Conflict, Dilemma and Choice Oh My

Conflict part deux. So last month we talked about how to create conflict with the gap, and someone asked me if this was just away to setup obstacles (external conflict) to which I said …no. Internal conflict can be created through the gap as well as long as it forces the character to make a choice.

External conflicts deal with fixing something or overcoming something outside ourselves. Internal conflict is all about choice. And not just choice but a choice that insists we must give something up in its resolution.. Internal conflict is DILEMMA. And come in only two flavors. Choose between mutually exclusive goods or Choose between the lesser of two evils.

Now I point this out because it’s über important. Dilemmas are agony, angst inducing, shortcuts to people’s emotions. Read a great way to involve your reader. And while it seems like common sense, I don’t think it’s always obvious. People hate it when they don’t know what to do or when they have to give something up or when they must choose between to options that absolutely SUCK eggs.

Wait, wait, wait. I hear you cry. What about choosing between right and wrong, good and evil? Well, you choose right and good, don’t you? What kind of dilemma is that? None. It’s not question of dilemma at all; so for our storytelling purposes we’re going to ignore that option. The reader knows that the character is always going to choose the “right” or “good” from their own inner compass. “Imagine Atilla, King of the Huns, poised on the borders of fifth century Europe, surveying his hordes and asking himself: ‘Should I invade, murder, rape, plunder and lay waste…or should I just go home?’ ”

Samples. I use popular movies for examples because most of us have seen these movies. Not all of us have read the same books. Okay one book, just cause it’s one of my faves.

Shrek: He must choose either protect his heart after a lifetime of rejection by everyone he’s ever met or risk that pain again and tell Princess Fiona he loves her and wants her to be with him, after being very nasty to her. Two mutually exclusive goods.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon: Claire must choose between either staying in the past with the man she’s grown to love or going back to the future to her husband who she loves but does not know well. Two mutually exclusive goods.

Men In Black: J must choose between giving up his entire identity or working for an unheard of top secret enclave that would be very exciting and fulfilling. Two mutually exclusive goods.

Serenity (If you haven’t seen it, you should): Mal must choose between being hunted down and killed or traveling through cannibal territory to look for something that may not even exist but might save his ass. The lesser of two evils.

Alien: Ripley must choose between holding her wounded friend and shipmate in quarantine or letting him into the ship for medical treatment and risk the entire crew to exposure to a dangerous element.

Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest: Elizabeth Swan chooses between trapping Jack on the Pearl for the Kracken to eat or everybody dying in the attack. The lesser of two evils.

So tell me what dilemma does your Character’s face. What do you make them risk?

The Worst Writing Sin

I need to vent. Let me preface this post with a disclaimer; this isn't sour grapes. At least not exactly. I'm not pubbed. I'm not ready to be pubbed. I'm not even ready to submit anything yet. But I'm a reader and I keep feeling like I'm being ripped off because an author has "potential."

How the frack do some people get pubbed? Not only pubbed, but loved. I've recently been reading two different authors, one well known, the other not so much...yet. But very similar errors showed up in their work. And this really worries me that this flimsy, crappy storytelling technique is becoming acceptable, or Divinity forbid, standard practice.

Authors and publishers make a pact with the reader that they are going to take care of them on a journey, that neither their time or their money will be wasted. To break it is criminal and ought to be met with public flogging with silly string and repeating the 2nd grade.

So what is this technique that has me riled? Can't you tell? I'm using it. I'm all angsty and confused and angry, but I'm not telling you what about. Cause obviously if I just come out and say it then you won't come with me. Won't believe me that this is a real problem. That it's worthy of being upset about. No it's so much better to dodge the issue. Not just from the other characters but from the POV character as well and there by the reader. Well, where the hell is the catharsis in that?

It's a tragic, warped and twisted version of Scarlett O'hara saying "I can't think about that now. I'll go mad if I do. I think about it tomorrow."

Except one huge difference, WE, THE AUDIENCE, knew 1) what was wrong and 2) her emotional states, She couldn't bear one more problem right then and that's fine because we knew why.

Internal conflict is fine, but for Gods' sake put it on the freaking stage, not just the angst but the freaking conflict the character is having. If your story is so flimsy that it evaporates when you put the conflicts on the stage then get better conflicts.

I want to worry for the character, but if you don't tell me what's wrong, I can't do that. And that's when the author and the publisher have broken their covenant with the reader. And it pisses me off.

The second commandment of writing is don't break faith with the reader.