What is Conflict?

WRITING TIP OF THE WEEK:

- What is Conflict?

Writers will often hear advice like: ‘Write conflict into every page’ or ‘every chapter needs to be centred on a conflict’. Lately, I’ve come across a few people who misunderstand ‘conflict’ to mean ‘confrontation’ and end up trying to write an argument into every scene.

I find this faintly baffling. We’ve all seen TV, read books and watched movies. We know not every scene has an argument in it. Why on earth would you take advice to put a fight in every scene advice seriously?

Conflict, according to my dictionary is:

1. A battle or struggle.

2. The opposition of two forces or things.

3. To be or come into opposition.

The first point is probably the most obvious one, and where the argument idea stems from. However the second one is probably more relevant to writers. A conflict could be a group of scientists trying to escape an island filled with rampaging dinosaurs (Jurassic park) or two lovers being kept apart by a jealous husband on a big boat (Titanic). If your character is caught in a blizzard, he and the blizzards are in opposition, him wanting to survive and the blizzard being, well, cold.

Now you have some idea what a conflict is, let me say: Yes, I believe every scene needs a central conflict. It doesn’t have to be a dinosaur or a blizzard, but without a conflict, not much is happening.

Keep an eye out for a longer version of this writing tip on my tutorials page in my upcoming tutorial on conflict and stakes.

Better Editing

WRITING TIP OF THE WEEK:

- Never get the same feedback twice.

When you get good feedback regarding a grammatical error or a weakness in your writing, it typically applies to all other simular instances. For example, if a reader says you need to capitalise a name, they shouldn’t have to point it out every time you use that name. Likewise, if someone points out that an info dump is boring or the description lacks sizzle—unless they say it’s only in that scene, you can assume all your description needs work and you should remove as many info dumps as possible.

When I get feedback from my edit, she’ll highlight an instance of something she wants changed—explain why she wants it changed and politely informs me she’s certain I can find and fix the rest on my own. Which I do.

In stark contrast, when I am giving friends feedback on their writing—I’ll address a number of issues in one chapter, only to have them hand me the next chapter two weeks later with the SAME ERRORS.

Now, I’m not saying there aren’t editors and agents in the world who won’t hold your hand and point out the same mistakes to you over and over. However it’s just about the most lazy and unproductive approach I’ve ever heard of. Aren’t we all striving to be better writers? Do any of us really think we’ve peaked and further improvement is unnecessary?

Well, fixing those things you KNOW should be fixed is part of being a better writer. Remember the feedback you receive and apply it to future writing. Conscious editing is good editing.

Enjoy Writing

WRITING TIP OF THE WEEK:

- Enjoy Writing.

You can’t be a professional writer if you don’t enjoy writing. Well, you CAN, but you’ll be really miserable all the time.

People often say they ‘know they should write’, but it’s hard, frustrating and stressful. Firstly, you shouldn’t write. No one is obliged to write fiction for self gratification. Writing does not make you a better, smarter, more successful person. Secondly, if you don’t enjoy it—if it’s a negative experience for you--don’t do it. Do something you like. No one will mind, really.

The internet is nice, because authors can connect with their fans—if they want to—and have some interaction with people beyond the domestic. However, while a few authors may go to conventions or book launches once or twice a year, every other day of the year they’re writing 2000 words a day, at a desk, probably somewhere in their own house.

Those 2000 words are going to seem like a lot more of you’re sitting there, hating every mind numbing moment you’re in front of the computer, simply longing for the end product.

Me? I love writing. If I get 1k on my novel, I tend to also get about 2k on other, non WIP related projects. That’s my relaxation after working hard on the things that matter. If there is a day where I don’t write, I am stressed and miserable. For me, there is nothing better than being in the zone, tapping away, with nothing but the whirr of the ceiling fan and my fingers clattering on the keys.

If I just described your hell, you need to start looking for a new hobby.

"I am a writer." – believing what you say.

WRITING TIP OF THE WEEK:

- "I am a writer." – believing what you say.

The human brain is designed to respond in a very specific way. They way respond is hardwired in a manner that allows us to quickly navigate our environment and survive. For example, if you have not eaten in a few hours and you see a picture of your favourite food, it’s likely you’ll feel hungry. As recently as thirty or forty years ago, even in western societies, food was not readily abundant—so if good food was on offer, it was sensible to eat, even if we weren’t really hungry.

Obviously this hardwiring in our brain is doing us no favours now with the obesity epidemic—however our brain is littered with millions of these hardwired reactions and when we understand how they work we can use them to our advantage.

We are also hardwired to believe things people say—to a certain degree. If someone says: “Don’t follow the eastern path, it’s dangerous.” We would reconsider following the eastern path—or at least, be careful when doing so. If five people told us the eastern path was dangerous, we’d be even less likely to do use it. If everyone we knew told us the eastern path was dangerous, we probably wouldn’t go there. Have you ever stuck your hand in liquid nitrogen? I’d assume not, if you still have two hands. We can say, scientifically, sticking your hand in liquid nitrogen is bad. We believe this, because we have been told and possibly seen evidence—even though it could, technically, be a huge complicated lie.

If you hear things enough, your natural inclination is to believe them. It’s wise to fight this inclination in many cases, but you can also use it to literally change your own behaviour through repetition.

Put up a sign (or several) where you will see it every day. Have it say something positive and general. Mine says: “I am a writer.”

Don’t be too specific. Don’t say: “I write 1000 words a day.” Or “I will be published this year.” If this doesn’t come true, it will cause cognitive dissonance.

However you could say: “I am a brilliant writer.” Or “I enjoy writing every day.”

You could also put up a sign that says: “I am beautiful.”, “I love my wife.” or “I make healthy choices.”

All of these things will slowly be imprinted into your brain as ‘true facts’ through repetition. This is exactly how advertising works, by the way.

Make it work for you!

Copyright Talitha Kalago. 2011

Give Feedback!

WRITING TIP OF THE WEEK:

- Give writing feedback to others.

Getting feedback is a great way to see the flaws in your writing you were blind to before. However GIVING feedback is an even better way of seeing them!

Of course, in order for your feedback to help you—and the person you’re giving it to—you need to identify what is good, helpful feedback and what is detrimental. Good feedback identifies the problem, and it does so in a tone that is honest, practical and understanding. There is no point saying a scene or character is ‘bad’ without identifying WHY.

The next important step is identifying a solution to the problem. Sometimes, it’s really difficult to identify how to fix a problem—and often the fixes are matters of opinion. EG: if a character is very boring and unlikeable, one solution might be to make him nicer. However, the writer may decide to make him meaner and more charming, with much greater success.

The reason giving feedback is more important that receiving it is that it is hard to objectively analyse your own work. However when you are looking at the work of someone else, you can see the flaws you would be blind to in your own writing. Being able to identify flaws in the writing of others is a great step to being able to identify it in your own work—and avoid the same mistake in the future.

Making the most of Critique Groups

Your Critique Group:

Most writers will, at some point, use a critique group, either online or in person. Some are, admittedly, better or more productive than others. Finding the right critique group for you is a personal choice and different groups will fit different writers.

You should aim to find a group that is both friendly and productive--reliability is a good thing too. Find people who meet at the same place, at the same time, or chasing them around will become a nightmare. This is less of an issue online.

I highly recommend critique groups and have been a member of some truly fantastic ones. I've written this tutorial to give writers some tips to make the best of them.

Stop wasting everyone's time:

If you do not edit to the best of your ability before sharing, you are wasting everyone's time.

When someone gives feedback, they are going to focus on the errors that are most obvious to them and work down their mental list until they run out of things to say and/or they run out of time. Most of the time, that will mean you only hear about the top two or three problems from readers.

That does not mean those are the only problems there are, just that they are the biggest.

Every traditionally published author has an editor. I doubt any author, regardless of how famous or wonderful, had a book go to print without at least one round of edits. If there has, I bet that novel was weaker for it.

So if there are errors you know are there, fix them before sharing the work! If you know about all the problems readers discuss, you got nothing and they wasted their time.

There ARE things in your writing that need fixing that you can't see. So make sure that's what readers are addressing.

Listening between the words:

Sometimes readers make crazy, useless suggestions. The kind that make you roll your eyes and wonder what novel they were reading, because it sure as hell wasn't yours. However these suggestions are always gold and you should always make note of them.

Am I suggesting you use their completely mental ideas? Of course not. But however misguided, they're usually highlighting a critical problem. I had a reader suggest that my main character torture a secondary character for information. Not only would this have been completely out of character, but it would have made my main character completely unlikeable.

However the message was blazingly clear: the scene needed more tension between the characters.

People can't always put into words what is wrong with the scene, however if you can recognise the intent behind their feedback, you will get the answers you need. You have to be willing to REALLY listen and not just hear them, but understand what they are trying (and sometimes failing) to say.

Stupid suggestions are not stupid. They're just badly worded. Look for the weakness the reader is trying to 'fix'.

"No one has anything useful to say!":

Occasionally I hear writers bash their critique groups. 'The people there are idiots, they can't find their asses with both hands and they certainly don't know good literature'.

It is possible to have a bad critique group. I have been to some that are either 1) mean--no actual critique is given, writers are just bullied and mocked or 2) butterflies and kittens--no actual critique is given, writers are just praised and congratulated.

Surprisingly, the latter has the worst writers.

However, most of the time, if you say a critique group is terrible, you're the problem. No them. You have failed to listen and interpret correctly, or failed to ask the right questions. It doesn't matter HOW bad someone is at writing, as long as they are capable of reading, they can give you fantastic feedback. The most important thing you can get from readers is how they interpret the information and how interested they are in the story. If they didn't get it they didn't 'read it wrong'. You 'wrote it wrong'!

It's highly unlikely your group are jealous of your brilliant writing. If they're giving you a lot of suggestions, your writing probably needs a lot of work. In my experience, the more a comment hurts, the more true it is.

Writers who cannot handle or use constructive criticism are unlikely to ever be published traditionally and they are the ones making such an ugly mess of self pub.

When not to share:

Sometimes it is the wrong time to share your writing. If you are very early in a project some critical feedback can completely derail the writing process. I always, without fail, recommend you write a complete first draft before you share ANY material.

That may mean huge re-writes in the future that you could have been spared if someone else had looked over the work, but compared to banging out that first draft, re-writes are easy.

Some work may be very personal to you too. Personal work, critiqued, can hurt. A lot. If you have written a story about the death of your mother, any critique is going to feel like a criticism of you and is going to be intertwined with the trauma of the experience you are writing about.

If you would like to share something personal, don't be shy to say: "I don't want feedback, I just need to read this out."

Share and get critique when you are ready. There is no good reason to rush.

Talitha Kalago. Copyright 2012.