Inherent Conflict

One way to guarantee conflict in your story is to have protagonists with directly competing goals or outlooks.

An oft-used example is "the fireman and the arsonist". We also see the FBI agent and the hacker, the cop and the vigilante, and so on.

But keep in mind that conflict doesn't equal career. Inherent conflict can come from very basic outlooks on life.

Ex:
Rule follower vs Rule breaker
Globe Trotter vs Homebody
Orderly mind vs the free spirit
Ends Justify Means vs Follow Procedure
Introvert vs Extrovert
Reliability vs Impulsivity

GMC

GMC stands for Goal, Motivation, and Conflict. This term was popularized by Deb Dixon, who does workshops and published a book on this topic.

Basically, the theory is this: All primary or secondary characters worthy of appearing in your story should have GMC, which can change over the course of the story and which can be expressed as follows:

[Character] wants [Goal] because [Motivation], but [conflict].

This is also one way to set up your story pitch when querying editors and agents.

EX: Susie wants to marry Johnny because she just found out she's pregnant with his baby, but she's engaged to Johnny's scary biker brother and the wedding's tomorrow morning.

Heads up: GMC

This week's Craft topic is GMC. Look for "GMC" posts on Wednesday.

Vernacular: causality

CAUSALITY drives a story in which motivated actions cause effects that in turn become the causes of yet other effects, thereby interlinking various levels of conflict in a chain reaction of episodes leading to the Story Climax, expressing the interconnectedness of reality.

[Robert McKee--STORY]

10 Writing Prompts

01) Character teaches a lesson
02) Character learns a lesson
03) One (or more) of Character’s belongings disappear
04) Character rents/test drives a car
05) Character has a wacky/scary Friday the 13th
06) Character has must appear in court
07) Character gets stranded somewhere
08) Character is falsely accused
09) Character has superstitious habits/routines/fear
10) Character must appear for jury selection

Character Arcs

All the major characters should experience character growth or decline, not just the hero, heroine and villain.

Heads up: Character Growth

This week's Craft topic is Character Growth. Look for "Character Growth" posts on Wednesday.

Vernacular: setting

SETTING is 4-dimensional:

PERIOD: Story's place in time
DURATION: Story's length in time
LOCATION: Story's place in space
CONFLICT LEVEL: Story's position on hierarchy of human struggles

[Robert McKee--STORY]

10 Writing Prompts

01) Character unmasks someone in disguise
02) Character is fooled by someone in disguise
03) Character spies on someone/something
04) Character is spied upon / watched
05) Character gives a high five (or a whoo-hoo)
06) Character gives chase
07) Character runs away
08) Character faces biggest fear
09) Character hears a bump in the night
10) Character does some "trash talking"

Sex: Differences Between Men and Women

Women believe relationships should be repaired before lovemaking. Men believe sex repairs relationships.

Men's Emotional Reaction to Sex

Men might be fumbling/nervous/possessive after/during the first lovemaking because it's the relationship point of no return.

Heads up: Men and Women

This week's Craft topic is Men and Women. Look for "Men/Women" posts on Wednesday.

Vernacular: character arc

CHARACTER ARCS: The finest writing not only reveals true character, but arcs or changes that inner nature, for better or worse, over the course of the telling.

[Robert McKee--STORY]

10 Writing Prompts

01) Character is in an accident
02) Character witnesses a crime
03) Character participates in a crime
04) Character attends/stops a wedding
05) Character gets married
06) Character gets jilted/stood up
07) Character jilts someone/stands someone up
08) Character learns someone (or self) is NOT pregnant
09) Character is in disguise
10) Character is tricked

"Scenes emphasizing the drive toward the antagonist's goal can be used for pacing or to heighten tension. And since the goals and motivations of the adversary must be in direct opposition to those of the hero/heroine, the naturally ensuing confrontations demand action."

Darese Cotton

"Villains are a lot like heroes: They are active, powerful, dynamic, and capable of change. They are not always willing to change, and that's where you might find their eventual downfall. Aristotle observed of tragic heroes that what makes them great, brings them down. The same can be true of villains- that what they're best at, what they hesitate to change, might lead to their defeat."

Alicia Rasley

"Your villain must get his/her punishment in the end; if he/she simply disappears, then you've given the villain too much power. Give the reader the satisfaction of closure for all the evil that the villain put your hero and heroine through; this doesn't necessarily mean that the villain must die, but he/she should suffer in some way for his/her actions."

Ruth Kerce

"Believe in your villain as much as you believe in your heroes."

Susan Rich

"You must make your villains credible, logical, believable and understandable, but not likable. You want your villains to be real, three-dimensional people. You want the reader to understand what they're doing, why they're doing it, why they believe their actions are just and rational but you don't want the reader to become so empathetic with the villain that he/she loses empathy with the hero/heroine and starts cheering for the villain. [...] Make him good. Make him darn good. Because that makes the heroine and hero better and permits you to make the story stronger."

Vicki Hinze

"You have to lay in, at least in a single broad stroke, a motivation for villainy. In the Three Little Pigs, we assume the wolf is hungry."

Sid Fleischman

"Having a worthy adversary makes our heroes/heroines larger than life. A villain, like all characters, must make an invaluable contribution for the story, whether through advancing the action or plot, revealing important points though conversations, or emphasizing motivations and goals. A well-constructed antagonist can provide each of these through defining moments in our hero/heroine's experience."

Darese Cotton

"Villains and Antagonists are tools to be used in your story. Their main purpose is to drive the drama and get the story going. What's the big deal with the opposing factor? They up the ante for both the hero and the heroine."

T.J. Killian (paraphrased)

"No one actually sets out to do evil."

Ben Bova

"A real villain is also useful because he can force the protagonist to make moral choices. Ruthless disregard for moral rules is, after all, a characteristic of the villain. But heroes and heroines can't be like that, no matter how much they might want to be. Once again, the villain becomes a force for good, by challenging the protagonists to come up with a way to defeat evil without becoming evil themselves. The villain is part of their journey to heroism."

Alicia Rasley

"Pure, unrelenting evil gets boring. That's why Bond villains have pet cats. […] The bad guy isn't doing bad stuff so he can rub his hands together and snarl. He may be driven by greed, neuroses, or the conviction that his cause is just, but he's driven by something not unlike the things that drive a hero."

David Lubar

"How does a villain differ from an antagonist? An antagonist is a general term for the person who opposes the protagonist and villain is a sub-category of antagonists."

Darcy Pattison

"Don't overdo it. This doesn't mean to pull back in your writing; however, don't get 'villain-happy.' Make your villains as evil as they need to be for the storyline, but no more than that; otherwise, they will either ring untrue or they will take over the story, distracting from the hero, heroine, and original plot."

Ruth Kerce

"Villains are tricky rascals."

Vicki Hinze

Villain:
1. A wicked or evil person; a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel; someone who is morally reprehensible.
2. A dramatic or fictional character who is typically at odds with the hero.

Thesaurus Synonyms:
* blackguard
* bounder
* cad
* dog
* hound
* heel
* knave
* persona non grata
* rapscallion
* rascal
* rogue
* scalawag
* scallywag
* scoundrel
* unwelcome person
* varlet

Antagonist:
1. One who opposes and contends against another; an adversary.
2. The principal character in opposition to the protagonist or hero of a narrative or drama.

Thesaurus Synonyms:
* adversary
* agonist
* dueler
* duelist
* dueller
* duellist
* enemy
* foe
* foeman
* opponent
* opposer
* opposition
* resister
* withstander

Heads up: Villains/Antagonists

This week's Craft topic is Villains/Antagonists. Look for "Villains/Antagonists" posts on Wednesday.

Vernacular: true character

TRUE CHARACTER is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure. The greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation, the truer the choice to the character's essential nature.

[Robert McKee--STORY]

10 Writing Prompts

01) Character receives mail
02) Character sends a package
03) Character receives a package (not necessarily thru mail)
04) Someone Character knows is hospitalized
05) Character is hospitalized
06) Character witnesses a murder
07) Character witnesses vandalism
08) Character participates in vandalism
09) Character gets mugged
10) Character is lied to