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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/6397-Bring-On-The-Conflict.html
Contests & Activities: June 25, 2014 Issue [#6397]

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Contests & Activities


 This week: Bring On The Conflict
  Edited by: 🦄🏳️‍🌈Sapph
                             More Newsletters By This Editor  

Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

The purpose of this newsletter is to share my thoughts, ideas, and experience with anything and everything relating to contests and activities. Information from me to you on entering and running activities here on Writing.Com.

Today's Topic
Bring On The Conflict


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Letter from the editor

Earlier this month, I had been reading some stories from a contest and I found myself getting bored in the middle of some of them. I asked myself what these stories were missing and the answer was the same each time: conflict. Stories need some kind of conflict to draw the reader in and keep them interested enough to read a whole piece. Without any conflict, a story will be flat, dull and uninteresting.

Before I get more into this, let's explain conflict. Conflict is an element in writing that involves a struggle. This can be two characters squaring off like a hero and villain or the realities a character is facing when dealing with a mental illness. There are so many different types of conflict that can be included depending on the type of story. A story without some form of conflict is like grass without rain; it's still there and will stay there for a while, but nobody wants to look at it because it's dried out.

Contest entries are especially in need of conflict because, if you're entering a contest, you want your story to stand out from the rest and be able to win. If you've got nothing for your audience to hold on to while reading, your story isn't likely to place in the contest. Contests typically come with prompts, some of which don't lend themselves well to conflict, but that's when you need to think outside of the box and find a way to add that conflict in.

Say that a contest is using a photo of a bunch of flowers in a meadow for the prompt. You might think, how can there be anything going on here? Why not make that meadow a base of operations for a resistance group of some kind or the place where a family's child passed away and it led to some mental problems with a family member. There are a number of ways to take even the most uninteresting prompt and add in some conflict.


When writing a story, keep these things in mind regarding conflict:

*Starr* Ask yourself, what is my character struggling with?

*Staro* Is the conflict noticeable in the story?

*Star* Has the conflict been developing throughout the story?

*Starg* What is the end result of this conflict?

*Starb* Put yourself in your reader's shoes and try to pick out the conflict and how it develops.

*Starv* Ask for feedback on your story and get the reader's reaction to it.



Conflict itself is necessary to create a good story that readers will want to read and which will more likely help a contest entry become a winner. Just remember that conflict is only one element of a story but is a key component to making it work.

Check out the contests below and try your hand at writing a piece with conflict that will really keep each of the judges interested and maybe make your story a winner!



Editor's Picks

A Romance Contest  [13+]
A short story contest for the Seasons of Romance: closed for a few months
by Osirantinous


Journey Through Genres: Official Contest  [E]
Write a short story in the given genre to win big prizes!
by Writing.Com Support


 Invalid Item  []

by A Guest Visitor


Roots & Wings Contest  [E]
Can you capture the essence of an ancestor in one story? CLOSED
by GeminiGem of House Lannister


 Invalid Item  []

by A Guest Visitor


 Invalid Item  []

by A Guest Visitor


 Invalid Item  []

by A Guest Visitor


The Comedy Club Contest  [E]
A Contest For The Funny Side Of Life. CLOSED
by GeminiGem of House Lannister


I'll Give You a Sentence Contest  [ASR]
I'll give you a starter sentence, you give me a story!
by Nikola~Loving Her Gracie Girl!


The Bard's Hall Contest  [13+]
APRIL: Flash Fiction, 500 word limit.
by StephBee - House Targaryen


The LGBT Writing Contest - now judging  [18+]
Short story contest (with great prizes) for LGBT characters.
by Osirantinous

 
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Ask & Answer

My question for you this time: What do you look for most when reading a story? What does a story you're writing have to have to be good to you?


Question from before: What inspires you when writing a contest entry or creating a new contest/activity?


Quick-Quill replied: For me contests are what come to my mind with the prompt. What keeps me checking in on the contest is how well they draw out creativity? I've been blogging for the first time on a regular basis. I've been pretty good at it since I get an emailed prompt every day. When the prompt isn't creative or seems a bit thrown out because the muse took a vacation that day, I have a hard time coming up with my own thoughts about my life to write about. I haven't visited a lot of contests lately with my MS editing process. I will give you one example: Alice's Curiosity Shoppe. She gave a list of items to write about and the only criteria was you had to use her shop and her cat in the story. When I first came to Wdc it was the first contest I entered. I loved it and miss it. I've included one of the stories I wrote for her contest.



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