Conflict Revisited

Scriptwriters and directors have it easy compared to novelists. They ask for a charged look to pass between the characters and it happens (Ok, it may need a couple of takes to get the right one!). Audiences must infer from outward reactions between characters to know what they think and feel. We imagine, with a few helpful clues, why they behave the way they do.

The job of the novelist or short story writer is a bit tougher, since they can’t just just TELL you how a character feels but must SHOW you, and they have to use words, not images to do it. Novelists also have to sustain it for a much longer time since most movies condense down to short stories or novella length. (This is why the book is always better than the screen adaptation. 😉 There’s more time and space to get more details in there.)

One of the ideas I keep coming back to is how to go about building sustainable conflict that’s going to last long enough and still reach a satisfying resolution. Pile on some sexual tension! It’s necessary in a romance, but it’s not the most satisfying conflict to resolve for me as a reader. Maybe that’s because so many romance novels have that bit of tension resolved by page 138 or so.

I don’t feel like I’m much closer to figuring this out, but I haven’t given up on trying. I do feel as if my characters are becoming better suited for one another in the sense that they’re arguing more, have goals that appear to be mutually exclusive to them at first and they aren’t just along for the ride.

Now, I just have to go write them. BICHOK.