Conflict

      POV angst is not a reasonable substitute for conflict, unless the goal is to relieve the angst and the POV is taking action to accomplish this. This makes for a relatively boring plot, though. Angst is a wonderful thing, as long as it is just a symptom of the real problem, and as long as it's proportional to the dimensions of the problem.

      The conflict must be based on something which is important to the POV. In order for the conflict to be important to the readers as well, they need to care about the POV, and in order to do that they need to like her, or, at the very least, respect her. That is why it is so important to set the POV up as a sympathetic person. (one readers can sympathize with).

      The conflict need to be introduced in the first few paragraphs of the short story. It should cause tension in the readers; they should perceive something that needs to be resolved and they should *want* it to be resolved. This keeps the pages turning. The resolution of the conflict becomes the goal of the readers as well as of the POV.

      Tension is produced by successful conflict. Tension is the difference between what exists and what the reader *wants* to exist. Tension is a rubber band that is stretched and released and stretched and released... If you don't have those moments of release your readers become desensitized and your tension loses its effectiveness. Too much tension may cause readers to emotionally separate from the story.

      When the POV is influenced by the tension to begin moving in a direction; that's when the story should start. As an example, a story about a boy who has been suffering terrible abuse for years should start when he reaches the point where the abuse forces on him the desire to do something about it.

      In a novel, you must start out with a conflict on the first chapter, though the main conflict of the story doesn't necessarily have to be in evidence. All of the secondary conflicts ought to have been caused, or at least influenced by the main conflict.

      The POV needs to do something to cause the conflict to be resolved. He needs to be actively working towards solving the problem. That means he needs to come up with one or more possible solutions to the problem, and take steps to implement them. Even if his first few tries don't succeed (such failures help build tension) he still needs to be gnawing at the problem. Accidentally stumbling across the solution doesn't count. Running around in pointless circles until the problem solves itself doesn't work. At the end of the story readers need to feel that the POV won the victory because he deserved to

      The conflict should cause the POV to have a goal, the goal being a satisfactory resolution of the conflict. She should be actively working toward this goal; this is what gives the story movement. There's no law that says the conflict, and the POV goals, can't change during the story but if they do, the new goal and/or conflict should be more important than the old or the readers will feel cheated.

      The strength of the conflict can be measured by:

      • How vital it was to the POV to overcome it, and
      • How difficult it was.

      The POV should put lots of effort into reaching the resolution, and his efforts should DIRECTLY produce or, at least, be vital to the resolution. Readers should feel that the POV deserves his reward at the end.

       

       

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