Writing Tidbit – Conflict
In life, we hate it. Well, some of us do, some of us thrive on it. Some invoke it, others avoid it. What is it? Conflict. It’s a must when writing a story. I’m not published yet, but I still have learned a few things about writing. And I’m going to refer to some of those things I’ve learned. Most of these tidbits will come from my mentor’s book Dance of Character and Plot.
In it, there are listed several kinds of conflict: 1) with another person; 2) with nature; 3) physical; 4) mental; 5) spiritual. The first three are possibly the “easiest” conflicts to write about. The last two are more challenging.
We can write about North v. South, men v. women – that’s conflict with another person. We can write about conflict nature – fighting a tornado, a blizzard, a flood, a drought, extreme heat or cold. Physical handicaps and defects, wounds, injuries all speak of physical conflicts. The mental and spiritual conflicts are inner conflicts. They are harder to write about. Why?
Because we have to examine ourselves. We have to touch those painful parts of ourselves inwardly. We have to put feelings into words. I touched on that with emotions, we’ll have more of that later.
Spiritual conflicts have to do with our faith. What’s it in? God, the devil, ourselves, nothing? Actually, we all believe something and IN something. Whatever we believe in, that is – faith. My faith is in God, in His Son, what Jesus did, and I’ve had it a long time, about 44 years. I’ve never been the same.
When writing, remember there has to be conflict. In the Bible is full of it. It has it all – and I challenge you to find it. There’s lots of conflict in there. My favorite spiritual conflicts are Moses at the burning bush, and Paul on the road to Damascus. Great stuff. What conflicts are you going through right now? Leave a comment and let me know.
Donna L.H. Smith 
I found this post quite helpful because of the list of kinds of conflicts and the examples you gave for each. Thank you.
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You’re welcome Kelly. I just sort of opened up DiAnn ‘ s book and that’s what I saw. 🙂
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