Must there be a conflict/ problem?

RoseJ

Registered
Joined
Aug 31, 2012
Messages
12
Reaction score
1
I am working on a picture book that doesn't really have any conflicts or problems to solve. A child wants to help out with an event at church. His mom guides him and he does most of the work himself. He does a good job and every one is happy in the end with the results.

Is this type of story too boring? MUST a problem arise with him helping out?
 

Lyra Jean

Two years old now.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 10, 2005
Messages
5,329
Reaction score
794
Location
Boca Raton - Mouth of the Rat
Website
beyondtourism.wordpress.com
So the problem can be how to put the cupcakes on the table but his mom isn't around.

But he remembers that when he brushes his teeth he has a step stool. So he finds one and sets it up at the table so he can put the cupcakes on the table himself.

It doesn't have to be life and death or exciting. But it is a problem to solve.
 

Morrell

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 5, 2010
Messages
1,276
Reaction score
238
Location
Close to the Edge
Depends. Do you want to sell it? ;)

Seriously, what movie would you find more interesting and inspiring? One where everything falls neatly into place without effort, or one where someone overcomes a challenge and triumphs in the end?

Let your MC struggle a bit. Let him wonder if he's going to succeed. Let him solve a problem, even a small one, as Lyra suggested. It will make his accomplishment meaningful and give your readers (who may secretly doubt their own capability) a MC they can relate to.
 

thothguard51

A Gentleman of a refined age...
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 16, 2009
Messages
9,316
Reaction score
1,065
Age
74
Location
Out side the beltway...
Even comic strips have conflict.

Look at Charlie Brown, he has the most inept little league team ever...
 

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
9,090
Reaction score
2,165
Location
Lost Angeles
Even the simplest story picture books have conflict. No, David!, Sheep In A Jeep, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Where the Wild Things Are-- even with a minimum of words the conflict is what keeps little kids riveted. And even a tiny amount of conflict is fascinating at that age: kid wants to do work but mom doesn't think he can, kid wants to do work but he can't do it right like he wants, kid tries to help and antics ensue, kid is forced to help when he'd rather play...there are so many places to include conflict.
 

Debbie V

Mentoring Myself and Others
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
3,133
Reaction score
290
Location
New York
Sometimes conflict isn't the right word. Question is. There needs to be some question in the reader's mind. Something must make them care about what happens next. Can he succeed? What's the tray for? How will the church folk treat him? Will he be accepted as a helper?

In your plot, is he helping or is mom helping through him. I bet the church sees it as mom helping. Make him the star in their eyes and he'll be the star to the readers too. It has to be more than "Oh. He's sweet. (to him) Mrs. Wilson. Thank you for coming. (To her.)"
 

RoseJ

Registered
Joined
Aug 31, 2012
Messages
12
Reaction score
1
Thanks for the replys. I have been working on a slight rewrite adding in a bit of conflict.
 

Torgo

Formerly Phantom of Krankor.
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 7, 2005
Messages
7,632
Reaction score
1,204
Location
London, UK
Website
torgoblog.blogspot.com
I am working on a picture book that doesn't really have any conflicts or problems to solve. A child wants to help out with an event at church. His mom guides him and he does most of the work himself. He does a good job and every one is happy in the end with the results.

Is this type of story too boring? MUST a problem arise with him helping out?

Picture books don't HAVE to have conflict, no. You can write a lyrical, impressionistic kind of picture book, for instance. They tend to be illustrated poems rather than stories.

Boring is another matter; here is a conflict-free book about a child baking with Mom which I find intensely boring, but it did get published, got good reviews and clearly speaks to people who aren't me.

The story you describe doesn't sound like something I'd be interested in publishing, but perhaps it has other virtues besides story. Perhaps like Blue Bowl Down it is written in a pleasant traditional rhyme, or evokes some kind of pleasurable nostalgia and cosiness. Hard to tell without reading it.