Article of
the Month
External Conflict Worksheet
c. 2002 by Alicia Rasley
This
is an exercise to help you connect your external conflict with your
internal
conflict:
1.
What's going on outside your protagonist that is involving him/her in
some
external situation? This could be a quest,
a mission, a conspiracy,
an
investigation, a project, a term (such as a school term), a deception,
a
plan... anything that will provide the protagonist with something to do
for
the time of the book. This does not have to be a major conflict; it
just
has to last the whole book.
2.
Add in a deadline if you can– If X doesn't
happen by (time or date),
then
something bad will occur. Or if I accomplish Y by (time or date),
then
something good will happen.
So
what's yours?
Example:
If I don't get my juniors to understand analogies by October,
they'll
all do lousy on the verbal portion of the SATs, and they won't
get
into college.
3.
Now list a few ways this conflict can show
up in your story as a
problem.
Give at least three events which cause the protagonist trouble,
and
show a couple of ways he/she attempts to solve the problem.
Example:
In
September, I started at this school and the principal tells me the first
big
challenge is to help the students prepare for the SATs. Most of them
are
from families where no one has graduated from high school, much less
gone
to college.
I
start teaching from a sample SAT test and there's a whole section on
analogies.
I give them that part of the test and they all fail it.
Students
start to panic and some say they just won't do it– won't take
the
test, will give up their dreams of college.
Most
can't seem to get it when I'm teaching, no matter how I try. I ask
for
help from other teachers and get some worksheets, but nothing works.
Then
a student comes to me and says hesitantly that he thinks he
understands,
but I'm just not explaining it in a way the kids
understand.
4.
Now explain why this conflict is especially hard for this person
emotionally
or psychologically-- why it makes him/her
feel vulnerable or
scared
or inadequate.
Example:
I used to teach at an elite private school, and my students
always
did great on the SATs. I thought I was a good teacher. Then
I
got
this fellowship to come to an inner-city school and use my methods on
these
un-gifted students. Now I'm floundering.
They're having a harder time learning from me. They come into my classroom after walking to school through dangerous streets-- no bus system down here-- and some of them work 8 hours the night before and they've got all sorts of worries and anxieties that my previous students don't have.
And
I'm realizing-- I wasn't that great a teacher after all. If I were any
kind of teacher, I'd be able to teach all different kinds of kids, not
just the well-fed, well-prepared, well-off ones. And now I'm thinking
it was a mistake
coming
here-- I'm not up to this task. Only thing is, after failing so
badly
here, I don't think I can go back to teaching at all, because I've
lost
my confidence. When this kid comes up and tells me that I'm
teaching
wrong, that I'm just not talking their language, it reinforces
my
sense of failure.
5.
Now list a few ways the resolution of this conflict can be developed
in
the latter part of the book.
Example:
I tell this student that if he thinks he can teach better than
I
can, go ahead. I figure he'll fail just as I did-- these students are
just
too damaged to learn a high-level concept like "analogy", right?
I'm
amazed when he successfully helps one classmate to "get it", using
popular
music and movies as examples.
We
set up peer-tutoring sessions for the other students. The tutors are
teenagers
too, and know what examples will work– from sports and music.
Each
student who figures it out is given another student to tutor. Soon
everyone
in the junior class, even the non-college bound students, joins in because
it's become the cool thing to do.
6.
Now come up with some triumphant or satisfying or just event that can
show
the resolution of this conflict. Think about a tournament or contest
or
showdown or big moment of some sort– this will be your external
climactic
event, so make it a good one.
Example:
The day of the SATs, I come to school to find all the students
with
their partners going over the studysheets one more time. A few hours
later,
they emerge from the test room thumbs-up, and they all report they
think
they knew every analogy question.
7.
Now see if you can come up with some way the world of the book has
changed
because of this triumphant resolution.
Example:
A few weeks later, the test results come in, and my students
did
great on the Verbal section. Because the peer-tutoring project worked so
well, the principal lets me set up a similar program to prepare students
for the next round of SATs. I decide to stay.
8.
One more question: Read over that and see if the external events show
some
kind of internal change too.
Example:
I was always the kind of teacher who had to be in charge of the
classroom.
There was a line there– I was the teacher, on this side, and
they
were the students, on that side. This experience has taught me that
sometimes
students can be teachers... and that teachers should never stop
learning.
I learned– to let go a little and stay open to experimentation,
and
to trust my kids.
Alicia Rasley
is a 16-year member of Romance
Writers of America and Indiana
RWA, a writing teacher, and a RITA-award winning Regency author. She
teaches at Painted Rock Writers Colony.
If you like my articles, check out my interactive writing booklets, Point of View Manual, and plot guidebook:
The Story Within Writing Series
Or if you prefer the spoken word, check out my workshop tapes:
Alicia Rasley's interactive workshops
Go to previous articles:
Synopsis Creation: Plot Revision
Quick Character Motivation Exercise
Suspense Is More Than Surprise
Beginnings, Middles, and Ends: The Purposes
On the Brink: Turbocharge Your Opening
Sharks in the Water: Old Scams in the New Millennium
Lest Ye Be Judged: Contest Judging for Writers
Setting and Character Interactions
The Promise of the Hot Premise
Outline Your Novel in Thirty Minutes
Mail to Alicia: rasley@juno.com