Creating conflict is a difficult aspect of narrative. Emotional impact can be woven into stories to create tension and depth, but with many factors to consider, it’s hard to know how to put everything together. Why is conflict important to your writing? How can you transform conflict into emotion?
Omg. I love me some conflict. It's important because without it your story can be boring. There needs to be some action or a disagreement or inner turmoil. I use emotion in conflict through dialogue and showing my characters inner thoughts either explicitly or through actions.
Hi Sarah! Yes exactly conflict, whether against a villain or against yourself or against another obstacle, is important to keep a story going and challenge your characters. I think it's a really important way to show growth as well. Dialogue is so tricky for me, but it's a really good way to show what the characters are struggling through.
Conflict can be SO hard to do well, I struggle with it for sure! But it’s important because it’s what moves a story forward. Depending on the character, like Sarah, I prefer to show emotion through dialogue and actions because that’s what feels most authentic to as a reader.
I'm absolutely there with you! It seems every time I try to establish conflict, I end up creating five more sub-conflicts. Dialogue is a unique way to help readers relate to the characters (although I struggle with making my dialogue sound real and not scripted). What sort of conflict do you usually find yourself writing? Person v. person, person v. self, a mixture?
That’s awesome though! That probably lends a lot of depth to your writing! I probably tend more toward person v. self, just because that comes more naturally to me. As a reader I really love person v. person conflict though, so that’s something I’d like to work on! What do you usually find yourself writing?
@ddiener7 Nice! I think I usually write person v. person conflict because it's easier to create two entirely different characters and pit them against each other than it is for me to pit a character against themselves. Kudos to you for writing person v. self - I think it's one of the more difficult aspects of conflict and character to write!
I love the "vs nature" stories but I can't write them at all. Oh, how I've tried. I do find that writing is deeply tied to emotion, even when we wish it wasn't. If we're happy, things seem to perk up for the character but likewise, if the character is having a really bad day, sometimes we do too.