Great class on creating conflict in your writing

I recently took this class and I learned a lot. Cheryl is offering the class again in November. She's a great teacher!

CONFLICT MAKES THE STORY

DATES:  NOVEMBER 1 – 30, 2011

INSTRUCTOR: CHERYL ST.JOHN

REDUCED ENROLLMENT FEE: $20.

(a savings of $10.)

REGISTRATION VIA PAYPAL: http://cheryl-stjohn-workshop.blogspot.com/

REGISTRATION OPEN NOW

 

Only a little over two months left of 2011! Did you accomplish everything you wanted to over the year? Writing improvement challenges? A new story proposal? A finished project? Here’s an opportunity to sharpen your skills and be prepared for those new goals, which are right around the corner.

 

CLASS DESCRIPTION:

No matter what writing topic Cheryl addresses, she hangs the most importance on characters. Conflict is drawn from characters. It’s based on their goals, their backstory and their motivation. It is opposing forces that come from within the characters themselves.

 

Webster’s Dictionary defines conflict as “the opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the dramatic action in a drama or fiction.” This definition is the essence of fiction, and we need to keep it in mind as we develop characters and plots. If there’s no conflict, there’s no story.

 

Conflict, of course, can be either light or heavy. In a humorous story, the problem may not be life threatening, but it still must be important to the characters. The characters’ motivations must be equally important to them. In suspense, the conflict is often life-threatening. All well-developed plots stem from creative use of conflict, and conflict is what keeps the reader turning pages.

 

In order to understand conflict and how to develop it, we must first understand what conflict is, what conflict is not, and what conflict can be. The elements that make up a story are so closely meshed that at times it becomes difficult to dissect and make a firm delineation between them. In a masterfully developed story, characterization, plotting, and conflict are all intricately entwined.

 

Cheryl will explain opposing goals and how to create conflict that will sustain a story. She’ll give practical advice on:

• Motivating characters
• Creating characters with built-in conflict
• Revealing emotion through conflict
• Internal and external conflict
• Simple and complex conflict

 

More info here.