Conflict and Gotham writers

This is the old pack horse bridge over the Whittle Burn in Ovingham, and has absolutely nothing to do with what follows, but it's pretty, and I like it. It was repaired in 1698, so it is pretty old.


The start of a story is important. It has to grab the reader. So the lead-in, from the first page to the inciting incident should introduce the protagonist, establish the genre and the setting and lead to the inciting incident. And you have to do it in an interesting way. You might want to show your protagonist in his/her normal world, which the inciting incident will disrupt and set the rest in motion. Or you might prefer to begin with an incident that will tip everything normal on its head, and run from there.

And for the rest - keep the conflict coming so that stakes are raised for the protagonist, weave in subplots and give it all highs and lows. Conflict may be many things - external, internal, spiritual, emotional, physical - but you need it. Reaching the goal has to get harder and harder. If the main character has nothing to lose, you have no conflict.

Protagonist v antagonist

This is Prudhoe Castle peeping above the trees not a stone's throw from where I live. The trees are magnificent at this time of year - finally in full leaf and so many shades of green.

I am getting to grips with my Regency novel now. I've read enough about writing to appreciate that that though some writers express it better than others, they are basically saying the same thing. The trouble is remembering it when writing!

Constant reminders seem to work for me, so let me jot down what the Gotham writers say about characters. (Remembering that this book is on screenwriting and they have done a separate volume of Fiction which may say something else - I won't know until I get hold of it)

The Protagonist initiates, must be appealing and have the ability to change and demonstrate an arc of change.

The Antagonist presents the strongest obstacle to the Protagonist's goal(s). S/he may/may not be the villain. Sometimes the Antagonist is a force within the Protagonist's mind. (A neat way of expressing the Protagonist's weaknesses)

Minor characters must have desires that integrate with or act against the basic MDQ (Major Dramatic Question, otherwise known as The Plot) They need to be differentiated from each other or they will rapidly become one dimensional.

They like new characters to be introduced in 2-4 lines, not all of it physical description. This I realise I have not done. I've allowed the hero/heroine to describe each other.

Tomorrow - scenes.

and a footnote - I'm still not sure if Gotham is a real place or where Batman hails from. My education is sadly lacking.

Northumberland's flower

The newly appointed county flower of Northumberland - Bloody Cranesbill. It is of the geranium family and has a Latin name but I can't remember it. It is a shade that is hard to reproduce via a camera - it should be more purple than blue, and the veins are redder, hence the bloody tag.

I'm reading more of the Gotham Writers. It struck me that the aim of screenwriters is to " see a movie on the page..fly through it, experiencing the story. " I wonder if that is seeping into the fiction writing that many editors demand these days. All the instructions regarding show, don't tell, writing in the present tense, capture a scene in a few well honed words, short sentences, no ambiguiity, cut out the adjectives... don't write "Sally looks sexy," instead tell us "Sally sashays by, shimmering in satin."

Apart from anything else, that sentence is almost a tongue-twister of the Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper fame.

I wish I knew what sashay meant. For years I have read American words and phrases in novels by authors from Evan Hunter to Nora Roberts and although I can usually grasp the meaning, sometimes it isn't at all clear. My dictionary says this of sashay: "Walk or move ostentatiously, casually or diagonally." I'm not sure but I think the average American would have a different picture in their head as to how Sally walked!

Gotham Writers' Workshop

Almost at once I got things of use from the Gotham Writers.
Bearing in mind that they are focussed on screenwriting, there's a lot that is useful to fiction writers. Every story, they say, needs:

• interesting characters


• intense conflict
  
• visual opportunity (using imagination instead of eyes)
  
• emotional power

I've often wondered what High concept meant. I could guess, but was I correct? Well, now I can report that high concept is something big, exciting, flashy or weird and deals with huge ideas like mass destruction. Low concept deals with stories that are more like real life. Not what I imagined at all. Good thing I never tried to bandy the terms around!

Every story has a Major Dramatic Question, (MDQ) which becomes the single driving force of the plot. Example - Will Scarlett win Ashley? That is the MDQ for Gone With the Wind. She fails to win him, but it is still the MDQ.