7 Types of Narrative Conflict

Every work of literature, and much nonfiction narrative, is based on at least one of the following conflicts. When you write a story or a biography, or relate a true event or series of events, you need not focus on such themes, and there’s no reason to state them explicitly (except in passing, perhaps, to provide insight about a biographical subject), but you’re wise to identify the conflicts inherent in your composition and apply them as you write.

1. Person vs. Fate/God
This category could be considered part of conflict with self or with society (many people count only four types of conflict, including those two and conflict with another person or with nature). That’s a valid argument, as one confronts fate as part of an internal struggle and religion is a construct of society, but explicitly naming fate (Oedipus Rex) or God — or the gods (The Odyssey) — as the antagonist is a useful distinction.

2. Person vs. Self
A person’s struggle with his or her own prejudices or doubts or character flaws constitutes this type of conflict (Hamlet).

3. Person vs. Person
Any story featuring a hero and a villain or villains (The Count of Monte Cristo) represents this type of conflict, though the villain(s) is/are often representative of another antagonist in this list, whether a villain is in essence an alter ego of the protagonist (thus representing the conflict of person versus self) or stands in for society.

4. Person vs. Society
When the protagonist’s conflict extends to confronting institutions, traditions, or laws of his or her culture, he or she struggles to overcome them, either triumphing over a corrupt society (I draw a blank here), rejecting it (Fahrenheit 451), or succumbing to it (1984).

5. Person vs. Nature
In this conflict, the protagonist is pitted against nature (Robinson Crusoe) or a representation of it, often in the form of an animal (Moby Dick).

6. Person vs. Supernatural
Superficially, conflict with the supernatural may seem equivalent to conflict with fate or God, or representative of a struggle with an evocation of self (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) or nature (The Birds). But this category stands on its own feet as well.

7. Person vs. Technology
Humanity’s innate skepticism about the wonders of technology has resulted in many stories in which antagonists use technology to gain power or in which technology takes over or becomes a malign influence on society (Brave New World).

5 Tips on How to Run a Writing Group

You’ve got your writing group up and running. All the hard work’s over, right?

Wrong. Just like any smooth-running machine, a writing group requires maintenance. Here are some tips for tender, loving care:

1. Construct Criticism
Model proactive and up-front critiquing etiquette. Advise everyone to start positive with a compliment, then offer honest but objective, well-supported, and practical advice, and then conclude with another commendation. Continuously reinforce the message that no one is served when criticism is withheld; only focused, writing-centered (not writer-centered) commentary will help the writer grow.

2. Vary the Routine
Some people might be ready to email a writing sample a week ahead of time to give others a chance to read and critique before the next meeting. Those selections don’t need to be read aloud before the group; you can go straight to discussion. (Hand the writer an annotated hard copy or return by email, with inserted notes, the file they sent you.)

Others can pass around copies of a cold read and read it aloud while others jot down notes, then go to discussion. Yet others might simply read a shorter passage for a moment’s worth of specific advice, ask a few general questions without reading at all, or pass altogether that week, participating only in discussion about others’ work. (You may not have time to go over every group member’s project at each meeting anyway.) But don’t let any one member get away with following the same routine every time.

Suggest a writing session every now and then: Everybody comes to the meeting, writes for an hour, then convenes to take turns reading part or all of their resulting selection for five minutes and getting one minute of feedback from each member.

3. Do Your Homework
Establish expectations for criticism: When you read the writing of other group members, take notes, writing down questions, suggestions, and compliments. Be specific when you critique, praising a vivid description in particular or recommending more character development with detailed advice.

Focus, however, not on telling others what to do but on asking questions to help them decide what to do. If you don’t understand something, or you feel that details are lacking, ask for an explanation or background information. Then, gently advise the author to incorporate their response into the narrative.

Your homework also involves setting your ego aside and acting on others’ critiques. What’s the use of investing so much time and energy in this process if you don’t take feedback to heart?

4. Take a Break
At regular intervals, step back from the critiquing cycle to meet just to advise or brainstorm about how to organize notes, do research, or work on character, plot, tone, and so on. Several times a year, go to a book reading together, or watch a movie or a play together and, for homework, draft a “novelization” or a rewrite of a scene and bring it to the next meeting. Compile a list of prompts for when members hit the wall.

5. Check In
Periodically evaluate how the group is going. Are your meetings too often, not often enough, or just right? Too long, not long enough, or ideal? Is someone missing too many meetings or wallflowering, or does one person dominate them? Is everybody getting what they want out of the experience?

What’s the procedure when somebody’s not fitting in? What do you do when one or more members drop out, or one or more members feel like increasing the number of people in the group? How do you recruit, and how do you decide whether to accept candidates? Establish and review your membership policies.

Above all, remember that although the group is a democratic body that should operate by consensus, you, as the founder, must continue to moderate the proceedings and nudge everyone to always honor its principles and purposes.

Answers to Questions About Writing Fiction

Here are three questions from DailyWritingTips.com readers about aspects of fiction writing, each followed by my response.

1. When it comes to fiction dialogue, do any grammatical rules apply?

Generally, dialogue in fiction should be consistent with the speech patterns and habits of the individual characters; that’s one way to convey their personalities, and such idiosyncrasy provides a note of authenticity. Search DailyWritingTips.com for “dialogue” to find numerous posts on the topic.

2. I have always thought that when writing dialogue and a character’s speech runs into multiple paragraphs, each paragraph should begin and end with quotation marks. However, recently I’ve seen it published where the first paragraph ends with no quotes but the second one begins and ends with them. Which is the correct way?

The way you’ve seen it recently is standard:

“First, second, and all other paragraphs except for the final one.

“Final paragraph.”

All paragraphs but the final one are left open because including a close quotation mark might lead a reader to believe that the quotation is final and that the next paragraph consists of a different character’s speech. The lack of a closing mark at the end of one paragraph and the use of an opening mark in the subsequent paragraph signals that the speech is continuing.

It’s a good idea, however, to toss in an attribution or some stage business to identify the speaker now and then in an extended speech or in a conversation involving more than two speakers.

3. Why is it a crime to use a cliché in a novel? We all use clichés in talking with people, so why the big no-no when writing?

In social situations and other informal environments, “lazy” language is acceptable — it’s a lot of work to keep up careful discourse. The same is true with casual writing. But novels should be written with the utmost care, even if the tone is colloquial, with language that is as fresh and original as possible. Occasional idioms are acceptable, but strive to find your own way of expressing a thought or conjuring an image. Ultimately, the choice is up to you, but reader response (or lack thereof) may change your mind.

Start Your Novel

Writers can be insecure creatures. For many, the thought of beginning a novel, a project requiring the production of from 60,000 to 100,000 words, can be overwhelming. For the writer who tends to linger over every sentence, the prospect can be especially daunting.

This year’s NaNoWriMo has already begun, but it’s not too late for a writer who has been flirting with beginning a novel to register. Not everyone who participates in the online event completes the challenge, but taking part for just one or two weeks is an enlightening writing exercise.

If you’ve never heard of NaNoWriMo, you may be the only writer who hasn’t. The acronym is for National Novel Writing Month. Don’t let the name fool you. The online event has become a worldwide phenomenon. The name will no doubt remain the same because it’s so much fun to say “naa-no-wry-mo.”

The value of this worldwide writing exercise is that it encourages writers to recognize the duality of the writing process.

Every writer wears two hats: the Creator’s hat and the Editor’s hat. (Nowadays most writers must don the Marketer’s hat as well, but that’s a subject for another post.)

NaNoWriMo forces the writer to leave the Editor’s hat in the closet for 30 days. It’s a great discipline. Not everyone who signs up stays the course, but the experience of doing this kind of focused writing for even a week can teach a writer a lot.

Go ahead. Jump in. Register for the 2013 NaNoWriMo and watch those words accumulate on your daily progress tracker. Even with a late start, you can expect to crank out 30,000 words or more by November 30. Your writing will be far from perfect, but you’ll have a draft, or at least the beginnings of one.

A draft to a novelist is what a lump of clay is to the sculptor. Every novel begins with an imperfect draft. Once the draft is in hand, the writing can begin.