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We have a thread about "Interesting Conflict" here: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=246325
So what about interest without conflict? Or, to put it another way, is conflict (in some form) always necessary to get the readers interest?
I'm creating this thread because I'm still trying to figure this "writing stuff" out, and from some of my research I got the impression that you always do need conflict to create interest. However, at least from my own perspective, I can think of a few examples of interesting scenes in stories which did not involve conflict (of course it is possible that there was simply a form of conflict that I was not aware of).
One specific example of a scene which had what I'd call "interest without conflict" would be in Roger Zelazny's book "Guns of Avalon." In the scene I'm considering, Corwin (the MC) takes Dara's hand, and walks through Shadow to a different world where there is a Colossal Water Wheel turning under a massive, 1000 foot, waterfall. That was a scene which stood out in my mind, even though it didn't involve conflict.
IMO if a story presents an image of something fantastic enough, it can take the place of conflict (although I am not really suggesting that you'd do a whole book with no conflict).
But, to get even more specific about my motivation for starting this thread, I'd have to mention my own work. In my writing, I recently managed to create some scenes which I realized didn't have any real conflict, so this matter of "interest without conflict" became a concern.
I should add that I do have conflict in most of my story, but there are a few scenes which do not. One case is a scene which I added in order to explain my world without resorting to a direct info dump.
In what is currently my opening scene, the caravan which the characters are traveling with stops for the evening, and they go out onto a fantastic meadow and play frisbee. The meadow is perched up on top of a cliff, and one of the characters demonstrates a power she has when the frisbee accidentally gets thrown off the edge of the cliff. The girl flies out, over the 300 foot drop, to catch it. They keep on playing, but that event sparks conversation, and through the discussion which follows, introduces some some important information.
The scene is pretty short, and I like how it plays out (although I may be biased because I'm already invested in the characters). Yet it doesn't have any real conflict, and the POV character doesn't really have any major goal in the scene, other than to have fun playing frisbee. I picked her because she is ignorant about what is going on, and, as she learns about the basic situation, so will the reader.
So really specifically, I'd like to know if it is possible to successfully pull something like that meadow scene off. And then there is the more general question about "interest without conflict."
So what about interest without conflict? Or, to put it another way, is conflict (in some form) always necessary to get the readers interest?
I'm creating this thread because I'm still trying to figure this "writing stuff" out, and from some of my research I got the impression that you always do need conflict to create interest. However, at least from my own perspective, I can think of a few examples of interesting scenes in stories which did not involve conflict (of course it is possible that there was simply a form of conflict that I was not aware of).
One specific example of a scene which had what I'd call "interest without conflict" would be in Roger Zelazny's book "Guns of Avalon." In the scene I'm considering, Corwin (the MC) takes Dara's hand, and walks through Shadow to a different world where there is a Colossal Water Wheel turning under a massive, 1000 foot, waterfall. That was a scene which stood out in my mind, even though it didn't involve conflict.
IMO if a story presents an image of something fantastic enough, it can take the place of conflict (although I am not really suggesting that you'd do a whole book with no conflict).
But, to get even more specific about my motivation for starting this thread, I'd have to mention my own work. In my writing, I recently managed to create some scenes which I realized didn't have any real conflict, so this matter of "interest without conflict" became a concern.
I should add that I do have conflict in most of my story, but there are a few scenes which do not. One case is a scene which I added in order to explain my world without resorting to a direct info dump.
In what is currently my opening scene, the caravan which the characters are traveling with stops for the evening, and they go out onto a fantastic meadow and play frisbee. The meadow is perched up on top of a cliff, and one of the characters demonstrates a power she has when the frisbee accidentally gets thrown off the edge of the cliff. The girl flies out, over the 300 foot drop, to catch it. They keep on playing, but that event sparks conversation, and through the discussion which follows, introduces some some important information.
The scene is pretty short, and I like how it plays out (although I may be biased because I'm already invested in the characters). Yet it doesn't have any real conflict, and the POV character doesn't really have any major goal in the scene, other than to have fun playing frisbee. I picked her because she is ignorant about what is going on, and, as she learns about the basic situation, so will the reader.
So really specifically, I'd like to know if it is possible to successfully pull something like that meadow scene off. And then there is the more general question about "interest without conflict."