Fiona Lowe Outback Romance; small communities, big hearts

♥Conflict: More than A Misunderstanding♥

This is a contracted version of the talk given at the Romance Writers' of Australia's 2006 conference, 'Some Like it Hot.' It is the culmination of what I learned over ten years of writing. Let me know if it helps you:-)

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CONFLICT: more than a misunderstanding

The essence of a romance is the central relationship: watching the hero and heroine grow emotionally, seeing them overcome obstacles and ending up together with a new outlook on life.

One of the common mistakes new writers make is a lack of conflict. How do I know this? I was one of them. My first book has a hero and heroine who disliked each other from their first meeting. Why? Cos I needed them to cos that was conflict, right? Wrong. In 1995, the lovely editor at Harlequin Mills and Boon wrote,

'I have now read your manuscript and while I feel your writing style shows some promise this story is not suitable. The problem largely lies in the lack of a real conflict, instead of which you rely upon the behaviour of the hero to cause problems. Since his behaviour patterns are not motivated by any particular reason, this simply makes him seem aggressively unattractive. He is like the rhyme, when he's good he's very good, but when he's bad he's horrid. You do need solid reasons for whatever your characters do and say.'

I had at least learned what conflict IS NOT. It is NOT a misunderstanding; it is NOT something that can be cleared up over a cup of tea. Is it NOT inconsequential.

Vicki Hinze, Harlequin Author says, "Conflict at its best is Strong, Complex, Logical, Motivated and Seriously Important."

So, why do we need it conflict?

We need it so your reader wants to read your book. It is the vehicle to show character growth and it drives the story.

Types of Conflict: Internal and External.

External conflict is the here and now. What brought them to this place?

Eg natural disaster…flood, hurricane, bush fire, locked in a lift, change of job, death in the family, random events, change in personal situation….

Internal Conflict is a belief the character holds about himself/herself. It is their weak spot, their Achilles Heel. This belief can be totally incorrect but because they believe it, it drives their behaviour, colours every action and reaction.

It is responsible for all they do whether it those actions are destructive, constructive, successful or disastrous.

Internal and External conflict co-exists. Use the external conflict to magnify or crystalise the internal conflict.

eg.In Pregnant on Arrival, Bronte believes herself to be unlovable. This belief has evolved because of her family's lack of love for who she was and it was watered by being used by a man she considered her boyfriend. She MUST make a new start in Muttawindi. She arrives to discover she is pregnant and Huon doesn't want her to stay.

Why do we need conflict?

It is the vehicle to show character growth. It DRIVES the story.

Where do you find Conflicts?

Humans are driven by their experience and their goals. Everything we are comes from what we have experienced and from what we desire to have.

Internal Conflict has a SOURCE.

Watch the movie 'The Wedding Date' or 'You've Got Mail' or 'Must Love Dogs' to see some great conflicts and how the characters believed what they do about themselves. Read my books too <g>

Inner conflict GOVERNS the way we REACT to others.

Give your characters a past that has shaped them. Give them a desire for a future they are prepared to fight for. Know their internal conflict inside out and upside down and use it to drive every action and reaction in the book. This gives your book the emotion a romance demands.

Kate Walker, Harlequin Mills and Boon Author says, 'The Conflict needs to be strong, so strong that they will risk the chance of losing the love of their life over it.

Conflict doesn't mean they hate each other or argue all the time.

Chose a conflict that matters to the characters and their sense of who they are. Make it so important that they will do anything to protect themselves. Give them goals that make life difficult for the other person's pursuit of their own goal. All this can happen between two people who like each other.

Choose a conflict that MATTERS to the reader and the characters! Make it LAST the whole book

So how do we generate a conflict that will last the book? Personally I think a book is stronger when the conflicts between the Hero and heroine mesh. By this I don't mean they are the same but the compliment each other. Although giving them the same conflict can work as men and women interpret the world so differently that their reactions to a similar experience will be dramatically different.

But back to conflicts that mesh….l

For eg, in THE NURSE'S LONGED FOR FAMILY( out in the UK in September and Australia in October 2006), Alex son died in Africa while Alex was working there. He sacrificed his son to the greater good and his wife left him. His grief is deep and he never wants to suffer like that again so he isn't going to be involved with children or have a relationship with a woman.

Enter Jess, whose sister and brother have just died in an accident and she is now raising her toddler nephew, Woody. When she become Woody's guardian, her long term relationship ended when her partner said 'I don't want kids and I sure as hell don't want to raise someone elses.' Jess is determined that Woody will only know love and she doubts her ability to chose a man who is a worthy father.

Give them conflicts that set them neatly at opposite ends of the spectrum. These conflicts will last a book as they both have a long way to travel.

The Conflict Grid: Grab some paper and divide it into three columns wide and seven columns long . Make the first vertical column narrower than the other two and write the Long Range Goal, Short Range goal etc down the first column. The second vertical column is your hero and the third is your heroine.

Long Range Goal: their life plan

Short Range Goal: story specific, the "right now" part of the long-range goal.

External Conflict: what has brought them to this place?

Internal Conflict: their emotional baggage.

Conflict of Relationship: what they believe about relationships, which is based on their inner conflict. This will form the start of their character arc.

Danger/Black Moment; where the inner conflicts clash in a devastating way, driven by an external event. The whole book has been moving toward this moment, the darkest hour when all seems lost.

Epiphany: They "unlearn" the belief they hold about themselves based on what they have learned about each other and themselves, during the book.

Do this and you can see your conflicts as they go through the book.

By creating strong and meaningful conflicts, and providing your characters with challenges that require them to face their conflicts, you will give them and your readers the Happy Ever After they deserve.

Now go do Jennifer Crusie's Conflict Lock . Do this before every SCENE you write!

Please let me know if this has helped you too!

Web Resources: http://www.romantictimes.com/authors_tip.php?id=469

http://www.likesbooks.com/wb8.html

http://www.sff.net/people/alicia/artinternal.htm

http://www.sff.net/people/alicia/artexternal.htm