We have the characters of the story but, to make the story we need something to happen to those characters, we need a conflict…but, what is a conflict in story writing?
Let us illustrate with an example what conflict is not:
The Joneses are a nice family, composed by father, mother, their two children, Miles and Becky, and the dog, Turnip. Mr Jones is a university professor and his lectures are very interesting. Mrs Jones is a biologist and her investigations have made her to be nominated for a Nobel prize. Miles is a very good student and athlete and his sister, Becky, is also a very good student. The dog, Turnip, is friendly and playful…
OK, we already know that this a great family, but what happens to them? Their life seems to be a continued bliss, but we cannot see anything interesting here. This is nothing but an anecdote: a narration of what they do every day without any changes.
Now, let us look at this:
We have the same fantastic family, where everybody loves everybody, et cetera, et cetera… but one day, Becky informs them that she has a boyfriend (Aha, a new element into this gorgeous family!) and she tells them his name: Mark Robertson…the worst student in the university, always sloppy and notorious for having broken many a young girl heart!...
Now we have something that may be the germ of a story, for we have a turning point, a point where the Joneses’ life is likely to change or, at least, not to be the same after this event. These points are also called hinge points because, like door hinges, they make the story swing one way or other. When we have a hinge point it is because we have a conflict.
Conflict is, then, everything that opposes our hero (protagonist). The opposition may be another characters (antagonist) or even circumstances (fate, luck, a tornado, an invasion from another planet…). The important thing is that now our characters have to struggle against that opposing element to reach their objective: in our example, we had a happy family (the protagonists) and it has to confront a new situation, represented by Mark, who will probably (we still do not know what is likely to happen) represents the antagonist to this family, because he seems to oppose everything that is good for them. His presence, then, may be the germ of a story, because here the Joneses way of life would be altered, and in a way we still do not know.
On the basis of the aforementioned example, you will now have some others where we see the hinge point: your job is to propose how the story may continue from that hinge point.
a) Mr Barrymore lives alone; he never married and his life has been quiet, relaxed and rather monotonous. Every day, including weekends, he wakes up, takes a fifteen-minute shower, prepares his breakfast (scrambled eggs, toast, butter, fruit salad and strong coffee and milk), glimpses the newspaper and wears one of his four grey suits to go out. Today, however, the doorbell rings: the postman brought a letter, a strange letter: it is addressed to Mr Robert Jones, but has no sender and the stamp is very weird, like no stamp Mr Jones had seen before…
b) Karen is secretly in love with her neighbor, Robert Stevens, but she is very shy and is convinced that such a handsome young man will never pay attention to her; she does not even dare to exchange ordinary greetings with him (Good morning, good afternoon…). One morning, when they are coming down in the elevator, a sudden blackout leaves Karen and Robert stranded at the fourth floor. The superintendent informs them that he already called the firefighters to take them out, but they will have to stay in the elevator for an hour at least…
Hope to see your production soon! Until then, good bye!
Daniel Yagolkowski
Let us illustrate with an example what conflict is not:
The Joneses are a nice family, composed by father, mother, their two children, Miles and Becky, and the dog, Turnip. Mr Jones is a university professor and his lectures are very interesting. Mrs Jones is a biologist and her investigations have made her to be nominated for a Nobel prize. Miles is a very good student and athlete and his sister, Becky, is also a very good student. The dog, Turnip, is friendly and playful…
OK, we already know that this a great family, but what happens to them? Their life seems to be a continued bliss, but we cannot see anything interesting here. This is nothing but an anecdote: a narration of what they do every day without any changes.
Now, let us look at this:
We have the same fantastic family, where everybody loves everybody, et cetera, et cetera… but one day, Becky informs them that she has a boyfriend (Aha, a new element into this gorgeous family!) and she tells them his name: Mark Robertson…the worst student in the university, always sloppy and notorious for having broken many a young girl heart!...
Now we have something that may be the germ of a story, for we have a turning point, a point where the Joneses’ life is likely to change or, at least, not to be the same after this event. These points are also called hinge points because, like door hinges, they make the story swing one way or other. When we have a hinge point it is because we have a conflict.
Conflict is, then, everything that opposes our hero (protagonist). The opposition may be another characters (antagonist) or even circumstances (fate, luck, a tornado, an invasion from another planet…). The important thing is that now our characters have to struggle against that opposing element to reach their objective: in our example, we had a happy family (the protagonists) and it has to confront a new situation, represented by Mark, who will probably (we still do not know what is likely to happen) represents the antagonist to this family, because he seems to oppose everything that is good for them. His presence, then, may be the germ of a story, because here the Joneses way of life would be altered, and in a way we still do not know.
On the basis of the aforementioned example, you will now have some others where we see the hinge point: your job is to propose how the story may continue from that hinge point.
a) Mr Barrymore lives alone; he never married and his life has been quiet, relaxed and rather monotonous. Every day, including weekends, he wakes up, takes a fifteen-minute shower, prepares his breakfast (scrambled eggs, toast, butter, fruit salad and strong coffee and milk), glimpses the newspaper and wears one of his four grey suits to go out. Today, however, the doorbell rings: the postman brought a letter, a strange letter: it is addressed to Mr Robert Jones, but has no sender and the stamp is very weird, like no stamp Mr Jones had seen before…
b) Karen is secretly in love with her neighbor, Robert Stevens, but she is very shy and is convinced that such a handsome young man will never pay attention to her; she does not even dare to exchange ordinary greetings with him (Good morning, good afternoon…). One morning, when they are coming down in the elevator, a sudden blackout leaves Karen and Robert stranded at the fourth floor. The superintendent informs them that he already called the firefighters to take them out, but they will have to stay in the elevator for an hour at least…
Hope to see your production soon! Until then, good bye!
Daniel Yagolkowski
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario