Building conflict

1. Building conflict Mystery, Suspense, and tension

2. Why is conflict necessary? To paraphrase Faulkner: The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself.

3. Which brings us back to… Yearning Conflict comes as a result of yearning. Protagonist must want something. Yearning drives action. Character yearns  makes decisions (usually bad)  leads to discovery & new decision  then new discovery, etc. Bonus!!! Yearning creates empathy • Readers identify with character’s desire / empathize with his dilemma

4. “a story will always end in an altered state in at least the character whose pov we share. Usually the character will have his or her scope enlarged—but not always. Usually the story will result in greater wisdom, compassion, or understanding– though it can end in diminishment or narrowing. As readers, however, we will always, if the story succeeds, have our capacity for empathy enlarged by having lived in the character’s skin for the duration. Every story in this way is a love story.” ~ Janet burroway

5. CRISIS Start in the middle, already in conflict RESOLUTION  FALLING ACTION • 9problem/tension  decisions & action  raise stakes/escalate tension  delay gratification  crisis RESOLUTION FREYTAG’S PYRAMID yearning CONFLICT

6. Charles baxter … on stress “… when I’m writing a short story I like to throw characters together into situations that create stress so that as the story goes forward, something in the situation or the characters is forced to reveal itself. I put characters under stress until something rises to the surface. Some hidden thing or beautiful action or enactment of desire or frustration. I try to get these things working fairly fast. I’ve always thought that one way to achieve this is to use characters who are strangers—they don’t know anything more about themselves than the reader does, so the story has to move itself along from that point on. You can’t write a little scene and then spend the rest of the story going into a history”

7. Stressssssss!!!!!!!!! “The emotions of a character in stress can be described in two ways: as expressed or as suppressed. Strong emotion—whether of fear or anger, etc—causes bodily changes: quick breathing, butterflies, moist palms, pounding heart, … but there are often circumstances that keep an individual from confronting or reacting to the situation directly. Pounding the table in anger is an example of what happens then – an example of ‘displaced aggression,’ for it is seldom the table is the real cause of anger. But there are subtler indications of anxiety when emotions for one reason or another are repressed.” ~ Rust Hills

8. Try this: Think of a time when you’ve been stressed out: interviewing/testing, spending time with someone who drives you crazy, tending to a sick family member (or pet), driving in bad weather, trying to fix something that seems beyond your abilities, competing with someone you badly want to beat. Describe a character frustrated by a situation with which he or she cannot directly cope. Show him/her doing one or of the following (or behaving in whatever way you feel is possible): -- attempting to deceive himself about it, constructing defense mechanisms that deny or disguise the situation, or -- through “projection” – that is, by assigning to others the motives or faults of which he himself is guilty, or -- through “reaction-formation” – in which he may be so fearful of his actual tendencies the he takes an extreme position on the other side, or -- through total repression of his feelings – a matter of exerting willpower, but unconsciously and unhealthily

9. tension vs. suspense/mystery tension Suspense/mystery • Relies on Reader knowing that something is about to happen • Achieved by withholding information from reader

10. Types of conflict (dramatic tension) Internal: Pitting narrative elements (appearance, speech, thought, action) against each other to illustrate tension that resided inside one or more characters individually Conflict with Self = Emotional discomfort: embarrassment, frustration, anger, jealousy, fear, etc. • Conflicting desire • Difficult decisions • Overwhelmed by or regret for past actions

11. Types of conflict, cont. EXTERNAL: Pitting narrative elements (speech, thought, action, theme, setting) against each other to illustrate conflict with an external force Conflict with Other = Physical Discomfort: setting/atmosphere – rain, wind, sun, temp, cold, bright, dark, tight, vastness • Environment: wars, natural disasters, accidents, brutal landscapes, plagues • Antagonist: • Another person: boss, relative, neighbor, Nazi guards, etc. • Creature: lion, bear, alien, monster

12. Methods of presenting conflict • Obstacle: Literal obstacle dominating story that stands between character and what he wants (mountain, railroad, distance, war) • Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, The Road by John Ehle, “Pet Milk” by Stuart Dybek • problem: Seemingly manageable in the beginning, but once solved, becomes a new and bigger problem • “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” by Ernest Hemingway • Decision: Like the problem, each decision made requires a new and harder decision • “Snow” by Charles Baxter

13. Techniques for building conflict • Suspense/Mystery evokes curiosity  resolved by some explanation • Conflict evokes uncertainty  resolved by some sort of decision • Tension evokes anticipation  resolved by some sort of fulfillment

14. Suspense/mysteryEvokes CURIOSITYProblem: Writer enters into a competition with the reader instead of a partnership Tension– BESTOPTION Evokes ANTICIPATION Reader already knows something is going to happen Only doesn’t know WHEN! Both foreshadows and creates suspense Effect  Stretched Taut Conflict Evokes UNCERTAINTY External  InternalProblem: Devolves into matter of choice. “Willy wonty?”

15. Read the abbreviated version of Robert morgan’s story “the ratchet” and answer these questions: • What does the protagonist yearn for? Do you feel empathy for him? Why or why not? • Does the story start in the middle of the action? What is the conflict or source of tension? • Is the story an example of tension or suspense/mystery or your garden-variety “conflict”? • Can you identify moments of external conflict? How does that lead to internal conflict? • Is the conflict presented as an obstacle, a problem, or a decision? • Do the characters thoughts, speech, gestures, and action intensify the dramatic tension? • Does the setting create a sense of foreboding? Are the senses engaged? • Does the author delay satisfaction by thwarting the protagonist’s goals? Does the power shift back and forth between the characters or situation? • How does the author use direct action and exposition to modulate the story’s pacing? Does his technique heighten the tension?

16. Try this: • Writer an opening paragraph to a story where a character is worried about something that the reader knows is about to happen. Can you delay gratification by forestalling the moment of impending dread? • Write a scene where two characters, familiars or strangers, are in stress. What does each character want? Create tension by pitting their thoughts, speech, gestures, and actions against each other. (This scene could pick up where your last exercise left off.)