that had \u201cturned their perfect Saturday into a nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bingo. Conflict. The word is via the Latin conflictus, <\/em>meaning contest<\/em>. My good old Oxford English Dictionary describes conflict as \u201can incompatibility between two or more opinions, principles, or interests\u201d (There\u2019s a conflict between his business and home life)<\/em> or \u201ca clash of opposing wishes or needs\u201d (My heart is in conflict with my brain<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Our writing instructors tell us that we\u2019ll engage our readers if we start our works with some sort of clash in our opening sentence or paragraph and keep it coming throughout our stories. We\u2019re directed to embed it in every page to engage our readers nonstop.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s good advice. In his fabulous manual, Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook,<\/em> Donald Maass<\/a> describes the many levels of conflict that can be integrated into our stories. There\u2019s Inner Conflict (the clash of desires within a character), Bridging Conflict (temporary conflict or mini-problem), Inherent Conflict (a world of conflicting forces), and Main Conflict (main problem in the story). And those are just a few examples.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a connection between writing conflict<\/em> and building story tension<\/em>. The two words are inherently opposites, but they work together to hold the interest of our readers (I\u2019ll say more about how conflict and tension are related at the June 19, 2014 Writer\u2019s Forum<\/a> hosted by Marlene Cullen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even before I knew how to weave conflict into a story, culture clash inspired me to write my novel Junction, Utah. <\/em>From experience I knew communities were disagreeing over resources in the oil-rich American desert, where the story is set, and I wanted to explore that clash. There was much to tell, and as I wrote and rewrote, I discovered new opportunities to bring the opposing forces to light.<\/p>\n

Here are ten of the many opposites I identified in my characters and settings in Junction.<\/p>\n