Conflict

Conflict

         Drama needs conflict. Resolution of that conflict is called plot. Beautiful sunsets don’t create a story. Conflict and resolution is the heart of a story.

         1. I went to town and bought groceries.
         2. A dog attacked me when I went to town.

         oing to town and buying groceries does not promise any conflict. It is predictable and requires no resolution. Being attacked by a dog is instant conflict. Something happened. Something changed. Conflict and resolution reveal the character’s nature and allows her to grow, and the reader gets to see it. This is obvious in action stories. The hero gets challenged by the motorcycle gang and defends his girlfriend’s honor. Classic conflict. The cowboy, confronted by the rustlers, fights to protect the ranch. Gene Autry would be proud. The conflict is the place where the story resides. It provides the opportunity for growth and change.

         Don’t fail that test. If the character doesn’t have conflict, you don’t have a story.

         An essay needs conflict. An article needs conflict. A poem needs conflict. Something has to change. Even if the character fails to triumph, the conflict provides drama. Anne Frank died in a German prison camp. She did not triumph over the conflict in her life, but there was great drama in her attempt. Shakespeare’s sonnets provide conflict and resolution, and something happens. In the couplet there is a resolution.

         Emily Dickinson wrote a short poem. In essence, it is a word definition, but there is conflict.

Presentiment is that long shadow on the lawn
Indicative that suns go down,
A notice to the startled grass
That darkness is about to pass.

Darkness is a threat. The shadow warns of its coming. The grass is startled. It happens daily for people, but it is, somehow, singularly significant to grass, at least in this poem. Some events in our lives are like the long shadow is for the grass. Notice has been given.

         Think and write in terms of conflict and resolution. What is the threat? Can your character overcome it? What strengths will the struggle require? How will it change her/him?

         Even a recipe has conflict. Measure the ingredients, mix well, and bake till done. There is conflict and change, struggle and resolution, and there is the threat of failure. The bread did not rise. Nobody ate the casserole. Yes, even a recipe has drama.

         Write on.