Creating Conflict



At present, I’m in process of writing a picture book manuscript about some backyard dog-squirrel shenanigans.  It’s full of inherent conflict.  Dog wants to eat squirrel.  Squirrel does not want to get eaten by dog.

But how is that everyday conflict developed into a worthwhile story?  How does that story go from being letters and spaces on a page to being orchestrated to life? 

I want my words to nearly be sung by the reader.  I want punctuation that functions like staccato marks.  I want adjectives that hum louder and louder like steady violins.  I want a plot and a meter andante that builds into a crescendo fortissimo!

Yet, how do I get that?  That elusive literary crescendo?  Elbow grease may be part of the answer.  Join me on my journey today. 

Online research and infographics are two of my favorite things.  They are often components of a writer’s elbow grease.  Here are some findings regarding creating conflict:



The above infographic definitely gets the award for the cutest and most visually desirable.  This is the basic concept of story conflict.  Can’t you just see your middle school teacher holding up her hands and/or arms in a pyramid shape?  Rising action.  Climax.  Resolution.  Good.  All good.  But, I argue that if this adorable roller coaster were the very literal, visual representation of a story and the climax hit prior to half-way through, that story is lame.
 
The following simple graphic, may be a better image within our own minds:



See the difference in mounting (pun intended) crescendo?  A climax hitting at about 85-90% of the way through is much more like it!

And this last one does a really good job of taking the above concept and simply applying the appropriate terminology.  (That blog where it was featured also shared additional nice options.)



As such, the present goal at hand is to compose conflict that strikes the appropriate balance.  Dogs and squirrels will continue on ‘til Kingdom come, relentlessly and without an overt climax – but it is there and that’s where the storytelling comes in.

What thoughts do you have on creating conflict within a story line?  What are some great examples?









#writingjourney #doggo #squirrel #picturebooks #kidlit #anitavp

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Waking Up Early

Waking up early is for the birds.  And writers.  Rising early is key to beating resistance, i.e. whatever it is that keeps one from implementing his or her talents. And honestly: It. Is. Hard.  Especially with a young baby.  But… we all have our excuses.  Even though it is hard, let me tell you why I’m waking up early.  That brief bit of dark morning is the mental equivalent of a clean chalkboard.  Dark, empty, smooth.  Quietly, silently beckoning to be filled with new words.  Undisturbed and uninterrupted, the words flow most freely.  When the mind, the day, and the page are void of noise, ideas can peek over the horizon with steady beauty. Every other part of the day is inherently lacking the above-mentioned qualities.  The rest of my day will be lost to diapers, the kitchen island, and endless emails.  By evening, my brain will have morphed into an applesauce-like consistency.  And that’s alright, so long as I have captured those few morning moments to just write.
Read more

Negative Prefixes – Be Gruntled

Image
          Pictured: The saddest-looking, distraught baby, who has become disgruntled over his mangos. Listen to (or read) this neat bit on the etymology of some common words with negative prefixes .   Most of us are familiar with the construction of adding prefixes like dis- to the beginning of words like “agree” to make the root word negative.   That is “agree” becomes “disagree”, meaning to not   agree. But what about words like “disgruntled”?   Or “disheveled”? The apparent root of the word is not a free-standing word, like in the case of “agree”.   Although the article doesn’t nerd out this far, generally these root “words” are considered to be bound morphemes .   The development of these words is logical, despite the fact that we don’t really “gruntle” or “shevel”. In addition to the words mentioned in the article , some words following this concept that came to my mind were: -           Inept Latin ineptus In- = not Ept = Latin aptus, or “apt”
Read more

A Potential Book: Being Married To The Alpha Male

Image
My husband is a true man’s man – a macho man.   Physically, mentally, socially, emotionally, etc.   And I wouldn’t have him any other way.   He’s big and bulky and buff and gruff.   He has a beard most men would envy.   He makes grunts Tim Allen style and he may be convinced that a little snus has him turned into a sexual tyrannosaurus.   When asked what he wants to eat, the answer typically is “meat.”   He, and I quote, “[doesn’t] have to work out, [he gets] to work out.”   Little bit Paul Bunyan, little bit Spartan, little bit Teddy Roosevelt, little bit Marlboro Man.   From here on out, we can call him Macho Man.   Every fiber of his being is characterized by testosterone – a bona fide, red-blooded, he-man. I’d like to think my feminine charm is some form of black magic antidote.   Perhaps it is – at least in a small and sufficient enough way.   Nonetheless, my black magic or otherwise, we make a great partnership.   Shared values and upbringings mesh; our personal
Read more