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| Naming Your Character Conflict |
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| When beginning your story, you should know your character�s conflict. Summarize the conflict in one or two sentences. If you can�t put your finger on it, you need to do more digging. Ask what does your character want more than anything else, and what will she do to attain it? Conflict and motivation work hand-in-hand. Cinderella�s conflict is between her and her step-family. She wants to escape from her oppression while her family wants to keep her enslaved.
There are seven basic conflicts plus examples: � Character vs. character (Cinderella and her step-family) � Character vs. self (a woman experiences an unplanned pregnancy) � Character vs. nature (Ishmael and the whale in Moby Dick) � Character vs. society (a man fights in a war) � Character vs. machine (an employee threatens to be replaced by a computer) � Character vs. God (Abraham and God) � Character vs. everyone Your character can have any variation or combination of the above. Sometimes he�ll have more than one conflict. Character vs. self usually exists in all stories. Author Josip Novakovich uses the metaphor of war to analyze conflict. He says, �Most strong conflicts�from the protagonist�s point of view�resemble war.� In war there are �contested territories.� In fiction the contested territories can represent the character�s morals, values, and ideals as well as physical boundaries. The �wants� between two characters may be different. This sets up conflict. For instance, a teenage daughter wants to have more independence. Her single mother wants to keep her under her wing for as long as possible. Your characters can want the same thing, but their ideals or methods of attaining them clash. Hence, another source for conflict. Earlier I mentioned character traits. To review, each character should have at least on major trait and several minor traits. Traits may be the source of conflict or obstacles your character must overcome. Let�s revisit the show tune singing coffeeholic bibliophile. The bibliophile wants to open his own bookshop, but he lacks business sense. His main trait is his naivet�. He entrusts an accountant to handle his books, but because the bibliophile is so trusting and na�ve, the accountant swindles him out of his money. Or maybe he decides to write his own business plan. He spills coffee on his business plan the day he has to present it to investors. Once the store is open, he has trouble keeping customers in the store because of the constant blaring of the South Pacific soundtrack and his accosting his customers with his rendition of �Happy Talk.� His bookshop is in danger of going bankrupt, so what will he do to keep it? Here�s another scenario: He auditions for a traveling production of South Pacific. It has always been his dream to play Emile, but he also needs to keep his bookshop going, but he can�t afford to hire any employees. Now what will he do? Keep asking �what if?� as you create your characters. You will discover all sorts of possibilities. Let go, and have fun with it! |
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