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kolI recently read a book that so misunderstood literary conflict, as a reader/writer I was almost insulted. Many people, however, don’t understand what conflict should be— when the goals and motivations of a characters in a narrative are opposed by the goals and motivations of another character. It is not two characters arguing, although that can stem from the conflict and add tension to a scene. There has to be more meat and depth to the fight than just misunderstanding the other person’s point of view— which is why you have to be invested, and you have to have something at stake, for conflict to work.
And as I was writing up my thoughts on that particular novel, I was struck by how intense my feelings were, and wondered why it should matter so much. What was making my skin itch with the wrongness? The truth was embarrassing to admit— quite a few of my novels lack appropriate conflict, including my eternal fantasy wip, IPOM, which I have been steadily poking all month.
Status of the project: IPOM
IPOM (in pursuit of misfortune) as it stands has 400 years of conflict— but it isn’t literary conflict, which combined with the lack of plot hooks, makes it difficult to actually tell a story in the verse. I have created an engaging fantasy world that I have no story beyond myths and legends to play with; there are characters, but they don’t have any foils between one another, and there is no tension between them that is organic. IPOM is all potatoes and carrots and broth, there’s no protein to bring it together for a properly filling stew.
Rather than pressing on everything that is wrong with IPOM until a solution for the whole of it miraculously emerges, I think I’m going to spend the rest of the month considering what sorts of conflicts I can create with the characters I have, and figure out if there is anything in the rich histories I have built that can be used as a backdrop for that drama. It isn’t the most glorious of pursuits as a writer, but I think it is something that will satisfy the writer brain, which keeps pointing to IPOM as if it is something that must be worked on RIGHT THIS SECOND.
Status of the project: GOOD SEED
The novel I wrote in November, Good Seed, has a completely different problem— I have waaaaay too much going on in that novel, which has left it cluttered and difficult to figure out what to write next. I used November as an excuse to write whatever I wanted instead of what was good for the story, and I have totally lost focus on what story I wanted to tell, oops. I’ve got to narrow down the sources of conflict and really beef up the heroine’s agency. And definitely give it a better name besides Good Seed-- a novel about a woman who is fighting off possession in the weirdness of Portland should really have a better title :/
What Seed *does* have is an engrossing love story, a really good plot hook with the whole possession thing, and a mystery that I'm pretty sure will keep the pages turning. Once I figure out what story I really want to tell and cut out the shiny BS, I'm confident I can go back to writing Seed in either February or March & finish the novella probably in May if I keep up this writing speed. I really love Lu & people seemed to like the chapter I posted earlier, so I feel pretty darn good about finishing this project this year so people can read the whole thing :D
Poetry:
One of the reasons I’ve written some words each day this year so far is because I’ve written over 2,000 words of poetry this month. Most of it is word vomit and nigh on unreadable, but I find value in those misshapen, hastily constructed words because they have been incredibly cathartic for me to write. I have managed to help myself find balance again with taking a day’s problems and collapsing them into stark lines, which is a gift I have missed as the words grew harder to grasp, much less let emerge from my stiff fingertips. Yay for poetry. <3
RPG: KINGDOM
Haha I have written so much kingdom stuff this month it is sort of ridiculous. Not only did I write a nearly 4K story for Angie in one night, but I also have been tinkering with a present for Fly and getting quite a bit of technical work accomplished. I am hoping by the end of the month to have Mara’s application updated (her timeline is so out of date) and to have Jerome’s application at least in a WIP state. It is quite possible Kingdom will see 10K in words from me this month, especially since I have a few tags to finish tomorrow and I’m already at over a thousand words in tags on the month alone. A+ Kingdom work
RPG: ARCADIA
Arcadia might be more productive, assuming we start the Roi & Tam story this month as planned and I actually finish & post the Pirates prologue story I have been working on for ages, which I hope establishes Tam’s pirate group to help potential pirate applicants get a better idea of that organization. Since I started that story last year and I’m not writing it in my 2014 scrivener document, I haven’t figured out how many of the words I wrote this year are yet, but I think it will end up being about 1K out of the 5K. And although the playlist doesn’t count as words, it definitely counts as creative progress, so I have to mention it here :D. Arcadia work could be better, but it could be worse too, so I give myself a B grade XD
And as I was writing up my thoughts on that particular novel, I was struck by how intense my feelings were, and wondered why it should matter so much. What was making my skin itch with the wrongness? The truth was embarrassing to admit— quite a few of my novels lack appropriate conflict, including my eternal fantasy wip, IPOM, which I have been steadily poking all month.
Status of the project: IPOM
IPOM (in pursuit of misfortune) as it stands has 400 years of conflict— but it isn’t literary conflict, which combined with the lack of plot hooks, makes it difficult to actually tell a story in the verse. I have created an engaging fantasy world that I have no story beyond myths and legends to play with; there are characters, but they don’t have any foils between one another, and there is no tension between them that is organic. IPOM is all potatoes and carrots and broth, there’s no protein to bring it together for a properly filling stew.
Rather than pressing on everything that is wrong with IPOM until a solution for the whole of it miraculously emerges, I think I’m going to spend the rest of the month considering what sorts of conflicts I can create with the characters I have, and figure out if there is anything in the rich histories I have built that can be used as a backdrop for that drama. It isn’t the most glorious of pursuits as a writer, but I think it is something that will satisfy the writer brain, which keeps pointing to IPOM as if it is something that must be worked on RIGHT THIS SECOND.
Status of the project: GOOD SEED
The novel I wrote in November, Good Seed, has a completely different problem— I have waaaaay too much going on in that novel, which has left it cluttered and difficult to figure out what to write next. I used November as an excuse to write whatever I wanted instead of what was good for the story, and I have totally lost focus on what story I wanted to tell, oops. I’ve got to narrow down the sources of conflict and really beef up the heroine’s agency. And definitely give it a better name besides Good Seed-- a novel about a woman who is fighting off possession in the weirdness of Portland should really have a better title :/
What Seed *does* have is an engrossing love story, a really good plot hook with the whole possession thing, and a mystery that I'm pretty sure will keep the pages turning. Once I figure out what story I really want to tell and cut out the shiny BS, I'm confident I can go back to writing Seed in either February or March & finish the novella probably in May if I keep up this writing speed. I really love Lu & people seemed to like the chapter I posted earlier, so I feel pretty darn good about finishing this project this year so people can read the whole thing :D
Poetry:
One of the reasons I’ve written some words each day this year so far is because I’ve written over 2,000 words of poetry this month. Most of it is word vomit and nigh on unreadable, but I find value in those misshapen, hastily constructed words because they have been incredibly cathartic for me to write. I have managed to help myself find balance again with taking a day’s problems and collapsing them into stark lines, which is a gift I have missed as the words grew harder to grasp, much less let emerge from my stiff fingertips. Yay for poetry. <3
RPG: KINGDOM
Haha I have written so much kingdom stuff this month it is sort of ridiculous. Not only did I write a nearly 4K story for Angie in one night, but I also have been tinkering with a present for Fly and getting quite a bit of technical work accomplished. I am hoping by the end of the month to have Mara’s application updated (her timeline is so out of date) and to have Jerome’s application at least in a WIP state. It is quite possible Kingdom will see 10K in words from me this month, especially since I have a few tags to finish tomorrow and I’m already at over a thousand words in tags on the month alone. A+ Kingdom work
RPG: ARCADIA
Arcadia might be more productive, assuming we start the Roi & Tam story this month as planned and I actually finish & post the Pirates prologue story I have been working on for ages, which I hope establishes Tam’s pirate group to help potential pirate applicants get a better idea of that organization. Since I started that story last year and I’m not writing it in my 2014 scrivener document, I haven’t figured out how many of the words I wrote this year are yet, but I think it will end up being about 1K out of the 5K. And although the playlist doesn’t count as words, it definitely counts as creative progress, so I have to mention it here :D. Arcadia work could be better, but it could be worse too, so I give myself a B grade XD
