Use conflict to spark action in your life-story

A good piece of writing will be full of unforeseen tensions, competition, and power struggles. Use conflict central to the narrative to spark action in your life-story.

WHY ACTION AND CONFLICT?

Conflict drives action, excitement, and provides the vehicle for things to change. Readers will abandon your story if you wallow in your misery and no progress is made.

“One of the most-common mistakes that beginner writers make is leaving their characters alone. Writing, you may be alone. Reading, your audience may be alone. But your character should spend very, very little time alone. Because a solitary character starts thinking or worrying or wondering,” says Chuck Palahniuk.

TWO TYPES OF CONFLICT

Internal conflict: your own struggles with your desires or beliefs. It happens within.

External conflict: where you struggle with something or someone beyond your control. In your life-story it stands in the way of you reaching your goals, so a lot of tension arises.

“Complete, naked honesty with your audience, and with yourself first and foremost. This is the ultimate writing principle that every writer should embody without a question,” as master writer Stephen King reminds us.

INTERNAL CONFLICT: SHOWING, NOT TELLING

You need to show, not tell, what is happening with your character. You do that by letting characters act, say, and convey with body language. Do not describe what your character is doing – let him/her DO it – the reader can draw conclusions from that.

Mental – Can I do this?

Moral – Should I do this?

Emotional – Am I strong enough to do this?

“Thinking is abstract. Knowing and believing are intangible. Your story will always be stronger if you just show the physical actions and details of your characters and allow your reader to do the thinking and knowing. And loving and hating,” says Chuck Palahniuk.

EXTERNAL CONFLICT: MAKE IT COUNT

Do not include every conversation and every fight in your memoir; include conflict that counts and that allows you to show your story.

A common mistake that life-story writers make is to concentrate on the inner conflict in their memoir at the expense of outer conflict.

External conflict should be:

1. Specific
2. Engaging
3. Serious
4. Urgent
5. Personal

EXTERNAL CONFLICT DRIVES INTERNAL CONFLICT IN MEMOIR

With external conflict you should be dealing with an antagonist – the person/character or company or misfortune which opposes you and leads to inner conflict in you.

Because of the external conflict, internal conflict arises which leads you to confronting your own demons, weak spots, and emotional turmoil.

A good writer layers stories with both types of conflict.

THE MATTER OF FEARLESSNESS

We have discussed the matter of honest, authentic writing in a previous blog but it is so important that I want to stress it again.

“If you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second-to-least of your concerns. The least of all should be polite society and what it expects. If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway.” — Stephen King

USE CONFLICT TO SPARK ACTION IN YOUR LIFE-STORY

Are you unsure of how to exactly “show”, and not “tell” in your writing? Let me as an author coach assist you! We will explore your work because, once you understand the difference, the quality of your writing will become exceptional.