Winning the big game, surviving an illness or a scary car crash, working your way through grief… these are all common topics for personal essays. But in fiction, these kinds of actions are most meaningful when they happen as part of the background to a story that focuses on the inner life of the protagonist.
Good storytellers differentiate between a crisis (an emergency, such as a car crash or an illness) and conflict (a clash of wills, a difficult moral choice, or an internal mental struggle). Beginning authors often focus on the exciting crisis rather than the conflict that makes readers care about the characters enduring the crisis. –via Crisis vs. Conflict: Engaging a Reader with the Protagonist’s “Inner” Story
Similar:
West Side Story to play out on Geyer Performing Arts Center stage
Carolyn Jerz is playing the lead role of...
Culture
Watching ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ with 18,000 teenagers was one of the most profound theate...
The arts are vital to our lives as human...
Books
Pagers, Pay Phones, and Dialup: How We Communicated on 9/11
For much of the day, those aboard Air Fo...
Culture
the history of computer games: from 'pong' to 'pac-man'
"in the beginning, there was nothing. we...
Cyberculture
FYI, 13yo skool grl is nu US txt mssg chmpN
Contestants had to stand with their hand...
Amusing
On UVa rape story: Rolling Stone editors "regret the decision to not contact the alleged a...
Rolling Stone, how about you apologize b...
Academia
Dear Mr. Jerz,
I found your blog. Wow. I had a creative writing professor once who gave me two bits of advice that I try to follow: first, write what you know; second, show, don’t tell.
You remind me of him.
As for NaNoWriMo, it came one month too late for me. I started my last novel at the beginning of October and finished it just before Halloween: 51,503 words.
I submitted the first chapter of my first novel, GINGERSNAP(finished earlier this year) to Mr. Robert Bacon (theperfectwrite.com) for review. He asked to feature it on his Critique Blog for August, 2011. I invite you to read it.
Do you ever read unsolicited material? Even a chapter or two. I would really appreciate and value your input.
Thank you so much, Karen Edwards (You may email me at my address above.)
Yes, Karen, I do. I’ll contact you by email with details.