Ep. 576: Conflict in Fiction: What It Really Is and Why It's Important to Plot

FromHelping Writers Become Authors

Start listening View podcast show

Ep. 576: Conflict in Fiction: What It Really Is and Why It's Important to Plot

FromHelping Writers Become Authors

ratings:

Length:

12 minutes

Released:

Jan 31, 2022

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

There’s nothing incorrect in using confrontation to create conflict in fiction. But to understand conflict as only confrontation is too narrow a definition.

Released:

Jan 31, 2022

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Helping Writers Become Authors provides writers help in summoning inspiration, crafting solid characters, outlining and structuring novels, and polishing prose. Learn how to write a book and edit it into a story agents will buy and readers will love. (Music intro by Kevin MacLeod.)

Skip carousel

Emotional Connection: Punch Your Readers in the Gut!: So how do you go about creating emotionally resonant stories? It's simple: You create stories with which you resonate. by Helping Writers Become Authors
5 min listen
Backstory: The Importance of What Isn't Told: Particularly during this modern trend of beginning stories in medias res (in the middle of things), a deep and full-bodied backstory is every whit as important as the story itself. by Helping Writers Become Authors
6 min listen
5 Ways to Pace Your Story: Pacing is like a dam. It allows the writer to control just how fast or how slow his plot flows through the riverbed of his story. Understanding how to operate that dam is one of the most important tasks an author has to learn. by Helping Writers Become Authors
7 min listen
Branded: Negotiating Consumerism in Fiction: Two reasons to avoid specifying common and popular consumer names in your fiction. by Helping Writers Become Authors
6 min listen
yWriter Software Tutorial: Tutorial for yWriter, the quintessential organizer for writers. by Helping Writers Become Authors
5 min listen
Sticking With a Story: If you are willing to stick with a story and resist the urge to let go when the going gets tough, you are likely to discover one of the most important traits of any artist: perseverance. by Helping Writers Become Authors
6 min listen
How to Kill a Character - And Avoid Hate Mail: When your story demands you kill a prominent character, how do you tap into the power and pathos without infuriating your readers? by Helping Writers Become Authors
6 min listen
6 Reasons Not to Listen to Your Critique Partner: How do you know when to heed criticism? How do you know what's worth listening to? You can start by asking yourself the following six questions. by Helping Writers Become Authors
5 min listen
Details: Bringing Fiction to Life: Learn why the details of an author's prose decide whether a story will be the entertainment of an hour or a lasting piece of literature. by Helping Writers Become Authors
7 min listen
Choosing Your Character's Career With Care: What your character does for a living, even if it doesn't feature prominently in your story, will profoundly affect who he is and how he responds to the world around him. by Helping Writers Become Authors
5 min listen
How You Can Take Advantage of Art's Subjectivity: For better or worse, art (like life) is subjective. Not one of us looks at a story, a painting, a movie, or a concert in the same way. by Helping Writers Become Authors
6 min listen
Making Cliches Work for You: Cliches need not be dreaded bogeymen who haunt our work, but rather exciting and multi-faceted challenges that we can make work for us in many ways. by Helping Writers Become Authors
7 min listen
Why You Should Be Writing Scared: A little dryness of mouth, a little dampness of face, a little quiver in the abdominal region - these are the symptoms of sheer, unadulterated panic. These are the symptoms of a good writer. by Helping Writers Become Authors
5 min listen
Eliciting Emotion: Discovering what drives emotion in fiction and how to elicit it in readers. by Helping Writers Become Authors
7 min listen
Why Genre Writing Could Kill Your Career: Genres too often lead to cliched storylines, sub-par writing, and, in the long run, a less discerning and demanding reading public. by Helping Writers Become Authors
6 min listen
Should You Outline Backwards?: Often, it's easier and more productive to start with the last scene in a series and work your way backwards. by Helping Writers Become Authors
5 min listen
Daydream or Die!: As writers, the one thing we can't afford is not to daydream. by Helping Writers Become Authors
5 min listen
Angst, Mental Illness, and Creativity by Carolyn Kaufman: Is angst a necessary ingredient for creativity? by Helping Writers Become Authors
9 min listen
It's What Your Characters Do That Defines Them: Characters need to do something to prove themselves worth defining. by Helping Writers Become Authors
6 min listen
Should You Write for a Specific Audience?: Writing for an audience, instead of merely to an audience means you're molding your artistic vision to please the whims of the public. by Helping Writers Become Authors
6 min listen
Characters: Likability Is Overrated: Learn why readers connection with imperfection in characters, more than perfection. by Helping Writers Become Authors
5 min listen
Embrace Your Internal Editor: We've transformed the internal editor into a monster of epic proportions, but only because we haven't learned to utilize him. by Helping Writers Become Authors
5 min listen
9 Ways to Strengthen Your Beginnings: Nine traits of a good beginning. by Helping Writers Become Authors
6 min listen
11 Killer Chapter Breaks: Chapter breaks are do-or-die territory for novelists. by Helping Writers Become Authors
5 min listen
When Your Story Doesn't Turn Out Like You Planned: How many times have you come up with a brilliant idea - a story so dazzling, a character so real, a snippet of dialogue so scintillating that it knocks you breathless - only to have it fail to live up to your vision when you start putting it on paper? by Helping Writers Become Authors
5 min listen
10 Habits of Successful Authors: If, by the end of the year, you can cross the following habits of successful authors off your checklist, you'll be a force to reckon with in the literary world! by Helping Writers Become Authors
5 min listen
Don't Let the Big Words Die: How authors can encourage the growth of vocabulary and use it to enhance their writing. by Helping Writers Become Authors
6 min listen
11 Dichotomous Characters - And Why They Work: Take a look at the following list of classic characters and the dichotomies that made them so memorable. by Helping Writers Become Authors
7 min listen
Good Writers Are So Lazy, They Make Readers Do All the Work! by Jason Black: By letting the reader imagine all the filler details, the stuff that's not actually important to the plot, readers create for themselves a scene that is both vivid and completely believable. by Helping Writers Become Authors
5 min listen
Why You Should Write More Than One Genre: The better the artist, the more varied his work. by Helping Writers Become Authors
5 min listen

More Episodes from Helping Writers Become Authors

Skip carousel

Ep. 595: Clearing Up Some Misconceptions About In Medias Res: Is opening your story in medias res compatible with the Three-Act Structure? The secret is in understanding how the First Act functions. by Helping Writers Become Authors
17 min listen
Ep. 594: 8 Ways to Avoid Cardboard Characters (and Plot Contrivances While You're At It): If your story suffers from cardboard characters, it probably also suffers from plot contrivances. Good news: if you fix one, you fix both. by Helping Writers Become Authors
18 min listen
Ep. 593: Understanding the New Normal World of a Story's Resolution: In many ways, the New Normal World of a story's Resolution is what successfully completes the context of the entire story. by Helping Writers Become Authors
16 min listen
Ep. 592: Understanding the Underworld of a Story's Third Act: The Underworld of a Story's Third Act is symbolically important for creating powerful and realistic change with your characters and plot. by Helping Writers Become Authors
15 min listen
Ep. 591: Understanding the Adventure World of a Story's Second Act: Writers can use the metaphoric Adventure World of a story's Second Act to better understand this crucial part of story structure. by Helping Writers Become Authors
15 min listen
Ep. 590: Understanding the Normal World of a Story's First Act: Authors need to understand the four "worlds" represented within a story's structure, the first of which is the Normal World of the First Act. by Helping Writers Become Authors
15 min listen
Ep. 589: Deepening Your Story's Theme With the Thematic Square: If you want to deepen the complexity of your story's theme, one tool you can employ is Robert McKee's thematic square. by Helping Writers Become Authors
18 min listen
Ep. 588: 6 Ways to Find Your Best Ideas Before You Start Writing: Use these six ways to find your best ideas for writing your book, as you cultivate, channel, and honor your deeper inspiration. by Helping Writers Become Authors
15 min listen
Ep. 587: The Role of the Antagonist in Story Structure, Pt. 2 of 2: Examines the role of the antagonist in the second half of a story's structure--the Second Pinch Point through the Resolution. by Helping Writers Become Authors
15 min listen
Ep. 586: The Role of the Antagonist in Story Structure, Pt. 1 of 2: The major plot beats in a story are interwoven with the protagonist's journey. But what is the role of the antagonist in story structure? by Helping Writers Become Authors
22 min listen
Ep. 585: Do You Have to Write Every Day? 10 Pros and Cons: Should writers make it a habit to write every day? Here are five pros of writing every day, as well as five potential cons. by Helping Writers Become Authors
19 min listen
Ep. 584: The 6 Challenges of Writing a Second Novel: Writing a second novel can often be surprisingly harder than the first one. Check out six challenges sophomore writers often face. by Helping Writers Become Authors
19 min listen
Ep. 583: 14 Tips for Dealing With the Passage of Time in a Story: Ask these important questions to make sure the passage of time in a story is strengthening rather than weakening its narrative power. by Helping Writers Become Authors
20 min listen
Ep. 582: 6 Ways to Craft Spectacular Set-Piece Scenes: Here are six important considerations to keep in mind when amping up your story's most important scenes--its set-piece scenes. by Helping Writers Become Authors
14 min listen
Ep. 581: How to Know When You're a Successful Author?: The question of "how to know when you're a successful author?" offers some obvious answers--and yet the subject is far more complex. by Helping Writers Become Authors
16 min listen
Ep. 580: Should You Take a Break From Writing? 5 Red Flags: When should you take a break from writing? And once you've taken that step, what in heaven's name are you going to do with yourself? by Helping Writers Become Authors
21 min listen
Ep. 579: 9 Ways to Approach Relationship Dynamics in Fiction: Creating an amazing supporting cast that can offer important relationship dynamics in fiction will also help develop your protagonist. by Helping Writers Become Authors
15 min listen
Episode #578: Archetypes and Story Structure: How They're Connected: Learn how archetypes and story structure mirror each other in any individual book and can be used to further strengthen your story. by Helping Writers Become Authors
25 min listen
Ep. 577: Making Story Structure Your Own: Here are a five important questions you, as a writer of fiction, can ask yourself to help you in making story structure your own. by Helping Writers Become Authors
15 min listen
Ep. #575: The Writer's Inner Critic: 10 Ways to Tell if Yours Is Healthy: Learn how to increase the health and effectiveness of the writer's inner critic while diminishing toxic effects. by Helping Writers Become Authors
19 min listen
Ep. 574: A Writer's New Year Reflections: The 6 Gifts I Gave Myself in 2021: Here are this writer's New Year reflections, focusing on six "gifts" I gave myself and why I believe they were profoundly life-changing. by Helping Writers Become Authors
19 min listen
Ep. 573: The Two Halves of the Climactic Moment: The two halves of the Climactic Moment require the story's final sequence to offer two very specific beats: Sacrifice and Victory/Failure. by Helping Writers Become Authors
16 min listen
Ep. 572: The Two Halves of the Third Plot Point: The two halves of the Third Plot Point work together to create a scene arc that moves from the False Victory to the Low Moment. by Helping Writers Become Authors
16 min listen
Ep. 571: The Two Halves of the Midpoint: The halves of the Midpoint are unique in story structure in that they mark the dividing line between the two halves of the entire story arc. by Helping Writers Become Authors
16 min listen
Ep. 570: The Two Halves of the First Plot Point: The First Plot Point is often referred to as a threshold, a visual metaphor representing the native two-sidedness of all structural beats. by Helping Writers Become Authors
15 min listen
Ep. 569: The Two Halves of the Inciting Event: A series examining the two important "halves" in each of story structure's major beats, beginning with the Inciting Event in the First Act. by Helping Writers Become Authors
18 min listen
Ep. #568: 6 Questions to Help You Avoid Repetitive Scenes: Find out what defines repetitive scenes, as well as strategies for recognizing and avoiding them in your fiction. by Helping Writers Become Authors
15 min listen
Ep. 567: Archetypal Antagonists for the Mage Arc: Evil and the Weakness of Humankind: The archetypal antagonists for the Mage Arc often manifest subtly--not in obvious "evil," but in an ordinary person's weakness. by Helping Writers Become Authors
16 min listen
Ep. 566: Archetypal Antagonists for the Crone Arc: Death Blight and Tempter: The archetypal antagonists for the Crone Arc are represented as a Death Blight and as the subtle Tempter who would lure her from the Truth. by Helping Writers Become Authors
14 min listen
Ep. 565: Archetypal Antagonists for the King Arc: Cataclysm and Rebel: The archetypal antagonists for the King Arc are the Cataclysm and the Rebel, both of which challenge the King to culminate his rule. by Helping Writers Become Authors
18 min listen

Related podcast episodes

Skip carousel

Ep. 577: Making Story Structure Your Own: Here are a five important questions you, as a writer of fiction, can ask yourself to help you in making story structure your own. by Helping Writers Become Authors
15 min listen
Ep. 585: Do You Have to Write Every Day? 10 Pros and Cons: Should writers make it a habit to write every day? Here are five pros of writing every day, as well as five potential cons. by Helping Writers Become Authors
19 min listen
Ep. 587: The Role of the Antagonist in Story Structure, Pt. 2 of 2: Examines the role of the antagonist in the second half of a story's structure--the Second Pinch Point through the Resolution. by Helping Writers Become Authors
15 min listen
Episode 277: Allison K. Williams Talks Planned Practice, Living a Writer's Life, and Her New Craft Book 'Seven Drafts': Allison K. Williams returns to talk about her new book Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro from Blank Page to Book (Woodhall Press, 2021). She's @GuerillaMemoir on social media. Thanks to West Virginia Wesleyan College's MFA in Creative Writing for the... by The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O'Meara
72 min listen
Sands Hall—Into the Woods, Down to the Underworld by The Writing University Podcast
53 min listen
Ep. 586: The Role of the Antagonist in Story Structure, Pt. 1 of 2: The major plot beats in a story are interwoven with the protagonist's journey. But what is the role of the antagonist in story structure? by Helping Writers Become Authors
22 min listen
Episode 76: Roger D. Hodge: Roger D. Hodge is the editor of Oxford American. "My career isn't all that interesting insofar as I've been an editor. I'm much more interested in talking about writers and stories. That's the main thing: telling these stories, creating this platform, th by Longform
57 min listen
Secrets for Beating Writer’s Block with TV Writer & Comedian Jorjeana Marie: Part One: Award-winning actress, comedian, and screenwriter, Jorjeana Marie, took a break to talk with me about fulfilling her childhood dream of writing for Disney, how writers can rewire their inner-critic, improv as a writing (and life) philosophy, and... by The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience
32 min listen
Ep. 555: Archetypal Character Arcs, Pt. 22: How to Use Archetypal Character Arcs in Your Stories: How can you apply archetypal character arcs in a practical way to your own stories? Here are five considerations for choosing archetypes. by Helping Writers Become Authors
20 min listen
042: “God’s Work” by Kevin Canty: In this episode, we discuss “God’s Work” by Kevin Canty. How can a character’s internal struggle drive a story? How can a story driven by a character’s internal struggle be structured? Can we glean any tips for getting published in the New Yorker? by Why Is This Good?
32 min listen
Starting A Second Career As An Author And Networking Tips With Patrick O’Donnell: How can you transition into being an author after a long-term career elsewhere? How can you adopt an attitude of service in order to build your network in an authentic manner? Patrick O'Donnell shares his tips. In the intro, by The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers
63 min listen
How to Write Action by Otherppl with Brad Listi
41 min listen
Truth in Fiction: How to Write and Develop Believable Characters: How do you ground your characters in a reality that your reader will believe even though you are making the whole thing up? This week Tim makes the mistake of sterilizing his protagonist to the point where he is no longer interesting or believable. Shawn, Danielle, and Leslie walk him through the steps of using character development and a strong narrative device to fix these problems. Click here to read Tim's scene: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10bdr_tF4ASohz0cHoNjlbNmsLOVXiDpFw54ugHYLZI8/edit?usp=sharing To see the transcript of this episode, visit: https://storygrid.com/episode-274 — Get a free copy of our book Story Grid 101: The First Five Principles of the Story Grid Methodology: https://storygrid101.com This is Episode 274 of the Story Grid Podcast: https://storygrid.com/podcast by Story Grid Writing Podcast
73 min listen
069: “Ghosts and Empties” by Lauren Groff: In this episode, we discuss “Ghosts and Empties” by Lauren Groff. What can we learn from a ruminative story with very little plot? How can we turn our own real experiences into fiction? How does a story differ from a personal essay? by Why Is This Good?
27 min listen
How to Outsmart Writer’s Block (with Neuroscience): Welcome back to another special edition of the show with some thoughts on the malady that we rarely care to whisper of ... even on our most prolific days. We’ll kick off the show with the iconic, international bestselling author of 14 novels,... by The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience
29 min listen
Challenges on the Writer's Journey with Prominent Book Editor Peter Guzzardi: Part Two: In Part Two of this file the prominent book editor-turned-author, Peter Guzzardi, spent some time with me this week to discuss how he pulled back the curtain on the writer's life, finding courage in front of the blank screen, and important lessons... by The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience
29 min listen
Ep. 96 - “Go Keep Your Hobbit,” with Marlon James: “Wussy” European vampires. African folklore and mythology, and how they help establish that “homophobia is not African.” How reading Jackie Collins and Leon Uris during childhood fosters a lifelong passion for books. The structuring of an immersive, propulsive fantasy trilogy. by Book Dreams
37 min listen
484 Reading John Milton (with Stephen Dobranski) by The History of Literature
57 min listen
170: Crimson Snow - Chilling Tales for Dark Nights by Chilling Tales for Dark Nights: A Horror Anthology and Scary Stories Series Podcast
60 min listen
191 - How to Plan Your Novel: We all have different ways of writing and planning. Learn to embrace what works for you! Pick up a free guide to help you plan: http://createifwriting.com/novelplanning by Create If Writing
32 min listen
How Bestselling Debut Novelist Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney Writes: Part Two: Instant New York Times bestselling author of The Nest, Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, spoke with me about her life before fiction and how she gets words on the page. Rainmaker.FM is Brought to You By Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135... by The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience
23 min listen
How Bestselling Author Jay McInerney Writes: Part Two: The bestselling author of 11 books, including the eighties defining Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney, took a break to chat with me about his new book, the writing process, and some timeless tips from his mentor, Raymond Carver. Vanity Fair... by The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience
24 min listen
The Shed: Getting back to writing after you’ve stopped for awhile can be like entering a creepy shed covered with cobwebs. Here’s how you can overcome procrastination and writer’s block to make it safe to write again. - If you liked this Podcast, by Write Your Screenplay Podcast
44 min listen
066: “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce: In this episode, we discuss “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. What can we learn from a story with such a devastating twist? How can we create an engaging story out of a cheap trick that we’re usually advised to avoid? by Why Is This Good?
33 min listen
The Brontes by The History of Literature
63 min listen
Introducing the Fiction Writing Made Easy Podcast! by Fiction Writing Made Easy
3 min listen
How Bestselling Author Jay McInerney Writes: Part One: The bestselling author of 11 books, including the eighties defining Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney, took a break to chat with me about his new book, the writing process, and some timeless tips from his mentor, Raymond Carver. Vanity Fair... by The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience
24 min listen
Sebastian Faulks with Nihal Arthanayake: Bestselling author Sebastian Faulks tells Nihal Arthanayake how he creates characters, harnesses history to build stories and how he came up with ideas for his new novel ‘Paris Echo’. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Sebastian’s novel ‘Birdsong’... by The Penguin Podcast
36 min listen
Hero, Victim and Perpetrator: The Must-Have Relationships in Your Story: Who is the Hero, Victim, and Perpetrator in your story? What are the relationships between each of them? The more vague or ungrounded each of these relationships are, the more the story will not read as believable. This is the focus Danielle, Leslie, and Shawn take on Tim's scene this week. Click here to read Tim's scene: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OQd5NxTcn2JLwrphueCX91A4wXN9BEQFBYwbyN7NJ1M/edit?usp=sharing To see the transcript of this episode, visit: https://storygrid.com/episode-275 — Get a free copy of our book Story Grid 101: The First Five Principles of the Story Grid Methodology: https://storygrid101.com This is Episode 275 of the Story Grid Podcast: https://storygrid.com/podcast by Story Grid Writing Podcast
57 min listen
How to Connect with Characters: Finding the Motivation and Shadow in Yourself: In this impromptu episode, Tim and Danielle discuss the ongoing problems with the work on the Ed McBain EYE WITNESS scene and why Tim can't connect with his characters. To see the transcript of this episode, visit: https://storygrid.com/episode-280 — Get a free copy of our book Story Grid 101: The First Five Principles of the Story Grid Methodology: https://storygrid101.com This is Episode 280 of the Story Grid Podcast: https://storygrid.com/podcast by Story Grid Writing Podcast
38 min listen

Discover this podcast and so much more

Ep. 576: Conflict in Fiction: What It Really Is and Why It's Important to Plot

Ep. 576: Conflict in Fiction: What It Really Is and Why It's Important to Plot

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from Helping Writers Become Authors

Related podcast episodes