A Writer's Dozen - Archive

Baker's Dozen for Structuring Conflict
List compiled by Judith First posted May 2005
What is the premise of your story? Premise: a condition or situation that provides the substructure for your story. Are there any external conflicts in your story? If so, list. What are the individual emotional goals of you hero and heroine at the beginning of your story? How does your heroine perceive herself? How does your hero? Remember that every person's mission in life is the preservation and enhancement of his concept of himself. Have each of your characters write their own "self-concept" statement, first superficially, then with in-depth honesty. Explore the "wounded child" within. How does your heroine guard or protect her inner self? How does your hero? What has been a major motivating factor in each of their lives and why? Challenging the self-concept of your characters is one way of creating internal conflict. When you confront a character with proof that he or she is no longer what she thinks she is, you have a source of tremendous internal conflict. What is the crisis of self-concept for: Your heroine? Your hero? What is the conflict that keeps your hero and heroine apart? What keeps them together? What new insights do each of your main characters discover about themselves and about each other? What is the climax (or emotional crisis) of your story? What is the critical revelation?

May 2005