I can't find conflict!

Hapax Legomenon · Sep 27, 2007

I need some help with what I'm writing. It's a story about a space alien sent to Earth to see if it's right for conquest and for some reason he's infiltrated an American high school and has met up with a guy who claims to be the Messiah and also claims to believe the main character when he says he's a space alien. I guess the genre would be satire, because the world around the alien is not kept under check and is screwed up in so many small ways, but the alien thinks that this is all normal, because aside from small bits of previous, outdated reconnaissance, he doesn't know what it's really supposed to be like.

The problem is that I've written three pages and I've already run out of conflict. I don't know what to do besides observation. D: I know the character should get into all sorts of wacky trouble, but I don't know how.

Stew21 · Sep 27, 2007

well, if it's just observations, then you're lacking a story arc.
You need a beginning, middle and end, you need conflict and conflict resolution.
If you don't have them, it's just a premise, not a novel.
To add conflict your alien has to (this is just a suggestion) have turmoil about something he is supposed to do while on earth (perhaps his original mission is to harvest people, suck the air from the atmosphere, abduct all the cats because they have healing qualities on his planet) and while he is planning to do this horrible (which he doesn't know is horrible) deed, he makes this odd-duck sort of friend and begins to understand the moral dilemma he's faced with by attaching personal relationship to it. Now he's got an angry homeland gov't after him, the Earth gov't after him, and a friend who feels betrayed. He has to right the wrongs he's unleashed on the planet.
He has to do what he knows is right.

There, conflict.
You have to set your character down a path that has comes to a climax and a satisfactory ending.

Does that help?

jdparadise · Sep 27, 2007

1. What does Character A want?
2. What does Character B want?
3. How do they bang into each other?

Alternately:
1. What does Character A want? What is he most afraid of?
2. What does Character B want? How does what he wants epitomize what Character A is afraid of?

Sunkissed27f · Sep 27, 2007

Easy....go watch all those crazy movies based around high school. You know like Dazed and Confused and the Brat Pack Movies.
Hell, go ask a teenager for some conflicting emotions/events they have.

Pssst..I am kidding, but it was worth a shot!

Sunkissed27f · Sep 27, 2007

When I get stuck I consult the internet.
One day I happened upon this little website.Take a peek at her ideas on conflict in a story.
http://lionhearted.com/tips.htm

JasonChirevas · Sep 27, 2007

Haphazard said:
I need some help with what I'm writing. It's a story about a space alien sent to Earth to see if it's right for conquest and for some reason he's infiltrated an American high school and has met up with a guy who claims to be the Messiah and also claims to believe the main character when he says he's a space alien. I guess the genre would be satire, because the world around the alien is not kept under check and is screwed up in so many small ways, but the alien thinks that this is all normal, because aside from small bits of previous, outdated reconnaissance, he doesn't know what it's really supposed to be like.

The problem is that I've written three pages and I've already run out of conflict. I don't know what to do besides observation. D: I know the character should get into all sorts of wacky trouble, but I don't know how.

You might want to do a little research into something called Invader Zim before you go any further.

-Jason

Hapax Legomenon · Sep 27, 2007

JasonChirevas said:
You might want to do a little research into something called Invader Zim before you go any further.

-Jason

I love Invader Zim. -__-;; I'm trying to write something to get me out of a slump to prepare for NaNoWriMo, so I got the basic idea from Zim, but this is more serious and less, well, wacky. And the MC isn't like Zim at all -- probably more like Ford Prefect.

And I am a teenager. My life is boring. Perhaps that's why I can't think of any conflict?

Sunkissed27f · Sep 27, 2007

Well, I sure put my foot in it didn't I?
Okay, well just because your life is pretty A,B,C doesn't mean some other teenagers life out there isn't. Hmmm, I think all teenagers believe there life is boring.
Have them steal a car and do some crime sprees, or terrorize the jr. high or elementary kids. Making them slaves or something, showing just what a leader the Earthling is supposed to be.

maestrowork · Sep 27, 2007

Haphazard said:
I need some help with what I'm writing. It's a story about a space alien sent to Earth to see if it's right for conquest and for some reason he's infiltrated an American high school and has met up with a guy who claims to be the Messiah and also claims to believe the main character when he says he's a space alien. I guess the genre would be satire, because the world around the alien is not kept under check and is screwed up in so many small ways, but the alien thinks that this is all normal, because aside from small bits of previous, outdated reconnaissance, he doesn't know what it's really supposed to be like.

The premise lends itself to all sorts of conflicts. Are you sure you run out of conflicts already after only three pages? I mean, the aliens want to conquer the world. There's a Messiah. There's the real world. There are the townsfolk. There are the student body... Sex, drugs, rock n roll. Nerds vs. geeks vs. jocks vs. cheerleaders.

Seriously, it can go on and on and on. Give three different people each with two different desires and motivations, and you can have so many different mutation of conflicts.

Your "normal/boring" life is not the basis of fiction. Your imagination is. Do you think Christopher Paonili really lives a life with dragons and treasures and swords?

Hapax Legomenon · Sep 27, 2007

Sunkissed27f said:
Well, I sure put my foot in it didn't I?
Okay, well just because your life is pretty A,B,C doesn't mean some other teenagers life out there isn't. Hmmm, I think all teenagers believe there life is boring.
Have them steal a car and do some crime sprees, or terrorize the jr. high or elementary kids. Making them slaves or something, showing just what a leader the Earthling is supposed to be.

Partially towards actual habits and partially due to personal philosophy, my life actually is boring. I'm simply a boring person. In fact, now that I think about it, I don't think it's possible to have an exciting life. An enjoyable one, sure, but an exciting one, no, impossible. Which is what makes basing something in the real world so very, very HARD.

Simply trying to drive a car could be interesting (ooh, fascinating, earthling technology!), but I don't think that's really a plot. Terrorizing small children does seem like something the Messiah would do, though. XD

Hapax Legomenon · Sep 27, 2007

maestrowork said:
The premise lends itself to all sorts of conflicts. Are you sure you run out of conflicts already after only three pages? I mean, the aliens want to conquer the world. There's a Messiah. There's the real world. There are the townsfolk. There are the student body... Sex, drugs, rock n roll. Nerds vs. geeks vs. jocks vs. cheerleaders.

Seriously, it can go on and on and on. Give three different people each with two different desires and motivations, and you can have so many different mutation of conflicts.

Your "normal/boring" life is not the basis of fiction. Your imagination is. Do you think Christopher Paonili really lives a life with dragons and treasures and swords?

What is it with nerds vs. geeks vs. jocks vs. cheerleaders? I never see any of this.

I believe Christopher Paolini stole dragons and treasures and swords from other authors.

Fantasy is so much easier to write because when you build a world from the ground up, conflict presents itself immediately. In the 'real world' in fiction, nothing says 'hey, look at me! I'm a conflict!' because real life doesn't do that.

Although... terrorizing small children. I could always give the Messiah a little sibling.

David I · Sep 27, 2007

Just get him in trouble. That's easy to do, and probably even easier if your character is an alien and doesn't know the ropes.

For example, have him take a joking suggestion seriously and act on it. That ought to be able to get him in trouble with anyone from the Principal to Homeland Security.

And speaking of Homeland Security, having someone hunting him down in the first few pages is a pretty standard trick.

There needs to be an overarching series of conflicts to have a real story. But stupid little conflicts to get things rolling are easy to come by.

FennelGiraffe · Sep 27, 2007

You still need a main conflict to drive the whole plot, but meanwhile...

What if the previous observations were done 200 years ago? The alien is expecting people to write with quill pens and drive a horse & buggy. Or what if they were 100 years ago and he's expecting Morse code and really early cars? Or what if they were 50 years ago and he's expecting black&white TV and rotary dial telephones? So technology is more advanced than he was expecting, but still much more primitive than he's used to at home. He doesn't understand how various devices work and keeps trying to use things the wrong way or for the wrong purpose.

What if he learned English from old 1930s radio broadcasts? So he constantly misunderstands what the high school kids are talking about, and they misunderstand him.

Add some more characters besides the Messiah guy. Maybe some science club geeks who are trying to build their own spaceship and don't believe he's an alien. And an autocratic teacher, maybe an asst. principal or a PE coach, who decides he's got an attitude problem and gets on his case all the time.

So your life as a teenager is boring. So what. Look around you. Look at the other students. The smart, successful kids. The smart, geeky kids. The not-so-smart geeky kids. The popular kids. The rich kids. The sensitive, artistic kids. The jocks. The hot, sexy kids. The not-even-close-to-hot kids. The wannabes. The losers. The sluts. The gang members. The just-marking-time-until-I-can-get-out-of-here kids. What are they all doing?

sneakers145 · Sep 27, 2007

You have to create conflict! Toss some your character's way and see how he reacts. I'd think that rather than have him observe the odd new world, have him try to navigate it in his usual familiar way. He'll have some conflict right off when what he does is so not polite or acceptable or backwards...

Shady Lane · Sep 27, 2007

Check between the couch cushions.

preyer · Sep 27, 2007

'Do you think Christopher Paonili really lives a life with dragons and treasures and swords?' ~ no, based on the movie and the few pages i read i think he has one of those computer programmes what writes the stories for him.

i'm not sure your real conflict is with the two MCs. of course there will probably be some of that, especially if you want comic relief, but i think that very much limits your options. the problem here is zim didn't have (or it doesn't appear) a conflict except in episode form. the cliched approach is the gov't agents. a variation on this is a crazy hunter wanting to add him to his trophy wall. i wouldn't know, but i'd bet there's been a bazillion blackmail attempts threatening to expose the alien in 'my favorite martion,' 'alf' and even 'i dream of jeanie.' probably 'betwitched,' too. i'm pretty sure this happened in 'mork and mindy.'

that's why i might not even place the emphasis on the alien aspect as much as seeing what kind of problems/issues are present in YA. not sure i even would place it in the category of protagonist v. antagonist because i'm not sure who i would want to be the bad guy.

chartreuse · Sep 27, 2007

I'm assuming he's a student, not a faculty member.

What if he gets referred to a counselor because of his certain-to-be-odd behavior and the counselor wants to meet with his parents?

What if he is given a school assignment that requires bringing in baby photos?

What if he gets a girl pregnant? (Would this even be possible with his species?)

You might also want to analyze what you mean by "right" for conquest...do you mean so unworthy as a life form that they would feel justified in taking us over? If that's the case, he might set up a series of tests to put people through to see how they behave.

Hapax Legomenon · Sep 27, 2007

chartreuse said:
I'm assuming he's a student, not a faculty member.

What if he gets referred to a counselor because of his certain-to-be-odd behavior and the counselor wants to meet with his parents?

What if he is given a school assignment that requires bringing in baby photos?

What if he gets a girl pregnant? (Would this even be possible with his species?)

You might also want to analyze what you mean by "right" for conquest...do you mean so unworthy as a life form that they would feel justified in taking us over? If that's the case, he might set up a series of tests to put people through to see how they behave.

Right to conquest -- would it make sense to annex the earthling species' into the empire (or whatever)? would the sapient life forms accept the ideas and philosophies of the aliens readily? Would they eventually submit to an alien overlord?

They don't really want to kill all the earthlings and take their property, they just want to own them.

ccarver30 · Sep 27, 2007

My knee-jerk reaction to the title of this thread was: Then you're f**ked.

Ava Jarvis · Sep 27, 2007

The alien is what they term a fish out of water. However, in order to get any narrative juice out of that, you need to give him a basis for comparison. What is his "normal" world like? This will affect how he interprets "Earthling" society and behavior. What is his world's view of morality?

Because one of your main character is a fish out of water, even small events, which we wouldn't think of, can wreck havoc. Take a homework assignment. What if you didn't understand part of it---where "didn't understand" means "took it to some absurd exaggeration or entirely off course meaning"?

Get into the alien's mind. If he really doesn't know how anything is supposed to be, then anything and everything can yield weirdness.

And if that weirdness goes unchecked---because even his peers, who are used to the world, are fish out of water when it comes to adult expectations etc.---then it can escalate.

Draw the what-ifs out.

If all else fails, get Orson Scott Card's _Characters & Viewpoint_, which is not only a valuable fiction writing book to have, but also has a section that gives you an idea of how to twist your what-ifs something wild.

Hapax Legomenon · Sep 28, 2007

Ava Jarvis said:
The alien is what they term a fish out of water. However, in order to get any narrative juice out of that, you need to give him a basis for comparison. What is his "normal" world like? This will affect how he interprets "Earthling" society and behavior. What is his world's view of morality?

Because one of your main character is a fish out of water, even small events, which we wouldn't think of, can wreck havoc. Take a homework assignment. What if you didn't understand part of it---where "didn't understand" means "took it to some absurd exaggeration or entirely off course meaning"?

Get into the alien's mind. If he really doesn't know how anything is supposed to be, then anything and everything can yield weirdness.

And if that weirdness goes unchecked---because even his peers, who are used to the world, are fish out of water when it comes to adult expectations etc.---then it can escalate.

Draw the what-ifs out.

If all else fails, get Orson Scott Card's _Characters & Viewpoint_, which is not only a valuable fiction writing book to have, but also has a section that gives you an idea of how to twist your what-ifs something wild.

Hmm. I think I have an idea. Naturally, an alien's most difficult subject (aside from P.E. if he didn't have the same physical abilities) would be language arts. So much of it is built off of personal experience and knowledge, an alien would have totally different experiences and no recent, local ones to draw from that the teacher, or anyone else in the class could relate to.

And there we go.

PeeDee · Sep 28, 2007

preyer said:
'Do you think Christopher Paonili really lives a life with dragons and treasures and swords?' ~ no, based on the movie and the few pages i read i think he has one of those computer programmes what writes the stories for him.

Ha! Haaaa! Zing! Take that, Boring Fantasy Writing Guy!

*is insurmountably happy*

PeeDee · Sep 28, 2007

Haphazard, I think you just need to let the story sit for awhile longer. Ignore it. Go do something else. I betcha that either you'll forget about it (and so it wasn't ready) or something will occur to you. Something you can do with it, somewhere it can go, and then you'll come back to it and write it happily.

wee · Sep 28, 2007

Haphazard said:
And I am a teenager. My life is boring. Perhaps that's why I can't think of any conflict?

I am a stay-at-home mom with two very well-behaved children (for their ages), a super-duper husband, and a couple of dogs. My major life conflicts involve what to cook for dinner, whether Ugly Betty got Tivo'd properly, and my preschooler's new talent at pretending he is deaf when given instructions.

Despite all this, I'm writing about murder, rape, pillaging, and events that changed the course of a civilization and a continent.

Bah! Maybe you do need more life experience. Or you need to read more. Or just think about what is going to happen in your story. Sounds like you started writing with little thought as to what the story is. No problem -- go think about it, figure it out. I'm not going to figure it out for you today, though, because I have to think about my own plot conflicts.....

Hapax Legomenon · Sep 28, 2007

wee said:
I am a stay-at-home mom with two very well-behaved children (for their ages), a super-duper husband, and a couple of dogs. My major life conflicts involve what to cook for dinner, whether Ugly Betty got Tivo'd properly, and my preschooler's new talent at pretending he is deaf when given instructions.

Despite all this, I'm writing about murder, rape, pillaging, and events that changed the course of a civilization and a continent.

Bah! Maybe you do need more life experience. Or you need to read more. Or just think about what is going to happen in your story. Sounds like you started writing with little thought as to what the story is. No problem -- go think about it, figure it out. I'm not going to figure it out for you today, though, because I have to think about my own plot conflicts.....

The problem is that I'm trying to force myself to write about a time in my life that I, personally, think is very boring. But it's what I know. I'd much rather write about vikings.

Bah! Why are people expected to write what you know, anyway?

I can't find conflict!

Hapax Legomenon

Stew21

jdparadise

Talker of Good Games

Sunkissed27f

Sunkissed27f

JasonChirevas

Hapax Legomenon

Sunkissed27f

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Hapax Legomenon

Hapax Legomenon

David I

FennelGiraffe

It's green they say

sneakers145

Shady Lane

my name is hannah

preyer

excessively spartan

chartreuse

Hapax Legomenon

ccarver30

Nicole Castro

Ava Jarvis

Too stupid to know fear

Hapax Legomenon

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

wee

just a little

Hapax Legomenon