Thursday, March 6, 2008
Conflicts in Conflict
The past months have seen big adjustments in my WIP. It’s changed from straight-up Regency to paranormal Regency with a bit of a whodunit thrown in for good measure.When I undertook this endeavor, I assumed there would be some WIP backlash. It started immediately when I had to axe out 50 pages that just didn’t fit anymore. It’s better now, I think, but that did cause me some teeth gnashing and other such general pain.
The most recent snafu came up this week as I was getting a sliver together for the pirates to critique. I’ve stumbled across a conundrum. I find myself with so many plot threads that I hardly can keep them from twisting into an unrecognizable ball of literary goo.
“Writing is a journey,” I repeat to myself yogi/mantra style.
It just happens that this journey includes a mystery plot, my heroine’s internal and two external conflicts, my hero’s internal and external conflicts and the set up for another story, in case I choose to use it. Hardly JK Rowling-esque plot weaving required but it’s more than enough for me.
Before the revision, this was a lot easier because 1) my conflicts were mostly internal, 2) there were only two conflicts: his and hers. Now, with all these additional external shenanigans going on, it’s complicating my life. Or, more specifically, it’s complicating my characters’ lives in ways that is complicating my life.
I do think that these new external conflicts make my story better. And, on the bright side, they seem easier to progress than the internal ones, so that is something.
The only way I’ve figured out how to keep track of all of this is to list out my conflicts, pretty much as above with a little more detail, and then after I write a scene, read back through to make sure there’s growth in each specific conflict.
But, I’m not sure it’s working.
So, wenches, HELP! Which type of conflict do you think is easier to write? Which is more important to the story’s overall success? Any suggestions for how to keep multiple conflicts straight and moving forward? And, do you think external conflicts enhance your plot or not?
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24 comments:
Love, love, LOVE yoga! Nothing like that calming peace I get once I've completed a workout.
Lots to think about today Marn. Because I just got done reading the critique part I can say, honestly, in the beginning, I think you've got your ducks in a row.
I've always liked stories that have a little of the 50/50 approach with conflict. 50% of the conflict is external and the other 50 is the internal. Of course, I write the complete opposite. LOL
I like to write the internal conflicts. I find myself writing most often the external. I'm so totally the wrong person to ask this question. Can you see me backing away slowly now?
Great blog, Marn! This is gonna be a hit today!
Great questions to think about. For me internal conflict is the easiest to write. Weaving it in, in the right places can be difficult though. I tend to want to reveal everything in the first chapter for some reason, which of course is the WRONG thing to do.lol.
External conflict is hard for me to come up with without making it extremely campy. Like a mystery where the heroine's life is in danger by a jilted former lover in my first Regency. I mean how many millions of times has that been done?
PS: If that's your mystery I'm sure it will be better than mine. And I'm sorry for saying it was an overused plot device*g*.
Oh and I think internal is more imporatant to the stories overall success because so much of the external is influenced by the internal. A lot of characters I've read make some weird choices, but it makes sense because of their internal conflict.
I seem to use internal more than external. In the most recent thing I finished, I had to do this big fight scene at the end and just laughed my way through it. Give me the tortured internal monologue every time.
Marnee,
I have both internal and external in my plots. They both enhance... But I think you can have one or the other if you like...though in a romance it should be an internal struggle for the characters.
You need to rip apart what you read, and see how your favourite authors use conflict. I know Toni Blake is a master at using tension as conflict... but that doesn't help for an historical para. Is this witches you are talking about? I could offer up some reading suggestions. so you can get your hands on them and study them.
oh, and I use internal more too.
I think external would be easier to write only because it's more obvious. If a man is pointing a gun at my heroine, I don't have to explain too much to the reader for her to understand this is a major conflict.
But if my heroine has a fear of abandonment, I have to not only tell the reader (in some way other than an info dump) about events in her past that created this fear but I have to show them her emotional response to things that show this fear. Then I have to show her working through this fear and coming out on the other side and leaving the fear behind. All without saying, "Heroine has abandonment issues" or *telling* them anything.
You see where one seems easier than the other. But the external has its own headaches because I'm going to have to explain why he's holding the gun on her and how she feels about that and how she gets out of it without freaking out.
In other words, we're screwed all the way around. LOL! Aren't you glad I chimed in?
Sin - I think 50/50 sounds like a good prescription. But, I understand how things switch up in our translations!!
Kelly - I absolutely understand the worry about campiness. No, that isn't my major external conflict (*relieved sigh*) but I think that it's ok for a common external conflict to be in writing, as long as the author deals with it in a fresh way.
And I think internal is the most important, but I think it's hard when it's the only conflict. At least it was for me. I felt like my characters just sat around talking about their feelings all the time. It was like group therapy!!
Maggie - you laughed through your fight scene!? What an evil writing god you are!! LOL!! A part of me always feels a little bad when I laugh at my characters' misfortunes. But, just a little... LOL!!
Tiff - I think you're right about the internal being the most important in romance. I think other genres don't have to have as much internal, but there should always be some.
And yes, it's witches. But, I don't have the dark voice of a lot of paranormal writers. Reading suggestions?
Ter - shucks, aren't you a ray of sunshine this morning! ROFLMAO!!
I definitely have a harder time writing the internal conflicts too. It would be easier just to say, My heroine has abandonment issues.
I think they're both hard in different ways. Internal conflicts have that "don't info dump but get across their neurosis" problem, and external conflicts tend to affect in both physical and emotional ways, so you have to deal with that.
Rats, you're right! We are screwed all the way around!!
And a really good one, with a ton of internal conflict--(druids not witches) Daughter of Destiny, Tracy Fobes
Jennifer Ashley--the mad bad duke (though this is a shifter kinda thing, there is tons of internal conflict)
Susan Krinard--Forest Lord
I think Medeiros has some too. But I don't read her, she's too campy for my taste. But they might be lighter then most.
There are a ton out there, but I stick more to the darker stuff--most paranormal was dark before chicklit decided to join forces with the beasties that go bump in the night, and I'm afraid I'm old school paranormal...started on Poppy Z. Brite as a young impressionable teen.
And I forgot to mention my WIP is 95% internal conflict. Yeah, I'm doubly screwed.
Tiff - thanks for the suggestions! I have read Medeiros' witches and I like them a lot. They're probably closer to my ultimate goal than some of your other suggestions. :)
Ter - LOL! Not screwed. Just tangled into a web of angst of your own making. :) LOL!!
I'm sorry... :( I do know there are a lot of witch historical (mostly medieval) out there. I'll try and think of more later.
And ps, Ter, we writers are happiest in the writing menageries we create. I suspect you're right where you wish to be. :)
Thanks Tiff! Don't sweat it. I appreciate you thinking for me!
Marnee - that sounds very profound, but it's really just a pretty way to say I've screwed myself. LOL!
I do have other ideas on the backburner that are quite different. Even a chick lit/para thing with a ghost and a murder mystery. Not sure if I'll ever get to that but I'm sure I'll be cursing lots if I ever do. LOL!
For a long time I drove myself crazy worrying because I had no external conflict in my WIP. Then I read some craft book that distinguished between personal and situational conflict and felt much better. (I think the book was Leslie Wainger's Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies, but I'm not 100%sure.) Anyway, for my work the contrast between the personal conflict that arose from who my characters were and all that had made them that way and the situational conflict that arose from their being in the same place and all the intertwining of their lives as a result made perfect sense. It allowed me to stop worrying about whether I needed to add a kidnapped child or a corporation trying to buy family land or some such action to my story.
Marnee, have you read Jill Barnett's Bewitching and Dreaming?Terrific books! Also, Eloisa James's B & N column for February was on funny witch books. You might find it useful to check out EJ's column and the resulting discussion.
Hi Janga! Looking at personal versus situational adds a different dimension to understanding characters! Thank you. :)
And I haven't read those Jill Barnetts. I just looked them up and it sounds like something I should investigate. Thanks!
I'd rather figure out internal conflicts. Inner neuroses are something I can identify relatively quickly.
Being I can't resolve (or won't resolve!) the problems in my own life, resolving them in my characters' lives seems equally painful and I can't stand doing it. Or even how to go about it. "I don't KNOW how she figures he's the killer. She just knows!" Being *I* would never figure out who the killer was until he was pointing a gun at me next doesn't help.
Besides, external conflicts usually resolve themselves and you can get a HEA without you doing too much. (Okay, unless a killer's after you and you're on the run...but generally speaking...) Internal conflicts, well, if you don't do something about them--you won't get your happy ending. You can still screw it all up if you don't stop being neurotic.
Had to chime in from a Reader’s pov.
I like External Conflicts that are made worse… ie more conflicted… by a character’s Internal Conflicts.
The more angst & chaos, the better.
Conflict away… As long as you can tie up all of the lose ends by the end of your tale.
Does that make sense?
Or did I confuse you with too many “cons”?
“Sorry,” said a contrite Julie, “I will convene to my kitchen, whilst I contrive to control the convoluted context of my comments. Or I could continue along the same context… corrupting your conscious mind with confusing conversation about Conflict!”
LOL, OK I’ll stop.
My point is
If you WIP’s conflicts or story lines are as difficult to follow as my “conversation” then you have a problem.
Sometimes… most of the time really… when you are working on a creative project it’s hard to be objective. So get a good critique partner. And listen with an open mind.
A suggestion:
If there is a piece to your WIP that doesn’t work then Cut it.
I know it hurts. That’s why they use words “cut” or “axed” and not “marshmallow fluff” to describe the process. Because it hurts. If you can’t Let It Go then place the axed bits into a “To Use Later” file. Even if your rational mind knows that you’ll probably never use it. You will feel better about the cut, because it hasn’t been permanently eradicated from your life. It’s just in temporary storage, right?
Julie is very wise.
Oh I love the idea of witches in Regency England. And I can't wait to hear what voice you use.
As to group therapy.lol. I think that's a great way to describe it. Which is why tempering it with a great external plot is important. So now I move to the camp of they're both(internal and external) extremely integral.
Hellion - I think it's so interesting how everyone's takes on writing conflict are different. I think internal conflict is harder to resolve to satisfaction. I mean, if there's a killer with a gun, it's pretty easy to make the leap, as a writer, that you have to get that killer caught. But, the fine nuances of fixing a character's neurosis are more complex.
And Julie! Hello!! Julie said: "I like External Conflicts that are made worse… ie more conflicted… by a character’s Internal Conflicts." Me too! And I have a saved snippets file. it's about 100 pages long and it does give me piece of mind. :)
Kelly - you're middle of the roading it too? LOL! it's ok, often it's about moderation. :)
Actually I'm more the kind of writer who doesn't like to write, but likes "having written."
I say I think internal is easier because it's easier for me to do internal dialogue and angsty-light "does he like me, does he not" stuff for pages and pages, but I have trouble find external goals/conflicts...being a lot of my characters WANT to avoid conflict and action. They want to be left alone, and circumstances won't let them--and I always have trouble finding circumstances to annoy the crap out of my characters.
My characters don't find trouble, it finds them--but then I worry: what kind of trouble would find an unassuming character?
And round and round it goes.
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