Hey guys. I didn’t think that this post would make it up on time and its only a few days late. Midterms are coming up to I’m hoping that these posts will get back on track but I make no guarantees at this time. But I wrote this one anyway. So here you go.
Secrets of Plot: Conflict – The Problem
What is the Problem?
The next part of the plot is commonly thought of as the body of the story. If the Exposition is the introduction or the beginning, then the conflict is the body. The conflict, or the problem as it is more commonly referred to, can be thought of in many different ways. You have to keep in mind that in some stories the problem does not stay the same the whole story. Part of what makes good literature is the evolving of the problem. If you character is not constantly challenged than the story becomes monotonous and loses what made people want to read it. The conflict happens in three phases. Rising Action, Climax, and Falling Action. I think I’m going to talk about each of these separately so hang in there.
The first conflict is called the Rising Action. The Rising Action doesn’t always have the same problems in it. Don’t get me wrong, the problems that a character does have in the Rising Action can be put into categories but not all the problems in these categories are the same in every book. The Rising Action is the action that happens in the first three fourths of the problem section. There is a lot of conflict in this section of the story. The problem keeps evolving into something greater and scarier until the climax. Some of these problems include things like, leaving a life the character knew well, being betrayed by an ally, meeting a great foe, getting injured and coming close to death and many other ‘plot twist’ problems that the characters face. But all of these challenges and problems that the character face and eventually overcome are preparing them for the final big conflict during the climax.
The climax is the last big problem against some sort of evil foe. It doesn’t have to be a physical person or even some evil power like in Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. The climax is where the biggest problem is. The problem that your character thinks that they can’t overcome and yet they do. There are some books, the ones set in contemporary times, have ideas or self-image as the large conflict. Character A doesn’t like how wishy washy she is around guys, she’s more of a wallflower. She had a crush on popular Character B who secretly has a crush on her as well. Character C, Character A’s best friend, convinces her to do something outside of her comfort zone. Character A does so and gains attention from Character B. Character A comes to the realization that she was a better person than she thought she was. Character B and Character A get together, and they live happily ever after. That’s just about the plot to every romance novel ever. And yet, they aren’t all the same. The authors sometimes change the problems that the characters face to make the story seem more interesting than the last one you read. So, the climax is the self-revelation or the great moment of conquering the problem that is about three fourths of the way through the body of the story.
Now the Falling Action is the hardest part. As an author you have written the climax of your novel. You have solved the character’s problem. You are done. You write one more chapter to wrap everything up nicely. Let me tell you a secret about writing higher level fiction. YOUR FALLING ACTION SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN IN ONE CHAPTER!!!!
You’re falling action is the part of the story that dedicated readers love. You can’t leave any loose ends at the end of your novel unless its continues the series. Have you ever read a book where the falling action was too short? You finish the book and you go, “Wait a second, what happened to Todd? Did he die in the final battle?” or, “What about the romance. Great he finished saving the world! But did she get together with Dave? Do they date, marry, have children?” I don’t know about you guys but as a reader I absolutely hate stories that end like that. Grr. (That’s not to say that there aren’t books that leave you hanging for the purpose of making you think. Those are different.) Feel free to leave you reader wondering at the end of the story. Feel free to make them love the characters and leave the story open because life goes on for your characters so you can’t write a complete ending. But at least clean up the threads that you tied into the story to begin with. If you can’t tie them all in then your story isn’t as finished as you think it is.
So that’s all I have to say about Rising Action, the Climax, and Falling Action. Next week I’m going to talk about the ups and downs of conflict. What makes conflict the conflict. I hope that you guys tune in this Friday. I’ll see you in a couple days!
Get Up, Get Writing, and Get Published. See you next week!