Comments on: Deadly Sin of Writing #7—Drifting in the Doldrums

By: Handy Dandy Series | Kait Nolan

Handy Dandy Series | Kait Nolan — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:44:23 +0000

[…] Deadly Sins of Writing — Sin #7 –Drifting in the Doldrums […]

By: Bob Mayer

Bob Mayer — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:04:18 +0000

I like the idea of the conflict dance. Until the climactic scene, when it’s all or nothing.

By: Jenni Holbrook

Jenni Holbrook — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:36:16 +0000

Excellent post as usual. Having been an actor, I learned that everything has to have purpose and conflict is the fuel to all stories. Without it, “crash and burn”.

By: jasonamyers

jasonamyers — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:36:47 +0000

Hey lady,

I did the same thing Jenny Crusie did, I labeled each scene on butcher paper and then identified who was in the scene, and the conflict in that scene. It helped.

A writer needs to read each scene very closely, looking for what’s propelling the story forward. If the scene goes nowhere, either add conflict, or delete!

By: Jessica Rosen

Jessica Rosen — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 12:13:26 +0000

While it’s easy to say the rule “each scene must have conflict,” not many take the time to break that down into something useful. You have. It’s handy for me as I am organizing my current novel scene by scene. Judging not only the presence of conflict but the level of it is a great standard to use. Thanks for posting this article.

By: Anasazi Stories

Anasazi Stories — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 11:56:30 +0000

Love your posts, as always, Kristen.

I had a misconception of “conflict lock” when I first thought about it, and, just to cut to the chase, it does NOT mean the characters are locked in conflict like a couple of pit buls whose jaws have gotten stuck together such that they can’t really do anything.

It means, in my mind at any rate, that whatever the protagonist is doing is primarily thwarted by what the antagonist is doing AND vice versa. It’s more like a conflict dance than a conflict lock. The way fencing is like dance. The way marriage is like dance. The way a fistfight is like dance.

By: Bob Mayer

Bob Mayer — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:48:43 +0000

Well. Pilots. Jenny Crusie taught me every scene had to have conflict. When we wrote Don’t Look Down, entirely by email over 7 months, we finished the first draft. Then I flew to Cincinnati, city of the burning river, and she had all 104 scenes in the book outlines on four white boards (four acts) and labeled every scene: character vs. character. ie every scene had conflict. No conflict= no scene.
You have to have the major conflict of conflict lock for protagonist and antagonist, and then the scene conflict.