Rethinking Conflict

sandree

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I need to mark this thread to read later. This is an important topic for me to understand. I’ve had mixed reactions to my first book and some of it comes from people who feel it lacks conflict - that things are too easy - or that there is not enough mayhem. Other readers seem to love the story and don’t feel that lack. Is this genre specific, I wonder? Is it because it is in the sci fi genre that there is an expectation of more conflict? Or is it a flaw I need to correct next time around?

I’m going to go back and read the whole thread when I have time. Maybe it will bring some clarity to this topic for me.
 

indianroads

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I need to mark this thread to read later. This is an important topic for me to understand. I’ve had mixed reactions to my first book and some of it comes from people who feel it lacks conflict - that things are too easy - or that there is not enough mayhem. Other readers seem to love the story and don’t feel that lack. Is this genre specific, I wonder? Is it because it is in the sci fi genre that there is an expectation of more conflict? Or is it a flaw I need to correct next time around?

I’m going to go back and read the whole thread when I have time. Maybe it will bring some clarity to this topic for me.

This issue may have more to do with reader expectations than genre IMO. As has been said, there are all sorts of conflict. Space Operas can have a lot of shoot-em-up battle scenes, which meets a certain expectation, but Clarke's Childhoods End had practically none of that and is a classic. The same could be said for Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land.

Perhaps you should consider taking a look at your product description / blurb? If it appears that there will be a lot of physical conflict, maybe you should re-frame the description so it more accurately describes the sort of conflict in your book?

ETA: I looked at your book description, and there is no hint that you are promising mayhem. Those that disapproved are unhappy because they didn't get something you never promised - the fault is on them IMO. We can't please all our readers, if we try, well, the old saying 'try to please all and you will please none' comes to mind.
 
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Woollybear

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I need to mark this thread to read later. This is an important topic for me to understand. I’ve had mixed reactions to my first book and some of it comes from people who feel it lacks conflict - that things are too easy - or that there is not enough mayhem. Other readers seem to love the story and don’t feel that lack. Is this genre specific, I wonder? Is it because it is in the sci fi genre that there is an expectation of more conflict? Or is it a flaw I need to correct next time around?

I’m going to go back and read the whole thread when I have time. Maybe it will bring some clarity to this topic for me.

Your Amazon reviews look decent to me. The opening pages look fine, too.

People that want 'mayhem' really want mayhem. They don't want the other things--like relationships, new perspectives, and so on. They want ... mayhem. Do you want to write that?
 

lilyWhite

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I need to mark this thread to read later. This is an important topic for me to understand. I’ve had mixed reactions to my first book and some of it comes from people who feel it lacks conflict - that things are too easy - or that there is not enough mayhem. Other readers seem to love the story and don’t feel that lack. Is this genre specific, I wonder? Is it because it is in the sci fi genre that there is an expectation of more conflict? Or is it a flaw I need to correct next time around?

Some people have narrow ideas of what constitutes "conflict" in a story. And some folks will criticize a story for not going in the direction they expect of the story.

In the end, what matters is that the story is the kind of story you'd like to write—with the kinds of conflicts you'd find interesting in other media.
 

sandree

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Your Amazon reviews look decent to me. The opening pages look fine, too.

People that want 'mayhem' really want mayhem. They don't want the other things--like relationships, new perspectives, and so on. They want ... mayhem. Do you want to write that?

Exactly - I don’t want to write mayhem. I do have tension and conflict in the story but it tends to be more internal conflict or man vs. society than space battle or death and dismemberment. I did rewrite the blurb with the intention of not promising mayhem and I may be getting fewer of those reviews. I think it is just that the current indie space operas are more of the space battle type so there is an assumption there that every indie sci fi book is going to be similar. I have a planet morphing into a flower on the cover - that should be a clue that this is not going to be a mayhem heavy story.:)
 

Woollybear

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I suspect I'll have the same set of concerns post-publishing. (I added an author note to try to warn folks that this is not mayhem). But seriously, your reviews seem decent.

And...your title is Seeds of Change. :) Not Seeds of Blood. Anyone expecting mayhem from your cover--that's on them.
 
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mpack

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There are a lot of ways to raise the tension in conflict without transitioning to battles and explosions. Just as the stakes in a battle can feel small if the reader has no reason to care about the outcome, internal stakes can feel large if the writer takes steps to ratchet up the tension. Urgency, far-reaching consequences, powerful stakes contingent on uncertainties, the permanence of outcomes can all raise the tension of internal conflicts and interpersonal interactions without a knife drawn or nuclear explosion contemplated. Even in stories with all the physical mayhem you would want, the emotional impact comes from the same internal tensions that would drive the coziest of internal conflicts.
 

sandree

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Laer Carroll - I want to be like you when I have more books out. Congratulations on having found a loyal readership. What a wonderful experience that must be.