Novel Writing
Novel Writing Course tinyurl.com/begin-writing-now To write a novel that has a story or plot you can be proud of, you do need to induce some conflict in their life. I know this might seem like a mean suggestion to make – but how else would you possibly drive the story forward? The focus of this section is on how conflicts are created, driven, or sustained, to use them as powerful plot devices that serve the overall purpose of good storytelling. Following are some suggestions on how you can create well-rounded conflict situations that will make for an enjoyable reading experience. Use the genre to your benefit The genre of writing that your story falls under can often inform what kind of conflict you want to create for the character – if not guiding you towards a how as well. Given that your writing or your plot ideas so far have already established a broad genre that you can consider, this can be used to aid your understanding of how you want the plot to move forward. Given the nature of the genre, what kind of conflicts arise from the situation? If it is a fantasy world, do we want to talk about wild dragons? If you’re focusing on science fiction, are we going to talk about large corporations? Evil scientists? What works for one genre might not work for the other, but you can use that very fact that to arrive at the conflict you choose to explore. Always the tone of surprise Given that you’re using the genre to your benefit, what you also want to be able to do is push the boundaries of your genre a little bit. You don’t want to explore tales that have frequently been talked about, that have the same story arc and the same conclusion that every other book within that genre does. You want to hold with you the element of surprise – that requires you to look at the genre differently. See what you can contribute to an already considered idea. Have that reflect on your character’s actions, or in the way the conflict is presented to them. Make it an experience that is uncovered to the readers part by part, and laden with surprises, not one they’re already tired of because they have come to expect it. Creating tension To put it simply, while conflict and tension are terms that are often used interchangeably, within the context of novel writing, you can assign specific roles to them. Conflict refers to the situational aspect, while tension refers to the emotional aspect. Thus, conflict is created in the situation, while tension is created in the writing. This can be in the form of internal thoughts, and depicting displays of emotion, but can also be achieved through crisp sentence structuring and through maintaining an air of mystery while revealing the story to your reader. This helps create a sense of urgency and understanding what the character themselves are going through. #novelwriting
